114 Fun Facts About Sons of Anarchy

Who created the television series "Sons of Anarchy"?

Kurt Sutter did more than create the show: he co-wrote its theme song and directed the series finale himself.

In the club name SAMCRO, what do the last two letters, RO, stand for?

Redwood Original marks the Charming club as the Sons' founding 'mother' charter; when Jax, its president, kills the head of another charter, the other charters' presidents call for his execution.

What is Sons of Anarchy's last episode called?

Papa's Goods closed the seven-season run on December 9, 2014; in it Jax settles the club's last scores and hands the presidency to Chibs before his final ride.

Which 2013 sci-fi film starred Charlie Hunnam as pilot Raleigh Becket?

Pacific Rim, directed by Guillermo del Toro, casts Hunnam as a man who quits after his brother is killed in battle, then is called back five years later for a last stand.

What is the title of the main theme song for "Sons of Anarchy"?

This Life, sung by Curtis Stigers, was re-recorded in an Irish style for the Season 3 episodes set in Ireland, and earned the show an Emmy nomination in 2009.

Which Shakespeare play is most often named as the model for Sons of Anarchy?

Jax is the Hamlet figure, with Clay as the usurping uncle Claudius and Gemma as Gertrude, which is why the show has been called "Hamlet on Harleys".

Which Mad Men actress played Tara Knowles, the old flame Jax goes on to marry?

Maggie Siff went from Mad Men's department-store heiress Rachel Menken to Tara, a part she played until the character was killed off at the end of Season 6.

What role does Juice Ortiz fill for SAMCRO when Sons of Anarchy begins?

Intelligence officer is Juice's role as the club's hacker; in Season 4 the law picks him out as the club's weak link and uses a family secret to turn him informant.

Which actor played Harry 'Opie' Winston, Jax's best friend since childhood, in Sons of Anarchy?

Ryan Hurst was billed only as a recurring guest in Season 1, then joined the main cast and stayed until Opie was killed off early in Season 5.

Where do Jax and Tara hold their wedding in Season 5?

In a brothel: hiding out there with the law closing in, Jax and Tara are married on the spot by a judge who happens to be one of the house's customers.

Which actor portrayed Clarence 'Clay' Morrow?

Ron Perlman, the big screen's Hellboy, was a late replacement: the first pilot had been shot with another actor as Clay before the part was recast.

Who is revealed in Season 3 to be the secret half-sister Jax never knew he had?

Trinity Ashby is the daughter John Teller fathered with Maureen Ashby in Ireland; she and Jax are close to becoming lovers when Maureen finally tells her the truth.

What officer position does Jax Teller hold when Sons of Anarchy begins?

Vice President is Jax's seat under his stepfather Clay; he takes the gavel at the end of Season 4, the very season in which he tells Tara he wants to leave the club.

Which kitchen implement does Gemma use to kill Tara in the Sons of Anarchy Season 6 finale?

A carving fork: wrongly believing Tara has betrayed Jax to the district attorney, Gemma attacks her in her own kitchen, then lets the blame fall on a Chinese gang.

The creator of Sons of Anarchy also had a recurring acting role as which incarcerated SAMCRO member?

Otto Delaney was the creator's own role, and he wrote the character brutal fates: Otto is left nearly blind in prison and later bites off his own tongue.

Which RoboCop star played crooked ex-cop Charles Barosky and also directed episodes of Sons of Anarchy?

Peter Weller was directing episodes two seasons before he appeared in one; Barosky, who runs a crew of corrupt Stockton police, only arrived in Season 6.

Who leads the Oakland-based rival club that SAMCRO clashes with from Season 1 onward?

Marcus Alvarez, played by Emilio Rivera, is ruthless enough to order a hit on his own son for botching a job, yet he ends the series as SAMCRO's ally.

Which former NYPD Blue star joined the cast in Season 5 as Nero Padilla?

Jimmy Smits, NYPD Blue's detective Bobby Simone, crossed to the other side of the law here, playing a gang leader through the final three seasons.

How does SAMCRO member Herman Kozik die during a cartel battle in Season 4?

