Sons of Anarchy is an American action crime drama television series created by Kurt Sutter for FX. Originally aired from September 3, 2008, to December 9, 2014, Sons of Anarchy follows the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in California's Central Valley.
Charlie Hunnam stars as Jax Teller, who after discovering a manifesto written by his late father and motorcycle club founder, begins to question himself, his relationships, and the club. Themes throughout the show include love, brotherhood, loyalty, betrayal, and redemption. The series explored vigilantism, government corruption, and racism. The show's plot depicts an outlaw motorcycle club as an analogy for human transformation. David Labrava, a real-life member of the Oakland chapter of Hells Angels, served as a technical adviser and also played the recurring character Happy Lowman.
Sons of Anarchy'''s third season attracted an average of 4.9 million weekly viewers, becoming FX's highest-rated series at the time and surpassing its other hits, The Shield, Nip/Tuck and Rescue Me. The season 4 and 5 premieres were the two highest-rated telecasts in FX's history. The sixth season aired from September 10, 2013, through December 10, 2013. The seventh season of the series premiered on September 9, 2014. On November 3, 2014, FX announced that the seventh season would be its last. The series finale aired on December 9, 2014.
In November 2016, FX announced the development of a spin-off series, Mayans M.C., that was broadcast from 2018 to 2023.
Series overview Each season involved parallel plot lines that intertwine and overlap, centering on both the personal and family life of Jax Teller and on SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original), the "Mother Charter" of the organization based in fictional Charming, California. SAMCRO is involved with gunrunning in the western United States, and deals with rival gangs, politicians, and the authorities. As vice president and later president of SAMCRO, Jax struggles to manage the club and the legacy of its founder, his late father John Teller. He is frequently at odds with his stepfather, Clay Morrow, who has taken over the club since John's death, and is also now married to Jax's mother and John's widow, Gemma Teller Morrow. Jax also grapples with his relationships with his high school sweetheart, Tara Knowles, and his childhood best friend, Opie Winston.
SAMCRO takes its inspiration from the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club; the series includes special guest appearances by real Hells Angels members.
Season 1 (2008)
Since 1967, SAMCRO has held sway over the town of Charming through their political and business dealings. The series begins with the destruction of a warehouse SAMCRO uses to store and assemble guns, which is their main source of income, by their rivals, the Mayans Motorcycle Club. Jax's crystal meth addicted ex-wife Wendy Case overdoses, an emergency C-section is performed, and their son Abel is delivered ten weeks prematurely. Jax finds his father's manifesto when he visits a storage unit to collect some old baby clothes. John Teller, Jax's father and one of the founding nine members of SAMCRO, describes his trials with and hopes for the club and his concerns about its increasing lawlessness and violence. Jax's mother, Gemma Teller-Morrow, is now married to the president of SAMCRO, Clay Morrow. Jax's best friend Opie has just been released from prison for serving time for a club-related crime. The first season deals with Jax trying to reconcile things happening to the club with what he reads in his father's book and his complicated relationship with Tara Knowles, Opie trying to take a lesser role in the club, and local and federal law enforcement trying to shut down SAMCRO.
Season 2 (2009)
White separatists called the League of American Nationalists (LOAN) arrive in Charming. LOAN's leader Ethan Zobelle and Zobelle's enforcer, A.J. Weston, seek to drive SAMCRO out of Charming as a means to expand the town's economy. Zobelle orchestrates to have Gemma kidnapped and gang raped by Weston and two others. Due to the improper handling of an internal problem, the rift between Clay and Jax continues to widen as Jax challenges most of Clay's decisions and comes to a head when a lone car bomb nearly kills another member of SAMCRO. The second season sees SAMCRO battling LOAN for control of Charming, Jax and Clay veering further apart in their individual visions for the club, and evading the ever-present threat of the ATF.
Season 3 (2010)
Gemma has been hiding in Rogue River, Oregon, with Tig at the home of Gemma's father, Nate (Hal Holbrook), who has dementia. Gemma struggles when she takes Nate to his new assisted living home, and he pleads to be taken back to his house. She returns to Charming to reunite with her grandson, unaware he has been kidnapped. The return of ATF agent Stahl twists the facts about the murder of Donna, Stahl attempts to make a deal with Jax behind the club's back. Father Kellan Ashby's sister, Maureen, contacts Gemma at Ashby's request and tells her Abel is safe in Belfast. Upon learning of her grandson's abduction, Gemma suffers a cardiac arrhythmia and collapses in the Teller-Morrow lot. After the club returns from Northern Ireland and brings home Abel, agent Stahl double crosses Jax and tells the club about the side deal Jax made with her, unaware that Jax and the club had it planned all along knowing Stahl would back out of the deal. Jax, Clay, Bobby, Tig, Juice and Happy are taken to jail. While Opie, Chibs, and the Prospects are all enroute following Stahl, Opie kills Stahl to avenge the death of his wife, Donna.
Season 4 (2011)
The imprisoned SAMCRO members leave the penitentiary after their 14-month stay and are met by Lieutenant Eli Roosevelt of the San Joaquin Sheriff's Department, the new law enforcement presence in Charming. They also discover that Sheriff Hale's brother has become the mayor. US Attorney Lincoln Potter seeks Lieutenant Roosevelt's help to build a RICO case against SAMCRO.
Season 5 (2012)
In retaliation for the death of Veronica Pope (Laroy's girlfriend, who was also the daughter of powerful Oakland kingpin Damon Pope), the Niners attack SAMCRO and ambush a cargo shipment. With the death of Piney Winston and the growing conflict between the Niners and SAMCRO, along with several home invasions targeting people linked to the club, Jax is forced to meet with Damon Pope, to deal with a new threat unlike anything SAMCRO has ever faced.
