"Sons of Anarchy" cast talk final season 7 at red carpet premiere

Jax Teller and his band of motley soldiers are gearing up for one last ride.

The cast and crew of the FX drama series "Sons of Anarchy" gathered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California, Saturday night for their seventh, and final, season premiere.

Saying goodbye to the series clearly hasn't been easy for cast member Katey Sagal, who walked the red carpet with her husband, series creator Kurt Sutter.

"I feel enormously grateful for having been here, and I also feel in denial that it's ending," the actress said. "You know, I was weeping a little bit last night about it."

Sutter explained that cost was the main reason why the show was ending.

"Quite honestly, after seven seasons, because of all the factors, it becomes very expensive to produce," he said.This week's premiere finds the club leader, Jax (Charlie Hunnam), enlisting his brothers to avenge the murder of his wife Tara. What Jax has yet to learn is that the murderer is his own mother, Gemma (Sagal), who, thinking she was protecting Jax, repeatedly stabbed Tara in the head with a carving fork.

As usual, Sutter has revealed few plot specifics. However, producers have confirmed that final-season guest stars will include Marilyn Manson, "Glee" actress Lea Michele and Courtney Love.

"I play a kindergarten teacher," Love said, then poked fun of her own bad-girl persona, "because when you think of me, I know, you think, immediately, 'kindergarten teacher.'"

Last year's episodes of "Anarchy" each attracted an average of 10 million viewers, making the series the most popular on FX. Hunnam shared a story about two of those viewers he encountered while waiting for bike tires in what he called a "sketchy" Los Angeles neighborhood.

"These two dudes came walking toward me, and they were serious dudes," Hunnam recalled. "And I thought, 'What is this going to be about?' And, no smile, nothing, they just said, 'Hey, bro. Thank you, man.' And I said, 'Thank me for what?' And they said, 'You make the hood safe on Tuesday nights.'"

The final season of "Sons of Anarchy" kicks off Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on FX.