‘Sons of Anarchy’: Kurt Sutter Explains Why Jax Took His Fate Into His Own Hands

Back in 2014, Sons of Anarchy came to a close after seven seasons with the death of Charlie Hunnam‘s Jax Teller. Six years later, creator Kurt Sutter has been indulging fans for weeks with questions about his beloved biker drama. On Tuesday, he posted another detail to Twitter about what motivated Jax to take his own life, and if it was because he “wasn’t able to live without Tara,” as the fan asked.

“I think so many things factored into that fateful decision,” Sutter replied. “Tara, Gemma, his father, the club… but mostly it was about ending the lineage of Tellers being associated with the outlaw life. The mayhem had to end with him. He did not want his sons to follow in his path. It’s why he told Wendy to tell his boys that he was a monster. A murderer. He never wanted them to romanticize the life the way he did. He wanted his Abel and Thomas to create a new branch in the Teller family tree. An honest, peaceful branch.”

Sutter had previously addressed the less-than-subtle religious imagery layered into Jax’s final moments on screen, as well as why his two sons not only didn’t get their spinoff but ended up in the care of his ex, Wendy (Drea de Matteo). While some of it boiled down to the simple fact that there weren’t that many principle characters still around in Season 7.

“The obvious and practical reasons — Wendy was Abel’s mom,” Sutter explained. “Wendy also knew the pain and destruction of the life.” He also explained that Jax’s other ex, Tara (Maggie Siff), knew that Wendy “would do everything in her power to protect both boys from the outlaw life,” even though she’d been murdered near the end of Season 6. Although Sutter did underscore that the most important reason due to the fact that “for better or worse, Wendy was family.”

The former SoA showrunner also announced on social media that he had a new show in the works, which would start up soon. “As soon as [the] pandemic lifts, I’m going to do a new web series, Sutter Thinks,” he said. “We were into preproduction talks before the shutdown. Hopefully, it will still make sense to do it.”