Kurt Sutter has been teasing the possibility of a Sons of Anarchy prequel for years, and this week, he’s even gone so far as to indicate that he’s had discussions with FX about doing it, and that the network is open to it. Sutter would, however, like to put some space between the series he’s wrapping up next year and the prequel.
What’s interesting to me, however, is that it would not take place in 1993, which is when the events that gave rise to the current composition of Sons of Anarchy happened, namely the love triangle between Clay Morrow and John Teller that led to Teller’s death. Instead it would go back to the very beginning, to the late 60s when SAMCRO began to take shape.
That means that we presumably would not see a young Tig, Chibs, or Bobby, but the nine original members, of which only two remain alive today, Clay Morrow and Lenny ‘The Pimp’ Janowitz. We would get to see young versions of Piney, Gemma, Unser, and Keith McGee (who Clay killed in season three), but I guess my issue with it is that there’d be no tension over the deaths of any of the original nine. Piney and Keith died in season three; Lenny is in prison; Uncle Tom died in prison later on; Otto Moran died in 1985; and John Teller died in 1993. The only member of the First 9 whose means and time of death we don’t know about already is Chico Vellenueva, the first Hispanic member of the club.
Certainly, Sutter could create plenty of drama in the circumstances that led the First 9 to create the club in the midst of the Veitnam war, but besides a few passing romantic overtures that Clay and Unser may make at Gemma, there wouldn’t be a huge narrative connection between the prequel and the current series. Maybe that actually works to its benefit: It would be able to stand on its own.
That said, I have looked high and low, and I have no idea who would be appropriate to play a young Gemma, Clay, and Unser. Their features are so oversized and distinct that it’d be really difficult to find actors in their early 20s with a likeness. Plus, ’70’s fashion for motorcycle gangs? Yikes.
On the other hand, maybe they could bring back Ryan Hurst to play the younger version of his Dad, Piney.
