‘Sons of Anarchy’: Stephen Moyer and Anna Paquin Almost Starred On The Show

Sons of Anarchy was so reliant on the acting skills of its stars that it surely would have been an entirely different show with a different cast.

Sons Of Anarchy Almost Featured Two Huge True Blood Stars http://t.co/DWwtwperhf

— Sons of Anarchy (@SonsAnarchyNews) August 9, 2015

Entertainment Weekly recently revealed that True Blood actor Stephen Moyer and his real-life partner and Academy Award-winning actress, Anna Paquin, were almost part of the Sons of Anarchy legend, had it not been for some untimely schedule clashes, and, well, family.

According to Nerdcore Movement, the couple have been huge fans of Sons of Anarchy ever since its first premiere back in 2008, and made sure to catch every episode, even when they were shooting.

Moyer, who plays a former soldier-turned-right hand of a Lord in Kurt Sutter’s new medieval drama, The Bastard Executioner, disclosed that Sutter had asked the couple to be cast in the seventh season of Sons of Anarchy. However, the pair were so preoccupied with family commitments back in Paquin’s native country of New Zealand that they had to eventually turn down the offer.

“I was going to play a pimp and she was going to play a whore. We were trying to make it work. We were dead into it. The thing was, we agreed to have some time off after the end of ‘True Blood’, and we had already arranged it. Anna paid for the flights to New Zealand, and it happened that these bits and pieces were shooting while we were in New Zealand, and she hadn’t seen her family. We hadn’t been down there for ages. We just said we can’t do it, but we were obsessed with Sons, and it was date night tele for us in that macabre and weird, strange way that Sons of Anarchy became.”

According to Screen Crush, Sutter had perhaps imagined Moyer playing the titular pimp character of Greensleaves in Sons of Anarchy, with Paquin playing the role of his hooker, Winsome, who amazingly went on to start a brief relationship with Charlie Hunnam‘s Jax in a later episode.

Meanwhile, we can at least be pleased that Moyer has finally been granted his wish of playing in Sutter’s The Bastard Executioner, which going by its first few teasers, has looked nothing short of electrifying so far. Maybe we could see Anna Paquin pop up later, too. Until then, we guess we can only replay the final season of Sons of Anarchy in our heads and imagine how different it would have been with Moyer and Paquin in it.

[Photo: Wikipedia, Handout / Getty Images]