‘Sons of Anarchy’ Creator Weighs in on Tara Backlash

Kurt Sutter is one of the best at developing characters. From the story arc of the leading man in Sons of Anarchy Jax Teller, to the handling of Gemma Teller’s character, the series creator knows what makes a character connect with an audience, whether in a positive or negative light.

Perhaps his most impressive work over the seven seasons was the character development of Tara Knowles, Jax’s high school girlfriend who eventually became his wife and the mother of his children. Sutter had Tara, who was played by Maggie Siff, go from someone who was set on leaving Charming, California, and getting a new life started to becoming fully invested in SAMCRO. It was in Season 6 when Sutter completed her story arc with Tara meeting her demise. He was asked during his Q&A on Tuesday about whether or not he was surprised about the backlash that came when Siff’s character made a dramatic turn in her final season, which saw her work against the club before dying at the hands of Gemma.

“I knew I had an actress that could draw on five seasons of work to beautifully own that transition,” Sutter wrote on Twitter. “Maggie took some clunky spins on the page and made them poignant and organic. I didn’t worry about the hate or backlash because I knew where it was going and how it served the mythology. Hate is as important as love. It means people are being impacted by the story and that means I’m doing my job.”

When seeing this response, many fans applauded him for how he wrote her character, admitting that there was certainly a divide among themselves and the fan base on her role. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Siff discussed that dramatic twist and the fate Tara met. “It’s been such a long, wonderful journey and I’m very grateful for it,” Siff responded when asked if she cried learning of her death. “But as an actor, six years or anything is sort of insane. I think that we are all curious and interested in what the rest of our life is.” In that same interview, she said she felt there was only two outcomes for Tara, one being how it ended or her becoming the new Gemma and “sort of ascending her throne.”

For Sons of Anarchy fans or even those who haven’t watched the show yet, the streaming rights to the series are now on Hulu where subscribers have access to all seven seasons.