Charlie Hunnam On Why He Chose To Audition For Sons Of Anarchy

Can you imagine what Sons of Anarchy would have looked like if anyone besides Charlie Hunnam had portrayed Jax Teller? It’s hard to think that some one else could have played the role, but it could have happened. Had Hunnam not read the script for SOA when he did, we could have seen a much different series.

During an appearance on Talking With Chris Hardwick, Hunnam revealed that SOA was one of many scripts on his table. He was at a difficult point in his career, having gone a while without a large role, Hunnam knew that whatever project he chose next would be vital to his future.

“I had been really struggling in my career. I had a very clear idea of the type of movies I wanted to be doing… I was spending enormous periods of time unemployed.”

After spending some time writing his own script, Hunnam said he knew he had to get back into the rhythm of acting.

“Now I’ve gotta return to being an actor and see what’s what. And the first script I read after that was Sons of Anarchy. And it was really because I had a fairly large pile of scripts to read and Sons of Anarchy, because it was a TV script, was way thinner than any of the other scripts. Then I read it, and I was blown I way and said, ‘Man I would do anything to get me in a room with these guys. I wanna try and get this role.’”

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This goes to show how powerful the writing was on Sons of Anarchy, as it only took one read-through for an actor like Charlie Hunnam to immediately push all other scripts aside.

As a follow-up to SOA, Hunnam stars in King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword, which opens in theaters May 12.

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