Opie Winston

Harry "Opie" Winston is a fictional character on the FX television series Sons of Anarchy, played by Ryan Hurst. He is a member of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, but struggles to fit in at times as he is reluctant to participate in illegal activity because of his preference for not returning to prison. On his colors, he wears a patch reading "Men of Mayhem", meaning he has killed for the club.

Biography
Winston is in his early 30s and is a member of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club's Charming, California chapter. He is the son of Piney Winston, who co-founded the club, and lived in Charming until he was 16 years old when his mother took him away. He eventually returned, however, and became a full-patch member of the club. He was married to Donna Winston and the couple had a son and daughter. He has also been best friends with Jax Teller, who is now club Vice-President, since childhood.

In 2003, he was sentenced to five years in Chino prison following his conviction for arson with ex-SOA member Kyle Hobart. Hobart was the get-away driver during the heist but fled the scene when he heard police sirens, leaving Opie stranded. When he was paroled, he got a job as a lumberjack at a local lumber mill and is now struggling to support his family earning "clean" money. He faces conflicting pressure from his wife Donna, who wants him to leave the club, and from SOA members, due to his reluctance to participate in their frequently illegal activities. Facing a deteriorating marriage, he has begun to participate in all of SOA's activities to end the "half in" mentality he had taken regarding his devotion to his family and to SAMCRO.

Season One
Opie was released from prison on parole at the beginning of the first series. The Mayans had recently destroyed the Sons of Anarchy's weapon storage, and Clay Morrow, Chibs Telford, Tig Trager and Jax Teller were planning on getting some revenge by attacking the Mayans. Jax invited Opie to come along and he reluctantly accepted. Later on, however, Jax told him not to come because he could see he was having trouble with his family.

When he was struggling for money, Opie went to his father, Piney, to borrow some. Piney refused and told him to "grow a dick". He did, however, tell him to join Clay and Bobby Munson on a protection run to make some extra cash. He took his father's advice, and helped them secure a shipment of electronics on the way to Mexico. The trio eventually hijacked the truck, to send a warning to the local sheriff who owns the trucking company.

When Kyle Hobart's ex-wife went to Gemma Teller Morrow, Clay's wife, and asked if Kyle could come back to Charming to see his son's band play at a local festival, she put it up for a vote in the club. Opie and most of the club voted that he should be allowed to come back to town (only Piney and Tig Trager voted against it). At the festival, Opie beat Kyle up in an act of revenge. Later on, Kyle went to Jax and asked him if the Sons wanted in on his deal selling stolen car parts. Jax accepted and invited him to the clubhouse that night. This was a set-up, however, to punish him for not having his SOA tattoo removed after being disowned by the club. At the clubhouse, Bobby lured Kyle into the garage by saying that he wanted to show him his new motorcycle. There, they tied him up and Tig used a blowtorch to burn off the tattoo.

Jax and Piney sold five AK-47s to Nate Meineke and his right-wing state militia. They then used these guns to ambush a prison convoy and free one of their members, Frank Cison. A police officer and two civilians were killed during the assault. Meineke dropped his cell phone at the scene, and his last calls had been to Clay Morrow. When the ATF found the phone, they arrested Clay and raided the clubhouse. Clay was later released because no evidence was found, meaning he could no longer be kept in custody. Meanwhile Jax, Piney and Opie Winston decided to kill Meineke and his gang to stop them "snitching" if they were apprehended by the authorities. They pretended to sell them more weapons. The boxes of guns were actually filled with explosives, however, and the militia loaded their trucks with them. All of the militia were killed when the bombs were detonated.

Cameron Hayes, a member of the True IRA, offered SAMCRO a free shipment of guns if they carry out a hit on Brenan Hefner, the man who killed his cousin Michael McKeavey. Opie, Bobby and Jax then went to the hotel room where he sees his African American mistress. Opie was supposed to shoot him when he left the room, but froze and Bobby stepped in and shot him at close range with a silenced pistol.

