It’s no surprise when a network renews its highest rated show. For FX, that show happens to be fan-favorite Sons of Anarchy, a crime drama that follows members of the SAMCRO motorcycle club and their exploits in the quaint town of Charming, California. The series was renewed for a fifth season back in October, but fans will be happy to hear that the show has been renewed for a sixth season as well. In addition, creator and showrunner Kurt Sutter has signed a three-year overall deal with Twentieth Century Fox TV and FX Productions that will carry him through the seventh, and likely final, season. Hit the jump for more on Sons of Anarchy. THR reported on Sutter’s new contract and the extension of the Sons of Anarchy seasons. Sutter, now the longest tenured writer at the network due to his work on The Shield, has the leeway to create for both broadcast and cable, as well as a script deal with FX. This allows Sutter to plan the series up to its finale as he sees fit, rather than at the demand of the Nielsen ratings. You can click here to read his thoughts on how he sees the story going. The strategy has worked out for the network’s writers in the past, including Shawn Ryan (The Shield) and Peter Tolan and Denis Leary (Rescue Me). That’s not to say that if the ratings are good, Sutter will quit after seven seasons regardless.

“There’s a part of me that does see being able to tell this story in seven seasons, but there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to say, ‘That’s it.’ I almost feel like when you hang that kind of finality and put a period on something, there’s almost a backlash that happens with the fan base. If there’s more story to be told after seven seasons and if financially it’s still a feasible endeavor, I’m definitely open to doing more.”

Sutter also said that he has no plans to juggle multiple shows, like his contemporary Ryan Murphy (Glee/American Horror Story) is doing, but he does like the contract’s allowance for him to experiment with features during the show’s hiatuses. He also expressed little interest in running someone else’s show, a stipulation that usually happens when signing an overall deal. While it seems as if his sole focus is on Sons of Anarchy, Sutter also expects to spend some time looking ahead to other projects, either on cable or broadcast TV. If FX Network president John Landgraf has his way, he’d like to keep Sutter and his fans as close to his network as possible:

“If Kurt wants to spend the rest of his career developing, creating and executive producing shows for FX, that would be fine by me. I think he’s just a really special, original thinker and storyteller. It’s hard to say whether our brand is Kurt Sutter, or he just really understands our brand.”