The ball was set in motion when Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam voiced a common TV actor's lament to the Chicago Tribune:
"There's a philosophy here, which I don't always agree with as an actor, that it's better for actors to know as little as possible," he explained. "I actually don't agree with that because most of my experiences in acting are in film, where you know all of the answers going in, and you make your choices accordingly."
He added: "Keeping actors in the dark is not always the right move, because without knowing the direction that something's going, one can make slight mistakes. There has to be a big, psychological leap to get to where you're being taken."
Sutter then took to Twitter to defend himself and tweak Hunnam:
i share big story arcs with my actors before we start shooting. try to bring them up to speed emotionally, so we're all on the same page. the specific plot twists and turns are not locked down until i'm into my draft. that means the actors don't know until they get the script. i regret some of my cast feel that the writers are conspiring to "keep actors in the dark" that's not the case. we are doing the best we can. i love my cast and try to challenge their talent with quality writing and deep, 3-dimensional stories. that effort requires focus and time. perhaps if they were doing a network procedural they'd have a showrunner who could tell them everything and assuage their apprehension. i'm not that guy. SOA is not that show.
A few hours later, Sutter walked it back a bit:
Just talked to Charlie. Press twisted his words to get a headline (shocker). Never intended to suggest unrest. All good in the mc hood. Of course no one will pick up the tweets that suggest the media whored a story for more blog hits.
Well, probably not, but perhaps Sutter himself should have checked in with Hunnam before he checked into Twitter. Then again, where's the fun in that?
'Sons of Anarchy' Creator Defends His Style of Storytelling [EW]