SOA's Mark Boone Junior Remembers The Psychological And Physical Exhaustion Of The Show

Throughout its 92-episode run on FX, the only thing more regular on "Sons of Anarchy" than motorcycles, fist fights, and shocking double-crosses was death itself. Eventually, it came for pretty much any and everyone who entered the chaotic orbit of the SAMCRO brotherhood. Some of those deaths were celebrated, of course, because that orbit was populated by a rogue's gallery of most unsavory characters. But even among the series' endless stream of killers, thieves, and bare-knuckle bruisers there were honorable sorts. Whenever the all-but-inevitable end came for one of them, "SOA" tended to feel more like a Shakespearean drama than gritty primetime crime saga.

That was perhaps never more true than during the series' bloody final season when SAMCRO brother Robert "Bobby Elvis" Munson met his end. Portrayed by journeyman character actor Mark Boone Junior, Bobby Elvis was hardly an angel, but he was about as virtuous a soul as you could find among the nefarious Northern California biker crew. And he was honorable right up until his brutal Season 7 death. As it happens, that gruesome death may have come as a bit of mercy for Boone, who claims his time on "Sons of Anarchy" was as exhausting physically as it was psychologically.  

Given the perpetual white-knuckle nature of the "Sons of Anarchy" narrative, it's easy enough to imagine even the toughest of theatrical souls getting a little burned out amid a seven-year stretch. And that was apparently the case for Mark Boone Junior, who spoke candidly on the matter with The Hollywood Reporter shortly after his "SOA" character Robert "Bobby Elvis" Munson rode off to the great highway in the sky.

Boone was open about how much he and his co-stars leaned on each other to get through the madness. "Seven years of long 90-hour weeks," he began, continuing, "It's a fairly large, strong commitment, and the nature of the commitment in this series drew us together in even stronger ways than most television series do." The actor went on to say the nature of the show indeed pushed them often to the brink, saying, "The horror of some of the things that we had to do and go through on this show definitely had a profound affect on you psychologically."

Despite the steadfast support of his co-stars, Boone Junior went on to claim the series still took much bigger toll on him than he ever expected. "There were years when I could not do anything but come home and sit with nothing, no outside anything," he said, adding, "I just wanted to be left alone. That's how exhausting this show was at times, psychologically and physically." Though the actor admits it was tough to say goodbye to Bobby Elvis, that goodbye seemingly couldn't have come soon enough.