He steps on a landmine laid by a rival cartel, with just time for a disbelieving curse; he had only lately won the SAMCRO patch that Tig kept voting to deny him.

Who was Charming's long-serving police chief in Sons of Anarchy, whose relationship with SAMCRO was famously cosy?

Wayne Unser is about to retire when the club pressures him to stay on, keeping his straight-arrow deputy David Hale out of the chief's chair; Hale answers by calling in the ATF.

What was the initial cause of Jax Teller's growing disillusionment with the club's direction?

Discovering his father's manifesto in a storage locker in the pilot is what starts Jax questioning; John Teller's pages shadow his choices to the series finale.

What does Juice ask to finish before he lets himself be killed in prison in Season 7?

His slice of pie: knowing what is coming, Juice slides his killer the blade himself and asks only to be allowed to finish dessert first.

What was the name of the white supremacist organization that became a major antagonist in Season 2?

The League of American Nationalists is fronted by businessman Ethan Zobelle, with A.J. Weston as its muscle; it wants SAMCRO out of Charming, and Zobelle turns out to be an FBI informant.

How did Jax's father, club founder JT, die in 1993?

Sideswiped by a semi-truck, JT was dragged 178 yards and died two days later; in the finale Jax ends his own life on the same highway.

What are Opie's last words to Jax before he is beaten to death in prison?

I got this, Opie tells Jax, having just headbutted a guard so that he, not Jax, is the Son sent in to die.

What happened to Gemma Teller Morrow in Season 2 that she at first kept secret?

Gemma hides that she was sexually assaulted by A.J. Weston and two others on Ethan Zobelle's orders in the Season 2 premiere, to keep Clay and Jax from starting a war.

Which phobia does the club's sergeant-at-arms share with the show's creator, who has it himself?

Tig's pediophobia is played for laughs more than once, including a scene where a doll is left in his bed.

What job does ex-con Chucky Marstein do at the club's porn studio in Season 2?

Bookkeeper: Chucky had kept the books for a Triad gang, and when the Triads hand him over the club puts him on the studio's accounts to free up Bobby.

Which real-life Oakland Hells Angels founder played First 9 member Lenny 'the Pimp' Janowitz?

Sonny Barger, a founding member of the Oakland Hells Angels, first appeared as Lenny in the Season 3 finale: an in-joke, since the show's club was modelled on the Angels.

What is Tara Knowles's profession when she returns to Charming at the start of Sons of Anarchy?

Surgeon: Tara works at St. Thomas Hospital, where her ties to Jax and the club keep landing her in trouble with the administrator, Margaret Murphy.

Which rock singer played Abel's preschool teacher, Ms. Harrison, in the final season of Sons of Anarchy?

Courtney Love's four episodes marked her return to acting, and the teacher's surname is her own: the Hole singer was born Courtney Michelle Harrison.

Which obsessive ATF agent, ex of Jax's high-school sweetheart, follows her to town in Season 1?

Josh Kohn, Tara's ex-boyfriend from Chicago, uses an ATF case against the club as his excuse to track her down; after he attacks her at home, Jax shoots him dead.

Which Fantastic Four star appears in the last two episodes as Milo, a long-haul trucker?

Michael Chiklis plays Milo, who gives Gemma a lift north in the penultimate episode; in the finale it is his truck that Jax meets on the highway.

Jax's younger brother Thomas died in 1990 at age six from what?

A congenital heart defect runs on Gemma's side of the family: she carries it herself, Thomas died of it, and Jax's son Abel is born with the same condition.

What does Tara fake in Season 6 to keep Gemma from getting custody of her sons?

A miscarriage: Tara invents a pregnancy, then blames its loss on an assault by Gemma, so that Gemma could never be given the boys if Tara went to prison.

What does SAMCRO's go-to killer have tattooed on his body after each kill?

A smiley face marks each kill made by Happy Lowman, and Happy is no nickname: it is the name he was born with.

Which Sopranos star played Wendy Case, Jax's ex-wife and the mother of his first son?

Drea de Matteo, The Sopranos' Adriana, was only a guest player for most of the run; she was promoted to the main cast for the final season.

Which porn star becomes Opie's second wife?

