Sons of…a what now?

The great thing about being friends with Lainey is she is a fast texter. You have something urgent to say, she will respond with equal urgency. The terrible thing about being friends with Lainey is that if you have a crush on a celebrity, she will end it with glee. She is the bringer of the ick. She once killed one of my crushes by describing a “really thin T-shirt” that a celebrity I liked wore on a red carpet. If you are down bad and want to shake it, it’s helpful. If you are enjoying the crush, she is a demon.

This brings me to Charlie Hunnam (hubba hubba) and his new project, which I’ll get to it eventually. Charlie is a bona fide hottie, but his career is confusing. He dropped out of 50 Shades of Grey, he has tried action blockbusters, there was a stint with Guy Ritchie, and now he’s working with Ryan Murphy. He’s also dabbled in screenwriting (he had a development deal for a script titled Vlad with Brad Pitt’s Plan B way back in 2009, a lifetime in Hollywood years). There’s a sense that he is choosy about what he works on but maybe his picker is not excellent, or he’s stuck in the mid-prestige realm and can’t get out of it (well-known enough to get cast on his name, but A-list directors are not banging on his door). It’s also pretty clear that he does not want to be super famous, he doesn’t seem to court any kind of media attention outside of work.

That said, he is fine AF. And I was relaying that to Lainey this week and she just had to point out that he once said he is a “big fan” of a man who is very famous in far right manosphere circles for I don’t know eating raw meat and being scared of pronouns. Ugh. UGH. Thanks a lot Lainey!!!!!! (But I did a quick search, and he said it seven years ago, so let’s leave some room for hot people to grow and evolve and change their bad opinions.)

So back to the project, which was announced this week. It’s called Legends and the idea is kind of bonkers: it features the Sons of Anarchy cast at a fan convention and thrust into a dangerous situation. The actors are playing themselves, not their Sons of Anarchy characters, and a lot of the cast including Katey Sagal, Ron Perlman and Maggie Shiff are included.

Then I read that Jonathan Groff was the showrunner and I thought now how did Lea Michele’s best friend get involved in this but it’s not Broadway Jonathan Groff, it’s writer/producer Jonathan Groff, who was an EP for black-ish and was a head writer at Late Night with Conan O’Brien for 400+ episodes. So, it sounds like Legends will be…a comedy? Or considering it’s FX, a dramedy?

The Legends concept is interesting because it can go so many ways – does the cast want to be at this convention? Do they interact with fans? Is there a hierarchy between the stars of the show and character actors? And what happens when the actors, who played these extremely tough guy bikers, actually have no idea what to do when faced with real-life danger? They only know how to use prop guns! It’s like Galaxy Quest but make it even more meta.

Actors playing themselves in a fictional setting might be brilliant or it might be a total flop, but I appreciate the big creative swing. I just hope Lainey lets me enjoy it in peace.

Attached - Charlie filming Legacy of Spies with Agnes O'Casey in Liverpool.