Sons of Anarchy season 6 had Lee Toric as one of the main antagonists, and his arc came to an end after six episodes – here's why.

Sons of Anarchy saw different antagonists in each season, and the one in season 6, Lee Toric, was one of the most dangerous and evil ones in the whole show – luckily for the characters, his death happened a couple of episodes after his introduction, but to viewers, his departure was quite abrupt. Created by Kurt Sutter, Sons of Anarchy premiered on FX in 2008 and lived on for a total of seven seasons, coming to an end in 2014. Sons of Anarchy was very well-received by critics and viewers from the beginning and received a lot of praise thanks to the performances of the main cast (particularly that of Katey Sagal) and the themes addressed in the show.

Sons of Anarchy introduced viewers to Jackson “Jax” Teller (Charlie Hunnam), VP of the motorcycle club Sons of Anarchy in the fictional town of Charming, California. The events of the series are kickstarted when Jax finds a manifesto written by his late father, John Teller, in which he shared his plans and vision for the club, which were very different from those of the current President (and Jax’s stepfather), Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman). This sent Jax on a personal journey that made him question his path, role in the club, relationships, and more, and during that process, Jax and the club came across a variety of threats – and few can be compared to Lee Toric (Donal Logue).

Lee Toric was a former U.S. Marshal who made his debut in Sons of Anarchy in season 5’s episode “To Thine Own Self”. Toric was forced to retire due to his struggle with Huntington’s Disease and his excessive use of force, but he continued working on his own and joined the show as his sister, Pamela Toric, who worked as a nurse at Stockton State Prison, was killed by Otto Delaney (Sutter). This led Lee Toric to go after the Sons of Anarchy and their loved ones, but his main target was obviously Otto, who he pressured into ratting on SAMCRO, but he refused, to the point where he bit his tongue off. Toric then ordered Otto to be raped and tortured in prison, as he vowed to make his time there the worst of his life, and both Toric and Otto’s lives came to an end in season 6’s episode “Wolfsangel”.

Lee Toric was around for a total of seven episodes, but Logue’s contract was originally for 10 episodes. As Toric had been growing with each episode into a more violent and vengeful antagonist, it came as a surprise to many that his time in the series was cut short. Speaking to Vulture in 2013, Sutter shared that his intention was never to bring Toric’s arc to an end so quickly and that he and Logue are friends and had been trying to work together for a while. The plan, then, was to have him around for the entirety of season 6, but another project Logue was involved in had a change of plans: Vikings, where he played King Horik. Sutter explained that they were told Vikings wouldn’t start filming until October, so there was enough time for Lee Toric to stick around, but the schedule of Vikings changed and they started shooting in June, thus forcing Sutter to bring Toric’s arc to an end before planned.

Although Lee Toric’s time in Sons of Anarchy came to an end before originally planned, his presence in the show was so strong that his death had a direct impact on the arcs of Tara Knowles (Maggie Siff) and Nero Padilla (Jimmy Smits), and he became one of the most memorable antagonists in the series, mostly because of the torture he subjected Otto to, which added to the latter’s already tragic story.

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