Sons of Anarchy viewers were stunned when Taylor Sheridan’s time on the series came to an unexpected end after just two seasons.
The FX drama, which aired from 2008 until 2014, featured Sheridan as David Hale, the deputy chief of the Charming Police Department.
Sheridan had joined the series as a supporting regular and later said he wanted a pay bump after Season 2. When that request was refused, he decided not to return, and the character was written out in the Season 3 premiere.
After the second season, Sheridan sought a pay increase, but the request was denied. That decision pushed him to leave the series and, in time, move away from acting altogether.
He later shifted into screenwriting, beginning that chapter of his career with the 2015 thriller Sicario, before going on to write Hell or High Water and Wind River and create the hugely successful neo-Western drama Yellowstone. He has since expanded that universe with shows including 1883, 1923 and Landman.
“The worst beating [I’ve taken in the industry] is also the greatest gift that I ever got,” he said on The Howard Stern Show podcast.
“Season 2 of Sons of Anarchy had ended and it’s a very successful cable show. I’m an actor on this show making scale. There’s two dudes on the DVD. One is Charlie Hunnam who was the star and who’s a great guy – and me.”
Sheridan said that once filming wrapped, he would return ‘to his other job’ because he ‘didn’t make enough money for rent and to live’.
Explaining the breaking point after Season 2, Sheridan told Stern: “‘Guys, I’m not coming back and doing this again for this price. I’m just not doing it. I want what the other 14 people — not even asking for what Charlie gets or Katey [Sagal] or Ron [Perlman]. I just want what the other 11 guys are getting.’”
According to Sheridan, the other supporting regulars on the series — excluding Hunnam, Sagal and Perlman — were earning $20,000 per episode.
He said he was then offered $15,000 per episode along with a 10-episode guarantee, but after calculating the total, he concluded that it did not amount to a real raise.
“My attorney responded to this business affairs guy, ‘I’ve got kids on cooking shows on YouTube that make more than that,'” Sheridan recalled, to which the response was: “‘Then the guy should go get a cooking show on YouTube. We just don’t have to pay him because there’s 50 of that dude; I can recast him tomorrow.'”
Looking back on why he chose to step away from acting, Sheridan said: “Call it pride or ego or integrity, but I just realized I’ve maxed out what I can do as an actor in this industry.
“The people who have all the power are the people telling stories, so I’m going to tell my own stories,” he said, marking the point when he turned fully toward writing.
Even so, Sheridan has continued to appear on screen from time to time, including in a recurring role as horse trader Travis Wheatley on Yellowstone. The character became one of the most recognizable cameos in the franchise, especially as the series expanded into multiple spinoffs and Sheridan’s influence over the universe grew.