Lyla Dvorak marries Opie on an Indian reservation in the Season 4 premiere, a wedding the club uses as cover while it settles its score with the Russians.

With what does Jax beat to death the prison guard he blames for Opie's murder?

A snow globe: with the guard tied up in his own home, Jax winds it and beats him to death as it tinkles out 'It's a Small World'; the episode is titled Small World.

Which ATF agent spends the first three seasons scheming against SAMCRO and double-crossing its members?

June Stahl shoots a fleeing informant and pins the killing on Gemma, and her scheming gets Opie's wife killed; Opie executes her at the end of Season 3.

What is the first name of Opie's wife, killed in Season 1 in a case of mistaken identity?

Donna is shot by Tig, who has been sent to kill Opie and mistakes her for him at the wheel of his truck; the killing poisons the club for years.

How does Clay punish traitor Keith McGee, SAMBEL's president, in Season 3?

Pushes him off a roof: McGee, an old First 9 brother, had sold the club out, so Clay takes back his cut and then sends him over the edge.

In Sons of Anarchy, what was the club's auto shop called, where most members are on the books as mechanics?

Teller-Morrow Automotive Repair bears the names of John Teller and Clay Morrow and is managed by Gemma, who married each of them in turn.

What stage act does SAMCRO's Bobby Munson perform as a side job in Lake Tahoe?

An Elvis impersonator: Bobby misses a club job in the pilot because he is booked to sing as the King in Tahoe, and the club calls him Bobby Elvis.

Which comedian played Georgie Caruso, the sleazy rival porn producer who crosses the club?

Tom Arnold's Georgie tries to poach a rival studio's actresses and has its equipment stolen; the club answers by beating him and wrecking his own gear.

In which region of California is the fictional town of Charming located?

Charming sits in the Central Valley near Stockton, in San Joaquin County, whose sheriff's department takes over policing the town in Season 4.

Which Sons of Anarchy actor was a real-life Hells Angel hired first as the show's technical adviser?

David Labrava was brought in to keep the biker details honest and only then cast as Happy, the club's killer; he stayed for all seven seasons.

What was the long-running feud between Tig and Kozik about?

A dog: for a season the two talk bitterly about a 'her' they both loved, and Tig keeps voting down Kozik's transfer, before it emerges that Missy was a dog.

In which state is Indian Hills, home of the Sons charter led by Jury White?

Nevada: the Indian Hills club began as the Devil's Tribe, a friendly outfit that SAMCRO patched over without warning in Season 1 to hold off the Mayans.

Which High School Musical star guest-starred in Season 5 as Emma Jean, a high-priced escort?

Ashley Tisdale played Emma Jean for two episodes: Clay takes up with her at Nero's agency to provoke Gemma, who promptly attacks her.

Which war had SAMCRO's founders fought in?

The Vietnam War: John Teller and Piney Winston served together, came home in 1967 to a country that had little use for them, and founded the Sons that year.

What replaces the scythe handle in the Sons of Anarchy Grim Reaper logo?

An M16 rifle stands in for the scythe's handle; only full members may wear the complete Reaper, and one who is thrown out must have his Reaper tattoo blacked out.

Which patch is worn by members who have spilled blood on the club's behalf?

Juice notably wears the Men of Mayhem flash on his cut.

Which Harley-Davidson model line do SAMCRO members mainly ride?

Dyna models carry the club: the production built each bike to reflect its rider's character, yet all are painted black and most wear T-bar handlebars.

What vintage motorcycle of his father's does Jax restore and ride in the final season of Sons of Anarchy?

A 1946 Harley-Davidson Knucklehead is the bike Jax finishes restoring in the final season; in the finale he leads police on a long chase aboard it.

Which Mexican drug organisation does SAMCRO begin muling cocaine for in Season 4?

The Galindo cartel deal ends up saving the club: its two fixers turn out to be working with the CIA, which shuts down the federal RICO case against SAMCRO.

Which meth-dealing white supremacist gang, led by Ernest Darby, clashes with SAMCRO?

The Nordics, or Nords, are Darby's crew; he sides with one rival gang after another in his efforts to bring drugs into Charming.

