'Sons of Anarchy': Kenny Johnson Praises Fellow Alum Walton Goggins

Kenny Johnson just took to Twitter to praise one of his oldest friends, fellow Sons of Anarchy [...]

By John Connor Coulston

Kenny Johnson just took to Twitter to praise one of his oldest friends, fellow Sons of Anarchy alum Walton Goggins.

Fans of the FX biker drama will know Johnson from his role as Herman Kozik and Goggins' role as Venus Van Dam. However, the duo's friendship goes further back than most realize.

The duo first met while filming the 1998 movie Major League: Back to the Minors, where they were roommates for quite a while. Their bond extended to the FX drama The Shield where they played two of the lead characters, Detective Shane Vendrell (Goggins) and Curtis "Lem" Lemansky (Johnson)

That project was where Johnson's latest tribute comes from, as it featured a photo of the pair on the Shield set.

"Me and my boy Walton," the actor captioned the shot. "A pure beautiful torched soul, Shane and Lem. Walton and Kenny. [Best friend forever] connected forever. He's an amazing beautiful human soul. !!! Walton is a giver. Sooo good !! Love you Walt."

The pair had many scenes together on The Shield, including on the series' most pivotal moments.

Spoilers ahead for The Shield Season 5.

After Lem was ready to turn himself in and possibly compromising his strike team bretheren, Shane decided that he had to end Lem's life. In an explosive Season 5 scene, Lem met his end as Shane's hand, leading to long-lasting repercussions.

It was one of the most impactful moments for fans and the actors themselves, as Goggins expressed in a 2008 Collider interview.

"Kenny is one of my best friends and has been. We did a movie together almost 10 years ago and were roommates on that movie. He has been a dear friend for a long time," Goggins said. "When I found out that he was going to leave the show, I was devastated. Everybody was devastated. Really, we took it pretty hard. This was a guy that I hang out with every single day. When I found out that I was going to be the one taking him out, I was very conflicted about it for about a minute, and then I thought, no, if anybody is going to take out this beautiful character that Kenny Johnson created, I would want it to be me. I'd want to be there with my buddy to say goodbye to him."

He added, "It was very cathartic for both of us. We had spent the weekend together before we shot that scene and to come back and honor his commitment to the show and what he brought to it. ... I was ultimately elated and felt very honored to have been given that opportunity to go through that dance with Kenny."

The Shield is currently available to stream on Hulu.

Photo Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

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