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.

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

As an actor, I've been drawn to those characters that are further away from who I may be.

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

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 started doing some more specific research on Wales in that period because I like the idea of being authentic to the territory, and with that came the knowledge that there was this great rebellion that was happening with the Marcher barons and conflict with the king. A lot of it wasn't documented by the English.