FX has renewed its highly-rated drama series, ‘Sons of Anarchy,’ for two more seasons, bringing the total to six seasons overall, Collider is reporting. The news comes after the network renewed the acclaimed show in October 2011 for a fifth season, which is slated to begin airing in Fall 2012. Showrunner Kurt Sutter has also signed a three-year deal with Twentieth Century Fox TV and FX Productions, which will carry him through the series’ seventh, and likely last, season.
Given that Sutter is now the longest tenured writer at FX, due to his work on ‘The Shield’ as well, he now has the leeway to create for both broadcast and cable. He also has a script deal with FX that will allow him to plan the series up to its finale as he sees fit, rather than at the demand of the Nielsoen ratings. If the show’s ratings remain high enough through the seventh season, however, Sutter may remain on board for more seasons.
“There’s a part of me that does see being able to tell this story in seven seasons, but there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to say, ‘That’s It,'” Sutter said. “I almost feel like when you hang that kind of finality and put a period on something, there’s almost a backlash that happens with the fan base.”
FX Network president John Landgraf said he’d like to keep Sutter at the network as long as possible. “If (Kurt) wants to spend the rest of his career developing, creating and executive producing shows for FX, that would be fine by me. I think he’s just a really special, original thinker and storyteller.”
Written by: Karen Benardello
