FXExecutive producer Kurt Sutter really took the phrase "kill your darlings" to heart in the penultimate episode of Sons of Anarchy.
Obviously, major spoilers below if you haven't gotten to watch "Red Rose" yet!
After Jax (Charlie Hunnam) finally got his revenge on his own mother Gemma (Katey Sagal) and shot her in the head for killing his wife Tara (Maggie Siff)—and killing Unser (Dayton Callie) because the former Chief of Charming PD refused to leave Jax alone with Gemma—there's certainly going to be hell to pay in the series finale, airing this Tuesday.
And don't even get us started on the heartbreaking death of Juice (Theo Rossi) in prison! We'll never look at pie the same way again.
But as much as Sons of Anarchy fans are fearing what the series finale will bring, Jimmy Smits—who plays Gemma's love interest and Jax's pseudo-father figure Nero on the FX biker drama—promises that the final chapter of the final ride will be "extremely satisfying."
"I've been continually shocked for the past five scripts in terms of, we're really blowing s--t up here!" Smits told reporters on a conference call this morning. "[Kurt] is really going for broke. It was always with a little bit of trepidation on everyone's part when that new script would come in…to see what was next and who was going to go down next. But I don't think audiences are going to be disappointed at all. I think they're going to very satisfied. It's touching in a lot of ways. It's sad."
And Smits adds with a laugh, "But it's also grim, too!"
While he couldn't say too much about the final episode for fear of spoiling what's sure to be a shocking swan song, he did reveal that he was "surprised" at how Sutter decided to wrap his character's storyline.
"I think that Kurt ended it really beautifully and it has all of those elements that have been the signature of the show throughout the seven seasons," Smits said. "I was a little surprised, specifically about the way that Nero ends up. But I totally get it. I totally get it."
As for the fallout of those three huge deaths in the previous episode, all Smits could reveal was this: "I can say that the audience is going to be satisfied with the way the show ends up and that it continues to deliver its one-two punch. As much as it is exciting and sad and funny, it's got a grim quality to it as well."
When asked if he thought the outcome would have been different if Nero had gone to Gemma instead of sending Unser to keep her safe, Smits revealed the result would have been even bloodier...if you can imagine that!
"If Nero had gone, there probably would have been three dead bodies there!" Smits said. "All of them would have gone down in some way. I think that was his big fear. He didn't want to have to make that particular choice. I don't think that the Nero character understood how profound and deep the relationship that Unser had with them also, or else he never would have sent him. I think because of the police element or line in Unser's character thread that was there, he would be able to exact some kind of calm in the situation."
And yes, Nero will feel responsible for Unser's death. "You will see more than guilt," Smits promised.
The Sons of Anarchy series finale airs Tuesday at 10 pm on FX.