The FX biker-drama/Hamlet-reimagining, Sons of Anarchy, just wrapped up the first week of filming for its fourth season and there is a slew of casting news to report. And while show-runner Kurt Sutter has been pretty tight-lipped about plot details, the new actors and the roles they have been cast in provide us with a few clues.
Prison Break's Rockmond Dunbar will appear in a multi-episode arc as Charming's new take-no-shit Sheriff. Dunbar has experience with the folks at FX, having recently worked on the late, great Terriers. TVLine reports that "the FX hit’s fourth season puts the new law enforcer at odds with SAMCRO, whose days of having the law in their hands has long passed." The implication of Dunbar's arrival as new Sheriff seems to be that Charming's old Sheriff is gone. If so, it's a shame. Wayne Unser (Dayton Callie) is a bad-ass and if he's done with the show, he will be missed.
Joining Dunbar on the Charming PD is LaMonica Garrett. Garrett has a history on television playing bit roles on CSI: Miami, Parenthood, Dark Blue, and One Tree Hill, but will make his big screen debut this summer in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. “The energy on set this first week of shooting was amazing, I’m so excited to be apart of this series, as well as working with director Paris Barclay and creator Kurt Sutter,” he tells TVLine.
Debi Mazar, most recently of Entourage, will appear in the new season as a federal parole agent assigned to SAMCRO's case. So, is it safe to say that SAMCRO has been, or is soon to be, released from prison? That would explain the parole agent. My prediction is that the new season -- much like the upcoming season of Weeds -- will begin at least several years after the prior one ended. It would also make sense that Unser, with his terminal cancer, would be gone if the show resumes a long while after the incident with Agent Stahl (Ally Walker).
The fouth season of Sons of Anarchy is scheduled to return this fall.
A lot of SOA fans in the TVGA ranks so all will be amped to learn this news, Lucas!
Mazar is the most surprising casting decision here, though I suppose she's no danger to gangster-related drama, reflating back to her small but significant role in Goodfellas (i.e. The Greatest Movie of Ever).