Sons of Anarchy is an American action crime drama television series created by Kurt Sutter for FX. Originally aired from September 3, 2008, to December 9, 2014, Sons of Anarchy follows the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in California's Central Valley.
Charlie Hunnam stars as Jax Teller, who after discovering a manifesto written by his late father and motorcycle club founder, begins to question himself, his relationships, and the club. Themes throughout the show include love, brotherhood, loyalty, betrayal, and redemption. The series explored vigilantism, government corruption, and racism. The show's plot depicts an outlaw motorcycle club as an analogy for human transformation. David Labrava, a real-life member of the Oakland chapter of Hells Angels, served as a technical adviser and also played the recurring character Happy Lowman.
Sons of Anarchy's third season attracted an average of 4.9 million weekly viewers, becoming FX's highest-rated series at the time and surpassing its other hits, The Shield, Nip/Tuck and Rescue Me. The season 4 and 5 premieres were the two highest-rated telecasts in FX's history.[4] The sixth season aired from September 10, 2013, through December 10, 2013. The seventh season of the series premiered on September 9, 2014. On November 3, 2014, FX announced that the seventh season would be its last. The series finale aired on December 9, 2014.
In November 2016, FX announced the development of a spin-off series, Mayans M.C., that was broadcast from 2018 to 2023.
Each season involved parallel plot lines that intertwine and overlap, centering on both the personal and family life of Jax Teller and on SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original), the "Mother Charter" of the organization based in Charming, California. SAMCRO is involved with gunrunning 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. He is frequently at odds with his stepfather, Clay Morrow, who has taken over the club since John's death, and is also now married to Jax's mother and John's widow, Gemma Teller Morrow. Jax also grapples with his relationships with his high school sweetheart, Tara Knowles, and his childhood best friend, Opie Winston.
SAMCRO takes its inspiration from the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club; the series includes special guest appearances by real Hells Angels members.
SEASON TWO (2009)
Main article: Sons of Anarchy season 2
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 SAMCRO out of Charming as a means to expand the town's economy. 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.