Back in 2008, the FX series Sons Of Anarchy burst onto our screens and quickly became a global sensation.
In Season 5 of the show, which aired in 2012, the character Venus Van Dam was introduced — a transgender sex worker played by cisgender male actor Walton Goggins.
Venus made her debut in the episode “Orca Shrugged,” but became a recurring character in the show who regularly helped out SAMCRO as one of their closest allies.
A romantic relationship also developed between Venus and club member Tig Trager, played by Kim Coates. Venus was one of the few people to bring out Tig’s softer side in Sons’ entire seven-season run, and their romance was accepted by the rest of the biker gang without question.
And earlier this year, Walton opened up about the unconventional way he landed the role of Venus, explaining that he and Kurt first crossed paths when Kurt was one of the main writers on The Shield, which Walton starred in between 2002 and 2008.
Walton was dedicated to playing Venus as accurately and respectfully as possible, and went on to detail exactly how he approached the role, starting when he was still working on Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 movie Django Unchained.
“Charlie, and Kim, and all the boys on the show only ever met me as Venus Van Dam,” he explained. “We had been friends for years before that, but they never talked to me as Walton. They only referred to me as Venus, and they treated me as the lady that I was.”
“Yes, if I were doing that scene or if I was building that dynamic today, I would definitely use a real trans actor,” he added. “I would not have used a white straight man, but at all times, Walton was a goddess, you know? He was very, very concerned with respecting that community, and portraying it in a way that was not demeaning, that was not making fun of [it].”
What do you make of Kurt and Walton’s approach to Venus? Let me know in the comments!
