‘Sons of Anarchy’: Jax Teller’s Most Unforgettable Moments

Underneath the violence of life in a motorcycle club, Sons of Anarchy was the story of a hero being taken down a path of moral corruption in the name of loyalty.

For seven seasons, we watched as Charlie Hunman’s Jackson Teller evolved from an idealistic young member of SAMCRO into a vengeful leader blindly inflicting harm to his enemies in the name of his lost love.

Viewers watched as the fan-favorite character lived his life, hoping to make things better, only for circumstances, the people around him and his own choices to lead him further down the path of darkness, ending in a heartbreaking final act that Sons fans will never forget.

As the universe of Sons of Anarchy expands past the death of its first lead character on Mayans M.C., scroll through to relive some of Jax Teller’s most unforgettable moments.

Saving Tara From Her Stalker (Season 1)

In the beginning of the series, Tara (Maggie Siff) had no intention of reuniting with high school sweetheart Jax Teller, but everything changed when her creepy ex-boyfriend John Kohn returned (Jay Karnes).

After his investigation into the club is dismantled and he is asked to leave Charming, John returns and tries to sexually assault Tara — though she injures him and stops him in his tracks.

She then calls Jax to clean up the mess and he kills him with a headshot (his first kill on the series), and the two seal their rekindled relationship by having sex as the dead body rests on the floor.

Going Nomad (Season 2)

Before the events of the season two finale changed everything, Jax was very close to leaving the club behind, often clashing with leader Clay Morrow.

As their passive-aggressive feud reached its high point in a tense moment in the SAMCRO table, Jax disagrees with Clay and attempts to be let out of the club, though the cub vote does not go his way and his way out seems even father away from reality.

Giving Abel a Chance (Season 3)

After Abel is kidnapped by the Irish, setting up a storyline that takes the Sons to Europe, Jax once again is faced with an impossible decision between his happiness and the good of his children.

Jax finds his son once he has been adopted by a rich and seemingly nice family. At that moment, Jax gets a glimpse at what his son’s life might be if he was away from the SAMCRO life, and he decides to let him go — though his sacrifice is cut short when the family is murdered and Abel is brought back into the life shortly after.

Taking the Throne (Season 4, Episode 14)

At the end of a particularly tragic season, Jax finds himself caught between leading SAMCRO or seeing it all burn.

Convinced he can bring the club out of the shadows and still enact revenge on those who’ve wronged him, Jax takes reins of the club with Tara by his side, as the frame changes into an old photo of John Teller and Gemma Teller, foreshadowing Jax following his father’s footsteps.

Taking a Shot at Wendy (Season 5)

Threatened by the resurgence of now-clean and sober Wendy (Drea de Matteo), Jax resorts to one of his darkest moments yet when he pays her a visit at her new home.

After she tells Tara she wants her son Abel back in her life, Jax arrives at her home and injects her with meth, threatening to call her job and demand a drug test so she loses everything she’s worked for. The moment was one of the first gritty looks at how dark Jax’s journey would end up.

Jax Shoots Clay (Season 6)

Long after Jax discovered the lengths Clay had gone to keep the Sons in the gun business, including killing his father, we knew Clay’s death would be epic.

By the time Jax shot him at the end of season six, the show had reduced Clay from a strong and iconic leader to a humiliated ghost of who he used to be. His shooting, as part of a ploy to get the Sons out of legal trouble, still felt like poetic justice in the end.

Avenging His Love (Season 7)

Tara’s death at the end of season six sealed Jax’s and the rest of the Teller family’s fates, though the trail would get a lot bloodier before the end.

After Jax was released from prison, he was determined to find the person responsible for the death of his wife, all alliances and business dealings be damned. It was in season seven when Jax lost all sense of humanity, as grief and power blinded his judgment and led Sons of Anarchy to its bloodiest and darkest season ever.

Killing The Ultimate Traitor (Season 7)

As the end of the series draws near, Jax faces his darkest moment when he is forced to seek justice within his ranks to avenge the death of his wife.

The realization that his mother Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal) was the one to kill the love of his life gives him pause to his plans of revenge, and open his eyes to the darkness and heartbreak that surrounds his life.

Killing his mother sealed Jax’s fate.

His Father’s Footsteps (Season 7 finale)

After seeing his family fall apart and the fate of his club in the balance thanks to his actions, Jax decides to give Wendy the blessing to take his sons far away, and give them the life that he never had.

In the show’s final moments, Jax performs the ultimate sacrifice as he lets himself get his by a truck to save SAMCRO, much like is father did when he died long before the action of the series took place.

The complete series of Sons of Anarchy can be streamed on Netflix and FX+, with new episodes of Mayans M.C. airing Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on FX.