Smallscreen Features

Sons of Anarchy One-Niner chat with Mo McRae

By April MacIntyre Oct 18, 2012, 22:40 GMT

Actor Mo McRae is cast as Tyler, the leader of the One-Niners, on FX\'s hit series "Sons of Anarchy."

Actor Mo McRae is cast as Tyler, the leader of the One-Niners, on FX's hit series "Sons of Anarchy."

McRae appeared in the film, "Gridiron Gang" and now graces one of the top television dramas on the air, "Sons of Anarchy" on FX.

This season, McRae, by default of death, heads up the Oakland gang One-Niners as Tyler.

McRae pursued drama in school, and became a successful actor with roles on "NYPD Blue", "Boston Public," "The Shield," "Southland", "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "Cold Case." The role on "Sons of Anarchy" adds a new dimension to his resume.

You can keep up with Mo on the Twitter at @TheRealMoMcRae. He will be seen with in the highly anticipated feature film "The Butler" along with Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr., Alan Rickman, Minka Kelly, and John Cusack.

We had a littler SOA chat with Mo in anticipation for next week's super-charged episode "Toad's Wild Ride."

Monsters and Critics: The latest episode Small World sees a scene with Jax, yourself and the rest of the Asian and Latin gangs.
Will the Niners find peace this season with "Brown" or was that all a feel-good ruse Sutter is throwing at us?

Mo McRae: I think that peace is always very elusive in 'Charming'. I'm not quite sure how the relationship between the Niners and the Mayans will play out. I do know that Sutter loves to surprise us all.

M&C: Your role was hard won, the stakes are high, what will be Damon Pope's interaction with your character be like this season?

MM: Damon Pope's interaction's with my character can be likened to a manager and employee type of relationship. Pope's character is the holder of all the power cards so far this season. But not just over my character. He has a pretty good grip on SAMCRO as well.

M&C: Why does Sons of Anarchy appeal to such a diverse cross-section of people, in your opinion?

MM: In my humble opinion Sons of Anarchy appeals to such a diverse cross-section of people because it encompasses all the elements that are required for good television experience. It has strong well developed characters, unpredictable story lines, and most importantly sex, violence, and motorcycles!

M&C: Favorite episode so far in the can is...(title of episode) and favorite director thus far is...?

MM: My favorite episode thus far was either 'Small World' or the season premiere 'Sovereign.' They both had really explosive moments and interesting turns. All of the directors have been great to work with.

It was really fun working on 'Sovereign', that was directed by Paris Barclay. He is also a producer on the show and is a very accomplished veteran. So he navigated through the days with a sense of comfort that really helped everyone get the best out of the days. It was a huge production, the first episode for myself and several other people but he brought us all together and delivered a record breaking episode for FX.

M&C: Please does your character make it to the end of S5 alive?

MM: You'll have to keep watching the show to see 'Tyler's' fate. So far he's still ticking and trying to negotiate the unstable terrain that he has been forced upon.