Season 6 (2013)
Following the arrest of Tara and Clay, Jax struggles to hold SAMCRO together while Tara is imprisoned. Toric approaches both Tara and Clay and offers them deals in exchange for giving up SAMCRO. Both initially refuse, but Clay later relents when confronted with being thrown into the prison's general population and assuredly being killed by inmates paid off by Damon Pope's men as a retaliation for Pope's murder. Juice returns to Charming after helping Bobby relocate after stepping down as VP, which angers Chibs, who doesn't believe Juice has been punished enough for talking to cops and later beats him. With the death of Clay, Gemma and Nero's romance becomes stronger. Tara is murdered by Gemma and the tables get turned for the club.
Season 7 (2014)
Jax struggles with his recent loss and turns himself in to the authorities. While in jail, Jax makes decisions that radically alter the direction of the club and uses it to exact revenge for the death of his wife. With Bobby's death in the ensuing war, the hate and lies are fueled, created by Gemma and Juice, who are on the run and hiding from the club. After Jax learns the truth, he works to make things right with all parties involved. The series ends with Jax making the ultimate sacrifice to complete his part of the story of SAMCRO and fulfill his father's vision.
Cast and charactersSons of Anarchy is the story of the Teller-Morrow family of Charming, California, as well as the other members of Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original (SAMCRO), their families, various Charming townspeople, allied and rival gangs, associates, and law agencies that undermine or support SAMCRO's legal and illegal enterprises.
The series begins with SAMCRO being led by club president Clay Morrow, his stepson Jax Teller as vice president, Tig Trager as Sergeant-At-Arms, Bobby Munson as Secretary/Treasurer, and Juice Ortiz as their intelligence officer. Other members rounding out the club were Chibs Telford, formerly of SAM-Belfast, Opie Winston, the son of First 9 member and SAMCRO advisor Piney Winston, and Half-Sack Epps, the charter's prospect. They often cross paths with Deputy Chief Hale, a classmate of Jax's who grew up on the other side of the law, and his boss, police Chief Unser, who is on the club's payroll. Jax, a new father, deals with his ex-wife Wendy Case and is reunited with his high school sweetheart, Tara Knowles, while Opie tries to return to a life of normalcy for his long-suffering wife Donna Winston.
Main
Charlie Hunnam as Jackson 'Jax' Teller Katey Sagal as Gemma Teller Morrow Mark Boone Junior as Robert 'Bobby Elvis' Munson Kim Coates as Alexander "Tig" Trager Tommy Flanagan as Filip 'Chibs' Telford Johnny Lewis as Kip 'Half-Sack' Epps (seasons 1–2) Maggie Siff as Dr. Tara Knowles (seasons 1–6) Ron Perlman as Clarence 'Clay' Morrow (seasons 1–6) Ryan Hurst as Harry 'Opie' Winston (seasons 2–5; recurring season 1) William Lucking as Piermont 'Piney' Winston (seasons 2–4; recurring season 1) Theo Rossi as Juan-Carlos 'Juice' Ortiz (seasons 2–7; recurring season 1) Dayton Callie as Wayne Unser (seasons 3–7; recurring seasons 1–2) Jimmy Smits as Neron 'Nero' Padilla (seasons 6–7; recurring season 5) Drea de Matteo as Wendy Case (season 7; recurring seasons 1, 5–6; special guest season 4) David Labrava as Happy Lowman (season 7; recurring seasons 1–6) Niko Nicotera as George 'Rat Boy' Skogstorm (season 7; recurring seasons 4–6)
Recurring
Emilio Rivera as Marcus Álvarez, the president of the Mayans, the Latino Motorcycle Club that rivals the Sons Tory Kittles as Laroy Wayne (seasons 1–4), the leader of the Niners, the local black gang to whom the Sons deal guns Taylor Sheridan as Deputy Chief David Hale (seasons 1–3), Unser's second-in-command, who begins as a no-nonsense cop who grew up with Jax, Tara, Opie, and Donna Jamie McShane as Cameron Hayes (seasons 1–3), a member of the True IRA who serves as gun liaison with the Sons Dendrie Taylor as Luann Delaney (seasons 1–2), the producer at Caracara, the local porn studio, and wife of SAMCRO member Otto Glenn Plummer as Deputy Sheriff Vic Trammel (seasons 1–2), a San Joaquin sheriff deputy who is on the Sons' payroll Julie Ariola as Mary Winston (seasons 1–2), Piney's estranged wife and Opie's mother Taryn Manning as Rita 'Cherry' Zambell (seasons 1 & 3), a hang-around with the Devils Tribe, she falls for SAMCRO prospect Half-Sack and leaves Nevada to be with him in Charming Sprague Grayden as Donna Winston (season 1), Opie's wife Jay Karnes as Agent Joshua Kohn (season 1), a Chicago-based ATF agent who previously dated Tara, and come to Charming to find her Keir O'Donnell as Lowell Harland Jr. (season 1), a drug-addicted mechanic at Teller-Morrow Ally Walker as Agent June Stahl (seasons 1–3), an ATF agent who comes to Charming to investigate SAMCRO, and later the True IRA and Aryan Brotherhood Jeff Wincott as Jimmy Cacuzza (guest seasons 1, 5–6) Mitch Pileggi as Ernest Darby (seasons 1–2; special guest season 3; guest season 6), a Neo-Nazi who leads the Nords, a local heroin-dealing gang Michael Ornstein as Chucky Marstein (seasons 2–7; guest season 1), an accountant who falls under the protection and employ of SAMCRO Adam Arkin as Ethan Zobelle (season 2), a leader in the Aryan nationalist organization who comes to Charming