‘Sons of Anarchy’ Creator Kurt Sutter Reveals How He Came up With the Show’s Name

Kurt Sutter has continued to make the most of self-isolation. The Sons of Anarchy showrunner has been locked down with his family as part of an ongoing global effort to help slow the spread of coronavirus. He’s also been fielding a number of questions about his beloved biker drama, and last month, even revealed how he came up with the show’s name.

“The original name of the club was ‘The Zealots’ but ultimately it had too much of a religious vibe,” Sutter wrote in a series of tweets on March 24. “Part of the problem was finding a name not already being used. I didn’t want to step on any M.C. toes. And there are a lot of M.Cs. I changed the name of the club to Sons of Anarchy, but I didn’t want to call the show that. Felt too obvious.”

“The first name was Forever Sam Crow,” Sutter continued. “But soon after the pilot was finished we got a letter from a lawyer claiming that a certain M.C. [owned] the rights to ‘Forever (club name).’ I didn’t want to begin this project in a conflict with the M.C. community, so regardless of the legality, I changed the title out of respect. Sons of Anarchy became the obvious choice.”

Though Sutter revealed that his First Nine spinoff isn’t “looking great,” he has revealed some of the other mysteries behind Sons of Anarchy, This includes the meaning of the homeless woman on the show, as well as whether or not Jax (Charlie Hunnam) and Opie (Ryan Hurst) had to petition the M.C. as prospects given they had family members as ranking members.

“Of course they had to prospect,” Sutter revealed. “I think it’s always harder on a prospect if they have family in the club. We got to play some of that our in Mayans M.C. If you have blood in the club you have shoes to fill. Expectations to live up to. And the family member in the club usually goes out of their way to make it harder on the prospect to avoid any accusations of favoritism.”

All seven seasons of Sons of Anarchy are available to stream on Hulu.