Which Irish paramilitary group supplies SAMCRO with guns in the early seasons?

The True IRA is the show's fictional republican splinter group; when Jax tries to quit the gun trade in Season 6, one of its leaders answers by bombing the clubhouse.

Where do the Sons hold church after the Irish bomb their clubhouse in Season 6?

Scoops, an ice cream parlor Jacob Hale owns and had shut, becomes the club's temporary home; Jax hands him three months' rent up front and moves in what survived the blast.

Which 1980s TV star cameos as retired porn star turned director Dondo in Season 4?

David Hasselhoff plays Dondo, a retired porn star turned director who was mentored by Luann and helps the club set a trap for the rival producer suspected of killing her.

Which Season 7 episode title is a famous line from a Shakespeare tragedy?

'What a Piece of Work Is Man' borrows a Shakespeare hero's line marvelling at mankind for one of the final season's bleakest hours, the episode in which the club loses Bobby.

To which state does Gemma flee in Season 3, hiding out at her father's house?

Oregon is where her father Nate lives, near Rogue River; she runs there again at the very end, and it is where Jax catches up with her.

What footwear is Jax Teller known for wearing with his club cut?

White sneakers came from real life: the show's star copied the jeans and shoes of a young Oakland club member he met while preparing, who was shot dead before filming began.

Which house band backed Katey Sagal on the Sons of Anarchy soundtrack albums?

The Forest Rangers were assembled for the show by music supervisor Bob Thiele Jr., and besides backing Katey Sagal's covers they play behind Curtis Stigers on the opening theme.

Which actor played Ethan Zobelle, the cigar-shop owner out to drive SAMCRO from Charming in Season 2?

Adam Arkin played Zobelle, who poses as a respectable Main Street cigar merchant while heading a white-separatist gang; Arkin later came back to direct episodes of the show.

In which fictional border town is Mayans M.C. set?

Santo Padre is the fictional California border town where the show's hero, a gifted student whose future was wrecked by cartel violence, prospects for the Mayans after prison.

Which bestselling novelist cameos in Sons of Anarchy as a 'cleaner' hired to make a body disappear?

Stephen King's cleaner rides up on a motorcycle in Season 3 and answers to Bachman, a nod to Richard Bachman, the pen name King once published under.

Which veteran actor plays EZ's father, Felipe Reyes, in Mayans M.C.?

Edward James Olmos plays Felipe Reyes, a quiet butcher living under an assumed name: born Ignacio Cortina, he is later revealed to have fathered another son by a former lover.

Which actor filmed the original pilot as Clay Morrow before the role was recast?

Scott Glenn filmed the first pilot as Clay Morrow, but the show's creator wanted more dark comedy than Glenn's version offered, so the role was recast and Clay's scenes reshot.

Which earlier crime drama first featured the One-Niners street gang seen in Sons of Anarchy?

The Shield introduced the One-Niners; the Sons' creator had been a writer and producer on that Los Angeles cop drama and carried its street gangs north with him.

Which object left by a delivery man tips Jax off to the Irish bomb in the clubhouse?

A shamrock pen left by the man who delivered a beer keg makes Jax realise the keg is a bomb, and he clears the packed clubhouse moments before it blows.

What injury does Tara suffer in Season 4 when Clay's hired killers try to grab her?

A crushed hand: her right hand is slammed in the van door as she fights her abductor, before Jax chases the van down and gets her free.

Why was Half-Sack killed off at the end of Season 2?

Johnny Lewis asked to leave the show, so a prospect who was never meant to die that early was written out with a hero's death.

Which screen legend played Gemma's father Nate, who has dementia, in Season 3?

Hal Holbrook plays Nate, a retired reverend whose mind is going; when he catches Tig with his live-in caretaker, he puts a rifle round through Tig's shoulder.

Which shock rocker played neo-Nazi prison sect leader Ron Tully?

Marilyn Manson plays Tully, the Aryan Brotherhood shot-caller in Stockton prison whom Jax courts to widen the club's power base behind bars.

Which Glee star guest-starred as a truck stop waitress and single mother in Season 7?

