In the introduction to Sons of Anarchy: The Official Collector’s Edition, creator and show runner Kurt Sutter jokes that the book was originally over 6,000 pages and what is left is everything that cleared Fox censors. I’m not sure if there is any truth to that but while the book is pretty comprehensive it’s not the end-all-be-all inclusive book about the critically acclaimed television series that I had hoped it would be. It’s good, but there is a lot of missing pieces that if included could have made it great.
First the good stuff, the book goes heavily in to the genesis of the original story, how it was brought to FX for production, some of the casting, and how the show was formulated. There’s some great stuff with the actors, notably Charlie Hunnam (Jackson “Jax” Teller) and Katey Sagal (Gemma Teller), talking about their characters and how they approached the role at the start as well as through the seven seasons. Each season is broken down in to its story and what Sutter was trying to accomplish with particular emphasis on standout episodes of each season. These more detailed breakdowns are fascinating and get deeper in to how certain shots were set up, how the actors approached these much more intense scenes, production design, and other elements. It’s worth noting that this book reveals all of the twists, turns, and deaths in the series including the ending so if you haven’t finished the show and intend to you should steer clear for now.
The book has interviews with most of the main cast but other than Hunnam, Sagall, and Theo Rossi (Juice) they only appear a handful of times. I would have liked to see a lot more in depth information on the supporting cast, especially the transgender escort Venus Van Dam (Walton Goggins), the addition of Nero Padilla (Jimmy Smits) in the later seasons, and more interviews with Dayton Callie, who plays the stalwart ex-cop Unser, who is strangely given only a scant paragraph or so here. There are scores of other cast members and characters that made the show so colorful but they are not included in the book either. I’m aware these are nitpicks but for a show as narratively dense and character rich as Sons of Anarchy it seems like a missed opportunity to delve really deep. Maybe there is a companion book coming for us completionists. [NOTE: MS Word doesn’t think “completionist” is a word but I’m using it anyway.]
Despite that, for fans of the show, Sons of Anarchy: The Official Collector’s Edition is worth picking up. I’m still not all that happy with the way the show ended, but I don’t regret taking the ride that Kurt Sutter and company took us on. This book is a good reminder of how great the show was and its uniqueness in the television landscape.
