Charlie Hunnam Reveals Reason He Won’t Return for ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Spinoff ‘Mayans M.C.’

Sons of Anarchy fans knew it was unlikely that star Charlie Hunnam would return for the show’s upcoming spinoff, Mayans MC, but the actor has made it loud and clear this week that he won’t be back anytime soon.

Hunnam told Entertainment Tonight at the premiere of his new film, Papillon, to see if Jax Teller might make an appearance despite his death during the Sons of Anarchy finale.

“No, no… I had the deepest experience of my career coming out of that,” the 38-year-old explained of Sons of Anarchy ending in 2014. “I had become that character, had become so deeply integrated into who I was, I literally didn’t realize until the day we wrapped and we put him to rest and I felt I went through a period of two or three weeks of, like, real bereavement.”

He even went on to open up about just how emotionally invested he was in his role, calling Jax “sacred.”

“I have his cut [leather vest] and, you know, people have been to my house and asked if they could try it on and I [say] ‘No one will ever put that cut on again’ and ‘We got to respect that dude. He’s not with us anymore,’” Hunnam said. “So I would never bring him back from the dead for something like that… It was seven years of my life. He sort of became sacred to me.”

While Sons of Anarchy followed the Charming, California charter of the motorcycle club, Mayans MC will center around a Hispanic rival club in Southern California. It will star JD Pardo, Edward James Olmos, Sarah Bolger and more. Most SOA characters are not expected to make appearances, considering the tragic fates of many of them. With exception to the rule, however, is Emilio Rivera, who played Marcus Alvarez, the president of the Mayans MC Oakland charter. Rivera will be reprising his role in Mayans MC.

As for fans looking for physical similarities between Jax and Pardo’s EZ Reyes, Pardo says fans can expect frequent shots of his backside, just like Jax’s in the original series.

“I didn’t get a chance to ask [JD Pardo] if we’re going to see EZ’s butt as often as we saw Jax’s,” a Twitter user asked Pardo earlier this month.

“I’m sure that won’t be a problem,” he replied, much to Twitter’ excitement.

Fresh out of prison, EZ must carve a new identity for himself in a town where he was once the golden boy with the American dream within his grasp.

Mayans MC premieres on FX on Tuesday, Sept. 4.