Charlie Hunnam, who was forced to back out of Fifty Shades of Grey due to scheduling conflicts last fall, still wishes he could have been a part of the project.

Charlie Hunnam On Leaving 'Fifty Shades'

Hunnam, contrary to popular belief, did not walk away from playing Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey by choice or due to any fear that it would negatively impact his career. In fact, Hunnan has stated that it was something he was really looking forward to being a apart of.

"I'm just really excited to see it. I was just really, really invested and wanted to work with [director] Sam [Taylor-Johnson] and play that character. I'm really, really curious," Hunnam said at a Television Critics Association Conference. "I don't think people have had unchaperoned access to me since all of this went on. The CliffsNotes were exactly what we said. I couldn't do it because of schedule. It was as simple as that."

Hunnam, who was replaced by Jamie Dornan in the leading role, even went a step further, defending E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey book trilogy and distancing the erotic novels from the "mommy porn" label it's received.

"I think people really do that book a disservice when they reduce it to that type of talk," said the Sons of Anarchy star. "What [James] actually created is a really sophisticated dynamic and presented it in a package which was accessible to people who normally would be terrified of that subject… Actually what she did was pretty brilliant."

Since stepping away from Fifty Shades, Hunnam has been filming the final season of FX's Sons of Anarchy and Guilermo del Toro's Crimson Peak – both of which served to keep him from playing opposite Dakota Johnson's Anastasia Steele.

"It became like an embarrassment of riches," Hunnam told Us Weekly in June. "I had so much going on, and I was already committed to doing Guillermo's film. And after having such a wonderful experience again with Guillermo [in Crimson Peak] and really believing in that film, I don't really have any regrets. I wouldn't have lost out on that experience to work with Guillermo again for the world."

Sons of Anarchy will premiere its final season Sept. 9 on FX at 10/9c. Crimson Peak is slated to hit theaters Oct. 16, 2015.

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