My production team doesn't like not knowing what anything is going to look like, but creatively, that's fun.

I think there's a part of me that feels the need to hide a little bit behind a character.

I always have a sense of where I want to end each season, emotionally and relationship wise and with the theme, and I'm always able to hit that.

I've always wanted to play with this idea - and I didn't want to leave it to the last season, but I wasn't quite sure when it was going to happen - of putting Jax [sons of Anarchy] at the head of the table and the ripple effect on the guys and the loyalties of it and where people land.

I have a loose blueprint of where I want the show to go. I stress, quite frankly to remind myself, that I hold onto that vision very loosely, so that I can be moving towards something, but I don't ever want to feel like I'm in a box that'll stop me from exploring a potential new direction.

The great thing about having a serialized drama (like 'Sons of Anarchy') is that I'm allowed to bring up events and circumstances that have happened in the past in other episodes to show that this kind of violence doesn't happen in a vacuum. It has ramifications. It has repercussions. Whether it's a week from now or five years from now, you know it will play out. Nothing is ever tied up into a perfect knot.

I love being able to stay real to the world.