Jimmy Smits speaks to NerdcoreMovement.com about the final episode of Sons of Anarchy and says he was ‘a little surprised’ by Kurt Sutter’s final choice for Nero Padilla….
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
When Jimmy Smits first joined the cast of ‘Sons of Anarchy’ back in season five there was no long term plan for how long his character Nero Padilla might stick around.
It didn’t take long for Smits to endear himself to the cast and crew, not to mention Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter as well as the fans. By the end of the season the hope was not only to keep Smits around for another year, but to turn him into a series regular.
In a series like Sons of Anarchy where the body count seems to go up with every episode, Smits always looked at the scripts wondering if his time was going to come at some point, but now as the show approaches the final episode airing this Tuesday night at 10pm on FX, his character is still very much alive.
While things were tense for the last few years because no one was guaranteed to make it until the end, Smits says things got really crazy over the last half season when all bets were off and everybody knew the finale was going to come at the expense of at least a few lives.
“I’ve been continually shocked with maybe the past five scripts in terms of like we’re really blowing shit up here! He’s really going for broke! So it was always with a little bit of trepidation when that new script would come in by email or you got it in page form, to make that turn of the first couple of pages to see what was next or who was going to go down next,” Smits said on Thursday during a media conference call with reporters.
Smits didn’t join the show until season five, but obviously at this point he’s well aware of the themes and the mythology that has permeated Sons of Anarchy for the last seven years. All of that came into play again for this final season and Smits believes Sutter kept everything status quo even though the end was drawing near.
“As far as the last season goes, I think Kurt (Sutter) ended it really beautifully and it has all of those elements that have been the signature of the show throughout the seven seasons,” Smits told NerdcoreMovement.com.
There are obviously high expectations for the last episode especially in the current age of television where an entire series is judged (fairly or unfairly) by how the story comes to an end. Smits couldn’t give to many specifics away when it came to the last episode of Sons of Anarchy, but he says it will cover an entire gambit of emotions.
There will be happy moments and plenty of sad and probably a lot of blood spilled before it’s all said and done, but that’s just the way Sons of Anarchy has always been through seven seasons. He does warn fans to get their tissues ready, however, because no matter how you cut it — this is going to get emotional.
“I don’t think audiences are going to be disappointed at all,” Smits said. “I think they’re going to be kind of like satisfied and it’s touching in a lot of ways, it’s sad. It’s also grim, too.”
As far as his character goes, Smits knows Nero makes it to the final episode, but what happens to him from there will remain a mystery until Tuesday night roles around. Nero started out as a man in charge of brothel and then was forced back into his old life as a gangster before finally cashing in his chips and buying his uncle’s farm where he plans on raising his son and getting away from the deadly world that currently envelops him.
Everyone can start playing the guessing game now because Smits says once he got his hands on the final script and filmed the scenes where he played Nero Padilla for the last time, even he was shocked at how Sutter wrapped up the story arc for his character.
“I was a little surprised, specifically, about the way Nero ends up, but I totally get it,” Smits said when speaking to NerdcoreMovement.com. “I totally get it. That’s as much as I can say without giving spoilers.”
How will Nero’s story come to an end? What could be so surprising after three years playing the character? The only way to know for sure is to watch the series finale of Sons of Anarchy this Tuesday night at 10pm on FX