Lea Michele plays Gertie, who offers sympathy when a worn-out Gemma says her son has just lost his wife, unaware she is comforting the woman who killed her.

Which Justified star played Venus Van Dam, Tig's transgender love interest?

Walton Goggins played Venus Van Dam, whose name riffs on Cletus Van Damme, the undercover alias his character used on an earlier cop drama written by the Sons' creator.

Which Lost actor played Oakland kingpin Damon Pope in Season 5?

Harold Perrineau, Lost's Michael Dawson, played Pope, whose revenge for his daughter's death drove Opie's prison murder.

Which actor played cartel man Romero 'Romeo' Parada in Season 4?

Danny Trejo played Romeo Parada, who turned out to be working with the CIA, complicating the club's cartel deal.

Which actor played the RICO-obsessed Assistant US Attorney Lincoln Potter?

Ray McKinnon plays Potter, an eccentric prosecutor who rides a motorcycle and dresses like a biker; when the CIA kills his racketeering case, he sinks Jacob Hale's luxury housing project instead.

Which punk icon played white-supremacist enforcer A.J. Weston in Season 2?

Henry Rollins, once Black Flag's frontman, played Weston, whom Jax corners in a tattoo parlor bathroom and shoots only after letting Weston's young son walk out.

Which actor played Deputy Chief David Hale, Charming's by-the-book lawman?

Taylor Sheridan's straight-arrow Hale is courted by a newcomer who promises to rid Charming of the club; Sheridan himself went on to write Sicario and create Yellowstone.

Which award did Katey Sagal win in 2011 for her role on Sons of Anarchy?

A Golden Globe for best actress in a TV drama went to Katey Sagal in 2011; the Television Academy, by contrast, never once nominated her for the part.

Which actress plays District Attorney Tyne Patterson, who pursues the club in Seasons 6 and 7?

CCH Pounder plays Patterson, the prosecutor to whom Jax finally surrenders himself in exchange for immunity for Tara.

Which sitcom role did Sagal play for ten years before Sons of Anarchy?

Peg Bundy on Married... with Children was Sagal's part for eleven seasons; when she lost a pregnancy in 1991, the writers turned Peg's own on-screen pregnancy into a dream of Al's.

Which 2005 football-hooligan film led the Sons of Anarchy creator to cast Charlie Hunnam?

Green Street had him leading a West Ham football firm, a tribe that, as he put it, lives by a lot of the same rules as bikers.

In which English city was Charlie Hunnam born?

Newcastle upon Tyne shaped him: Hunnam has said that growing up as its mines and shipyards closed made him retreat into films, and its teen drama Byker Grove gave him his first role.

Which blockbuster role did Hunnam quit in 2013 over his Sons of Anarchy schedule?

Hunnam dropped Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey in October 2013, citing his Sons of Anarchy workload; Jamie Dornan took the part.

Whose mother is Happy revealed to have killed, in the Mayans M.C. Season 1 finale?

EZ and Angel Reyes learn that Happy was the gunman who killed their mother, and years later the brothers take their revenge, shooting him dead in the spin-off's last season.

Which crime kingpin murders Bobby Munson in Season 7?

August Marks has Bobby kidnapped and tortured, sending the club his eye and fingers, then shoots him dead at the handover; Jax kills Marks for it in the series finale.

What are the names of Tig Trager's two daughters?

Tig's daughters are Dawn and Fawn; Dawn is burned alive by Damon Pope in the Season 5 premiere in retaliation for his own daughter's death.

Which actor played Eli Roosevelt, the county sheriff who takes over policing Charming in Season 4?

Rockmond Dunbar's Roosevelt ends up pitying the informant he was told to break, and it is that same man who shoots him when the sheriff walks in on Tara's murder.

In which city was Chibs Telford born?

Chibs was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and grew up in Belfast, hence his ties to SAMBEL and the Irish.

Who gave Chibs his facial scars and stole his wife Fiona and daughter Kerrianne?

Jimmy O'Phelan gets it all back in the Season 3 finale, when Chibs drags him from a car, slices his cheeks the same way and stabs him to death.

How did Half-Sack Epps earn his nickname?

