'Sons of Anarchy' Star Dayton Callie: People Can Break Your Heart Enough That It's Not Heartbreaking Anymore

He was supposed to be a part of the action in Charming for only a couple of episodes. Seven seasons later, Dayton Callie’s Wayne Unser is one of the major players in Sons of Anarchy’s intense, violent, likely-to-be-heartbreaking final season.

Though he’s one of the few characters whose actions are dedicated to keeping the body count to a minimum in the brutal Season 7, Unser has gotten his hands dirty protecting various members of SAMCRO, not to mention mama Gemma. Callie, the Scottish-born actor also known for playing Charlie Utter on Deadwood (and mixing it up with Elaine on Seinfeld), talked to Yahoo TV about Unser’s motivations, his long history with the Men (and Woman) of Mayhem, and the, um, happy ending he’d like to see for his character.

At the end of

"Smoke ‘em If You Got ‘em," Gemma tells Wayne to pack up his trailer and get off her property at Teller-Morrow. After all he’s done for her, and how much he obviously cares about her, is he heartbroken?
"All right, give me a couple of days, and I’ll get it out of here." That’s probably what he’s thinking. But heartbroken? You know, sometimes people break your heart enough that it’s not heartbreaking anymore.

Unser has been involved in some very bad things on behalf of Gemma and SAMCRO recently, but going back to the beginning of the series…
When he was sheriff? He had a deal with them: “You keep the crap out of Charming, and I’ll let you have your little club here.” They also protected his truck company from other motorcycle hooligans.

He saw the benefit of having them act as the enforcers of some kind of law in the town.
Well, yeah, right, knowing that they were there and other motorcycle gangs wouldn’t come and take over the town or even come into the town. That was part of the deal. I think he recognized that, and it’s been that way since the beginning. I mean, he also knows the guys, knew them before they were gang members. He saw them come in. He saw the original nine. He knows Gemma from when she was a kid. So there was a relationship with Gemma and Piney and Clay and JT right from the get-go. Gemma came back to Charming. Gemma came to town and introduced these guys, and she was probably instrumental in putting the whole deal together, with Unser letting them stay. Then Chibs, Tig, and the rest of them joined the club.

[Related: Drea de Matteo Says Final ‘SoA’ Season Is About Chickens Coming Home to Roost]

At this point, given that things are spinning more and more out of control — like Juice with the motel manager — do you think Unser is starting to regret his association with SAMCRO?
I don’t think so. He hasn’t done anything so far that would make him regret trying to do the right thing. I mean, he still has no idea what Gemma did [to Tara]. People sometimes say, “Oh, yeah, how can he be so stupid?” But people forget, he’s not privy to everything that’s going on inside the club. The TV audience is, but Unser is not. He’s clueless. He was out in his trailer. Gemma borrows his truck, but she probably does that a dozen times, goes out and gets f—-ed up, and brings it back. What’s new? Then she starts crying. … I don’t know what she’s doing, or why. You know, you got to admit, she’s kinda crazy, so how am I supposed to figure all that out?

Plus, given his affection for her, he probably isn’t going to jump right to Gemma as Tara’s murderer.
No, he isn’t. But I don’t think he would cover up a murder. [District Attorney] Patterson asked him to help find Tara’s killer. He’s dying of cancer. He might as well do something good until that happens. And he cared about Tara. He didn’t want her [messing] with Gemma, like she did last season, and that’s why he kept switching sides.

What is Unser’s main motivation at this point?
He thinks there are bad people moving into our territory. He doesn’t know the whole deal with Juice — it’s a club matter — but he knows it’s bad, and he doesn’t want him to die. He’s known Juice since he got into the club. You remember the first episodes, we were actually very — he’s been friendly with all the guys. It’s not like he’s some outsider. He’s just not in the club. He knows the reality of the Mayans and the other clubs, that everybody is looking to come and take over new territory. They’re just trying to take over Charming, and he’s actually for [SAMCRO] defending it.

Plus, I’m hoping they’ll let me go into the [escort service] one night… If I know Kurt [Sutter, the show’s creator], it ain’t going to happen. But maybe he could, and he’ll just die on the massage table.

Oh, don’t even joke about that!
You got a better way for me to go?

Sons of Anarchy airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on FX.