Sons of Anarchy premiered on September 3, 2008, on cable network FX. The series's third season attracted an average of 4.9 million weekly viewers, making it FX's highest rated series and surpassing its other hits The Shield, Nip/Tuck and Rescue Me. Season four and five premieres were the two highest-rated telecasts in FX's history. On December 9th, 2014, the series ended, as creator Kurt Sutter felt seven seasons was enough, and that he wanted Sons of Anarchy to end in a blaze of glory.
The sixth season aired from September 10, 2013, through December 10, 2013. The seventh and final season of the series premiered on September 9, 2014. The series finale premiered on December 9, 2014.
This series explored vigilantism, government corruption and racism, and depicted an outlaw motorcycle club as an analogy for human transformation. The real-life Oakland Hells Angel David Labrava served as a technical adviser, and also played one of the main characters, Happy Lowman, the club's assassin.
On November 2013, Sutter indicated that he was in talks with FX to make a Sons of Anarchy prequel set in the 1960s. In February 2015, he said he would not work on the prequel, which is likely to be titled "The First 9". In November 2016, FX announced the development of a spin-off series Mayans M.C. that will be centered around Latino culture.
Each season involved parallel plot lines that intertwine and overlap, centering on both the personal and family life of Jackson "Jax" Teller (Charlie Hunnam) and on SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original). SAMCRO is involved with gun-running in the western United States, and deals with rival gangs, politicians and the authorities. As vice president and later president of SAMCRO, Jax struggles to manage the club and the legacy of its founder, his late father John Teller. SAMCRO is said to resemble the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club; the series includes appearances from David Labrava (Happy), Chuck Zito (Frankie Diamonds), Rusty Coones (Quinn), and Sonny Barger (Lenny "The Pimp" Janowitz) who are real Hells Angels members.
The series begins with the destruction of a warehouse the club uses to store and assemble guns, which is their main source of income, by a rival MC right before the overdose of Jax's methamphetamine-addicted ex-wife Wendy. An emergency C-section is performed, and their son Abel is delivered ten weeks prematurely. Jax finds his father's memoirs when he visits a storage unit to collect some old baby clothes. John Teller, Jax's father, was one of the founders of SAMCRO, and the book describes his trials with and hopes for the club. Jax's mother, Gemma Teller-Morrow, is now married to the President of SAMCRO, Clay Morrow. Jax's best friend Opie has just been released from prison for serving time for a club-related crime. The first season deals with Jax trying to reconcile things happening to the club with what he reads in his father's memoirs, Opie trying to take a lesser role in the club, and local and federal law enforcement trying to shut down SAMCRO.
White separatists called the League of American Nationalists (LOAN) arrive in Charming. LOAN's leader Ethan Zobelle and Zobelle's enforcer, A.J. Weston, seek to drive the Sons of Anarchy from Charming. To send a message to SAMCRO, Zobelle orchestrates to have Gemma kidnapped and gang raped by Weston and two others. Due to the improper handling of an internal problem, the rift between Clay and Jax continues to widen as Jax challenges most of Clay's decisions and comes to a head when a lone car bomb nearly kills another member of SAMCRO. The second season sees SAMCRO battling LOAN for control of Charming, Jax and Clay veering further apart in their individual visions for the club, and evading the ever-present threat of the ATF.
Gemma has been hiding in Rogue River, Oregon with Tig at the home of Gemma's father, Nate (Hal Holbrook), who suffers from dementia. Gemma struggles when she takes Nate to his new assisted living home, and he pleads to be taken back to his house. She returns to Charming to reunite with her grandson, unaware he has been kidnapped. The return of A.T.F. agent Stahl twists the facts about the murder of Donna, Stahl attempts to make a deal with Jax behind the club's back. Father Kellan Ashby's sister, Maureen, contacts Gemma at Ashby's request and tells her Abel is safe in Belfast. Upon learning of her grandson's abduction, Gemma suffers a cardiac arrhythmia and collapses in the Teller-Morrow lot. After the club returns from Ireland and brings home Abel, agent Stahl double crosses Jax and tells the club about the side deal Jax made with her, unaware that Jax and the club had it planned all along knowing Stahl would back out of the deal. Jax, Clay, Bobby, Tig, Juice and Happy are hauled away to jail. While Opie, Chibbs, and the Prospects are all en route following Stahl. Opie kills Stahl to avenge the death of his wife, Donna.
The imprisoned SAMCRO members leave the penitentiary after their 14-month stay and are met by Lieutenant Eli Roosevelt of the San Joaquin Sheriff's Department, the new law enforcement presence in Charming. They also discover Hale has become the mayor. US Attorney Lincoln Potter seeks Lieutenant Roosevelt's help to build a RICO case against SAMCRO.
In retaliation for the death of Veronica Pope (Laroy's girlfriend, who was also the daughter of powerful Oakland kingpin Damon Pope), the Niners attack SAMCRO and ambush a cargo shipment. With the death of Piney Winston and the growing conflict between the Niners and SAMCRO, along with several home invasions targeting people linked to the Club, Jax is forced to meet with Damon Pope, to face a new threat unlike anything SAMCRO has ever faced.
Following the arrest of Tara and Clay, Jax struggles to hold SAMCRO together while Tara is imprisoned. Toric approaches both Tara and Clay and offers them deals in exchange for giving up SAMCRO; both initially refuse, but Clay later relents when confronted with being thrown into the prison's general population and assuredly being killed by inmates paid off by Damon Pope's men as a retaliation for Pope's murder. Juice returns to Charming after helping Bobby relocate after stepping down as VP, which angers Chibs, who doesn't believe Juice has been punished enough for talking to cops and later beats him. With the growing romance between Gemma and Nero, the death of Clay Morrow, and death of Tara, the tables get turned and club starts to go in a new darker direction.
Jax struggles with his recent loss and turns himself into the authorities. While in jail, Jax makes decisions that radically alter the direction of the club and uses it to exact revenge. Another member's death fuels the hate and lies created by Gemma and Juice, who are on the run and hiding from the club. After Jax learns the truth, he works to make things right with all parties involved. The series ends with Jax making the ultimate sacrifice to complete his part of the story of SAMCRO and fulfill his father's vision.