‘Sons of Anarchy’ Shocker: Kurt Sutter Talks Bloody “Wolfangel,” Reveals Alternate S7 Plan

Last night's 'Sons of Anarchy' bloodbath, "Wolfsangel," saw the demise of at least four major characters for the series, including one who had largely proven to be the major villain over the course of the sixth season. With the bodies on the ground, series creator Kurt Sutter explained the reasoning behind the episode's sudden deaths, as well as how the original plan may have extended through the seventh and presumably final season.

Spoilers be warned, but 'Sons of Anarchy' fans who were shocked to see Otto (Sutter) finally bite the bullet were even more surprised to see him murder corrupt retired Marshal Lee Toric (Donal Logue) beforehand, given that Logue's character had provided the major menace of the season to date. Logue's 10-episode contract actually began with two episodes in season 5, but the actor's promotion to series regular on History's 'Vikings' season 2 necessitated an early exit.

Sutter spoke with Entertainment Weekly on the sudden shift, specifically how Toric's original role as the season-long antagonist would give way to an increased spotlight on CCH Pounder's DA Patterson character, who had previously been working with Toric. Sutter had potentially envisioned Logue's character to last into even the seventh season, as the character went on the lam for his gross misdeeds, but the schedule conflict required making the best of an unfortunate situation.

I was sort of like, "Well, okay. I guess this is supposed to be. Let me just figure out how to put it into [CCH Pounder's] court." And so what I ended up doing is taking a lot of the antagonistic qualities that Donal was going to carry and finding a way to bring it around and make it Patterson’s quest and Eli’s quest.

It’s interesting because it’s a little bit different energy. You had a character like Toric, who is really kind of out there, as opposed to Patterson, who’s much more by the book but equally as much of a threat.

As for Sutter's own series-long character, Otto Delaney, who had suffered more and more disfigurements over the season as the creator joked how little he enjoyed playing the character, Sutter decided the time had finally come. “I just felt like Otto has killed so many f---ing people in jail at this point, I could not have him do some other horrific act of violence and not take a half-dozen bullets in the chest because it would have been too ridiculous for him to get away with yet another one," said Sutter, adding that his original vision of Otto finally facing execution seemed implausible as well.

'Sons of Anarchy' is well on its way to one of the darkest seasons yet, only four episodes into its sixth year, but what say you? Would you have preferred to see Sutter and Donal Logue's original vision of villainy play out over the season, or were you happy to see such a dramatic shakeup? Give us your predictions for the rest of 'Sons of Anarchy' season 6 in the comments!