Katey Sagal said that she does a a “lot of prep” for Sons of Anarchy. “Because the stories get complicated,” she said in a roundtable interview I did with her at Comic-Con. “I just like to have a lot of understanding of where I’ve been and where I’m going, so sometimes I have to do that kind of work.”
In the interview, she talks about the new season of SOA, getting into the mind-set of her character, her favorite TV show and if she’s going to sing again this season.
For the full interview, check out the video below.
Sons of Anarchy premieres on Tuesday, September 10th at 10pm
The show touches on so many kinds of dark things, is it tough to get into that mind set, that world, or is it easy to shake when you leave at the end of the day?
Katey: It’s kind of easy to shake, but it definitely takes a minute to get into is what I’d say. You know, I’m always reminding myself as an actor that her point of view is not my point of view. You know, the choices she makes are not choices, they’re not of me. So even though I feel very rooted in that character, she definitely takes a minute to, you know it’s like I don’t get a script and think “Oh, well I wouldn’t say that,” because Gemma would say it. And that’s really kind of the fun of it I think.
When you first get the script, since you’ve played her for so long, is it kind of like short hand now? Are you still like writing notes?
Katey: No, I do a lot of prep.
Do you?
Katey: Yeah. A lot of prep, because the stories get complicated, so the relationships have all shifted so much, like who do you like, who do you not like, who did what to whom, you know so there’s a lot of sort of remembering what went on. But no, I just like to have a lot of understanding of where I’ve been and where I’m going, so sometimes I have to do that kind of work.
Will she sing again in the next season?
Katey: Me? Oh, yeah I’ll sing one song every season and then I have a new record coming out too, which I hope you guys will all write about.
When is it coming out?
Katey: It’s going to come out probably end of September middle of October, and I made it with Bob Field, who does all our music on the show.
And I know you went on tour for a little bit right?
Katey: Yeah. We did a little bit of touring, a little SOA, Forest Rangers Katey, tour, and it’s super fun. So, I know I’m singing one song on the season that will also be on my record, and then I think I’m singing something else too, but I can’t tell you what they are. I cannot tell you anything.
Can you tell us what are your favorite T.V. shows right now?
Katey: Oh, that’s a good question. Let’s see, I just started watching Orange is the New Black, and I do like that. I love Vera Farmiga on Bates Motel. I have not watched the entire thing, but what I’ve seen, she’s just unbelievable, I think she’s great. What else do I like on T.V., let’s see, I’m trying to think what’s on my, you know I love Boardwalk Empire; I’m looking forward to that coming back. There’s so much television to watch. I watch Scandal, I do like Scandal.
Is there a show were your embarrassed to tell us that you watch?
Katey: Scandal. [laughs] But I think it’s awesome. You know it probably doesn’t go with my tough girl biker image, but um, you know I think Scandal’s great because I love the political component of it. I think the actors are really good.
When you have time off do you try to audition for these shows?
Katey: No, I really haven’t had the time off yet. In my last hiatus I made a movie, which was really fun and I’ve been working on my record. Pretty soon I’ll need a job, so you know, I’ll go make the rounds.
There’s a lot of crazy stuff that goes down on the show and from the very begging you knew this was going to happen, maybe you even more so early on then anybody else. Were there some things that over the course of the series that when it happened or you saw the script you were like “really, you think your having me do that?”
Katey: Oh yeah, there’s been several of those, but see I wear a different hat with it. You know as and actor, I’m glad to be given the things that as Katey would be like “are you kidding me? I am not doing that.” But as an actor it makes it interesting, you know you want to be sort of given- you know that’s part of it, that’s part of the journey of being an actor, is that you’re exploring the human condition, so in whatever forms that are going on. That’s kind of fun actually, when it comes up to that. There’s a few things this season where I’m like “really?…Ok,”
Your kind of coming up on the end now of the show now. Does it feel like things are starting to work towards wrapping up?
Katey: Yeah. It does a little bit in terms of, well; I don’t really know that answer, only because I’m so close to the creator. But I kind of know the pieces that he’s thinking of, but I don’t know if you’re going to watch it and go “Oh yeah, were almost to the end.” I don’t know.