Half-Sack lost a testicle in the Iraq War; a former armed-forces boxing champion, he earned the club money in fights.

Which rogue IRA figure stabbed Half-Sack to death?

Cameron Hayes went rogue after his son Edmond was killed, a death a federal agent pinned on Gemma; in revenge he stabbed Half-Sack and vanished with Jax's baby.

Which liquor is Piney's drink of choice?

Patrón tequila is Piney's drink; when the old-timer goes quiet in Season 4 the club shrugs it off as a 'tequila retreat' at his cabin, the same cabin where Clay shoots him dead.

What secret does Sheriff Roosevelt use in Season 4 to turn Juice informant?

His father is Black, and Roosevelt warns that the club would pull Juice's patch over it; in the Season 4 finale the sheriff hands him the file to tear up himself.

Which three characters die in the penultimate episode 'Red Rose'?

Juice, Unser and Gemma all die in 'Red Rose': Juice is stabbed by Tully behind bars, and Unser and Gemma are both shot by her own son at her father's house.

What side business does Charming's police chief own in Sons of Anarchy?

A trucking company is the chief's sideline; after he leaves the force he sells it and ends up living in a trailer.

Which Mexican gang does Nero Padilla head?

The Byz Lats are the Latino street gang he heads; when the Sons come under attack, he hides them at Diosa, his escort house.

Which title later replaces 'President' on the patch worn by the Mayans' leader?

El Padrino, Spanish for 'the Godfather', is the patch the Mayans' leader wears in Mayans M.C., when he rides south with his Oakland men to back a border charter against a cartel.

How does the club remove excommunicated Kyle Hobart's back tattoo?

Burn it off with a cutting torch: thrown out for abandoning Opie on a job, Kyle never blacked the tattoo out as ordered, and offered 'fire or knife' he chose fire.

Who played Frankie Diamonds, one of the Nomads who transfer to SAMCRO in Season 5?

Chuck Zito, a former Hells Angel, had sued FX in 2010 claiming the show was his idea, then joined its cast two years later as the scheming Frankie.

Who becomes SAMCRO's first Black member in the Sons of Anarchy finale?

T.O. Cross, president of the allied Grim Bastards, is nominated by Chibs and voted in unanimously once the Sons agree to open their charters to Black members.

Whom does Jax send Juice into prison to kill in Season 7?

Henry Lin is the target: Juice gets himself arrested by firing on highway patrol, stabs the Triad boss inside, and then tells Jax the truth about Tara's murder.

Before his death, how does Jax tell Nero he needs his sons to grow up?

Hating the thought of him: calling himself a criminal and a killer, Jax asks that Wendy one day tell the boys who he really was, so they never become what he became.

What is Gemma's maiden name?

Madock is her father's name: Nate Madock is the retired reverend whose house she runs to as a fugitive in Season 3, and it is where Jax finally finds her.

Which chronic condition in his hands does Clay try to hide with cortisone injections?

Clay's osteoarthritis worsens season by season despite the cortisone shots, and he hides it to protect his seat at the head of the table.

In what kind of building does Jax execute Clay in Season 6 of Sons of Anarchy?

An airport hangar: after a unanimous club vote, Jax kills the Irish gun-runners waiting there, shoots Clay and arranges the bodies to look like a falling-out among them.

Which Season 5 episode features Opie's death in prison?

Laying Pipe is the hour in which Opie, to spare Jax, headbutts a guard, is sent in to fight and is beaten to death while his friends watch through the glass.

What tattoo did teenage Tara get on her lower back to mark herself as Jax's girl?

A crow is the mark of a Son's woman; when Gemma exposes Tara's a decade later, Tara says she keeps it to remember that all of that is behind her.

How did Chibs actor Tommy Flanagan get his real facial scars?

A knife attack outside a nightclub where he had been DJing left Tommy Flanagan scarred; friends then talked him into trying acting, and three years of theatre led to Braveheart.

Which actor played Bobby Munson, SAMCRO's level-headed secretary?

Mark Boone Junior played Bobby, who walks away from the club in Season 6 and turns out to have been quietly recruiting three new members for it.