Opie lost his job at the lumber mill and began working as a mechanic at the Teller-Morrow Automotive. His marriage also began to deteriorate further. Later on, the ATF arrested Luann Delaney, Otto's wife, and Cherry, Half-Sack's girlfriend, and threatened them with prison if they did not give information on SAMCRO. Bobby, Piney and Tig started a brawl at a local bar and most of the town's small police force had to go to the scene to break it up. This gave Jax and Opie an opportunity to break into the police station, with the help of Unser, and free Cherry. Luann stayed behind because the ATF had given her and Otto a deal.

After Bobby was arrested for the murder of Brenan Hefner, the ATF took Opie and his family to a safe house and paid off his debts in order to make him look like an informant. The real witness was Hefner's mistress, however. Opie was released after two days and he returned to the clubhouse to show that he was not the snitch. Clay and Tig still did not trust him, however, and they searched his car and mobile phone for recording devices. They found microphones which were planted by the ATF without his knowledge. Clay and Tig then decided to kill him.

He went with Jax, Clay and Tig to sell weapons to the Mayans in Oakland. The One-Niners attacked, however, and they were forced to flee. During the ensuing shoot-out, Tig tried to shoot Opie but found himself unable to. That night, Opie, Donna and the children attended a party held in celebration of Jax's baby son being released from hospital. When they left, Opie took Donna's car to take the children home and Donna took Opie's pick-up truck. Tig followed the pick-up in his car and shot Donna dead, believing that Opie was driving. Soon after Tig left to make the hit, Clay was told by Wayne Unser that Opie was not the informant.

The last episode of Season One ended with Donna's funeral, which was attended by Sons of Anarchy from all across the country. Although it was not shown, it is likely that Opie was arrested for Hefner's murder after the funeral. However, it is unlikely that he was convicted as Jax threatened the witness into leaving the state, and the case was built entirely around her statement.

Season Two
In the First episode of Season Two we see Opie returning from a road trip after Donna's funeral and that he is still mourning the death of Donna. He has yet to find out that Clay ordered the hit and that Tig carried it out. Clay leads them to believe one of the Mayan's members killed Donna, which leads to them hunting one of them down. He is about to get the truth of the matter from the member, when Jax pulls him off. He distracts Opie while Tig shoots the Mayan in the mouth. Opie shot him in the head, and carved the Anarchy symbol into his chest, to send a message. After Opie, Tig & Chibs left the scene Jax shot the A off the dead Mayans chest; Jax then disposed of the body.

He has recently acted apathetic, reckless, and brooding. In the 2nd episode of season two, when the Mayan's ambush the firearms deal with the Niner's he breaks from cover to singlehandedly kill several Mayans. In the 3rd episode of season two, he was willing to go head on against several Aryan Brotherhood drug dealers until Half-Sack stopped him. He even go so far as to use high-explosives with fuse instead of remote detonator to blow up a meth lab. Jax even asks him at the end of the episode if he has a death-wish to which he coldly replies he's putting in more for the club now that Donna is dead.

Recently, he has begun to develop a friendly relationship with one of Luann's pornstars, Lyla. While others seem to look down on Lyla because of her profession, Opie connects with her because much like him, she is also a single parent who is struggling to make ends meet.

When Tig revealed that he accidentally killed Donna, Opie flew into a rage and severely beat Tig before leaving to exact revenge on ATF agent June Stahl. He trails Stahl and find that she is covertly dealing with Chibs. At a surveillance point, Opie was able to corner Stahl and threatened her with a pistol, wanting her to feel the pain he has felt since his wife's death. Knowing the possible consequences, Opie decided not to kill Stahl. Opie returned to the clubhouse where he made peace with Clay, telling the members present at the table (Clay, Jax, Tig, Bobby, and Juice) that the truth about Donna's death was to never be discussed again. He revealed that he saw Chibs with agent Stahl, but was able to convince Clay that they should hear Chibs' side of the story before making another rash decision. He also resolved to continue to dedicate himself to SAMCRO.

When Piney attempted to shoot Clay, Opie defended his father and convinced Clay to be forgiving. Opie was last seen passionately kissing Lyla, who he is now in a serious relationship with.