‘Sons of Anarchy’ season 5 finale: Ron Perlman on Charlie Hunnam ‘silence’

Shooting the end of “Sons of Anarchy” season 5 had to be in many ways a cathartic experience for many of the cast members, but none perhaps moreso than Ron Perlman. Why? By the time the closing frames were shot, he may have felt an overwhelming sense of relief that not only was shooting complete for the show after so many months, but that he and Charlie Hunnam could actually communicate again on some level.

As you may recall from our earlier story on the subject, Charlie Humman proclaimed during production of the series that in order to better establish the right amount of hatred with Perlman’s character of Clay, he needed to stop having much of a relationship with the actor. This was confusing to Perlman at first given that Hunnam never really explained himself, but he tells TVLine that thanks to some press tours they went on around the midway point of the season, it was actually easier to shoot the final episodes than it was some a little earlier on the pipeline:

“I’ve loved him since we first started working together five years ago, so it was weird [wondering] if I pissed him off … I was on my way there when I realized, ‘Holy s–t! I’m not just going to be with Charlie on the Sons of Anarchy panel; I’m going to be with him talking about Pacific Rim and Frankie Go Boom…. I’m going to have to manufacture some sort of bon ami.’ So when we were immediately thrown into a panel [for Pacific Rim], I just threw my arms around him and gave him a kiss and all this love … For the rest of the season after that, it was never as light and loose as it used to be,” Perlman reports, “but a lot of the tension had gotten removed — which was fine with me.”

As for Clay and Jax, there will be plenty of tension in the finale. Hunnam’s character has yet to fully realize just how much like the man he hates he has becomes, and at this point, he has to be the one searching for redemption just as much as Clay is. It’s possible that one of them could die before the episode is over, and luckily we will find out for sure in just a few short days.

If you want to watch the first promo for the “Sons of Anarchy” season 5 finale, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: FX