Sons of Anarchy Killed Taylor Sheridan’s Acting Career: Here’s How
Yellowstone’s director is now one of the most prolific TV helmers after the huge success of his shows on Paramount+, but this is not what Taylor Sheridan’s TV path started with. Here’s all you need to know about Sheridan’s character in FX’s Sons of Anarchy which helped him boost a directing career.
With extremely successful series like Yellowstone, its prequels 1883 and 1923, as well as Landman and Lioness, Taylor Sheridan is the creator of one of the most popular Western franchises on modern TV, though his skills aren’t just limited to directing and writing his own shows.
Long before he came up with a compelling storyline for Paramount+’s Yellowstone, Sheridan was doing his best as an actor, first appearing in several hit shows and later taking on cameo roles in his own franchise’s installments.
However, minor roles in Lioness or Yellowstone aren’t really what counts for Sheridan who quit acting years before — all thanks to Sons of Anarchy where the director had a supporting, but still significant role.
Taylor Sheridan Was Deputy Chief David Hale in Sons of Anarchy
- On Rotten Tomatoes, Sons of Anarchy holds scores of 87% and 91% from critics and viewers
- On IMDb, the show is rated 8.5/10
In the show starring Charlie Hunnam in the leading role, Taylor Sheridan is introduced as David Hale, the deputy chief of the Charming Police Department, and appears in a total of 21 episodes.
Sheridan’s character soon became one of the favorites among Sons of Anarchy’s fans, mostly due to Hale’s fixation on sticking to the truth no matter what abiding the law.
Throughout the show’s first two seasons, Hale is seen clashing with both the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club and his own corrupt colleagues, yet it doesn’t make him avert his own principles even when he had no advantage of them whatsoever.
In the end, Sheridan’s character doesn’t get to live much longer in Sons of Anarchy as season 3 sees Hale being killed in a drive-by shooting that aimed at the members of the motorcycle club.
Taylor Sheridan Quit Acting Because of Sons of Anarchy, Here’s Why
With all the praise the director-to-be received for his role back then, it was surprising to see him staying away from acting and eventually (almost) never getting back to it. Still, there’s a more positive reason for it.
As it turned out, it was the end of his path in Sons of Anarchy that made Sheridan realize his skills in writing and directing may have much bigger potential — and possibly a bigger salary.
“I’ve always said Hollywood will tell you what you’re supposed to be doing, if you will listen. At that time, they were offering me what I thought was a very unfair wage. It was less than virtually every other person on the show, and not enough for me to quit my second job”, Sheridan revealed in an interview with Deadline back in 2021.
He also added that this was the time he also realised he didn’t want to be an extra that big producers would call occasionally, but what he wanted instead was a position similar to those producers’.
“I decided right there that I didn’t want to be 11 on the call sheet for the rest of my life. Now, I am happily 11 on the call sheet on Yellowstone, but I don’t think anybody wants to watch me do anything on television for an hour because the business told me they don’t. They told me I’m supposed to story tell behind the camera”, the director said.
