‘Sons of Anarchy’: Why Nero Didn’t Say Goodbye to Gemma

Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter is well known for spilling details about the show, and he recently shared why exactly Nero didn’t say goodbye to Gemma. In the series, Nero attempts to be a peacemaker between Jax and Gemma after Jax discovers that his mother was responsible for the death of his wife Tara, who was the mother of his youngest son, Thomas. Nero is unsuccessful, however, as Jax ends up taking Gemma’s life.

On social media, a fan reached out to Sutter and asked, “I’ve reached the part where Nero finds out the truth about how Tara died in such a powerful scene that just shows Nero’s emotion while Jax tells him. Could you give some insight as to what was going through his head and also why he just said Gemma should go and not at least telling her goodbye.” Sutter replied, “That was a fun scene to write and a hard one to watch. Jimmy [Smits] and Charlie [Hunnam] f—ed me up with those performances. Nero knew what Gemma’s fate was. He also knew she earned it. He hated Gemma for what she did. And hated himself for still loving her. My sense was that he wanted to remember their last moments together as being loving. Knowing there was nothing he could say that would comfort either one of them.”

At the end of the show, After Gemma’s death and before his own, Jax puts his sons in the care of Nero and Jax’s ex-wife Wendy — played by Drea de Matteo — who is the mother of his oldest son, Abel. Jax leaves paperwork for Nero to sell his home and mechanic garage so that Wendy can have the money to help raise the boys. He then says his tearful goodbyes, and they all leave. It is implied that they all went to live on Nero’s farm.

Tara’s death is not the only one orchestrated by Gemma that Sutter has commented on lately. In a previous fan Q-and-A, Sutter was asked about the death of Jax’s father, John Teller, and why it took Jax so long to figure out that his mother was involved. “I think Jax always knew that Gemma had sway over Clay [Morrow] and what he was planning,” Sutter explained. “But he also knew that JT created the scenario in which Clay was forced to make a change and on some level, JT welcomed his ultimate demise. When Gemma gave Jax permission to kill her for what she did to Tara. I think underneath all that was her need to be punished for what she did to JT. Jax knew that too.”