While diehard fans probably know
quite a bit of Sons of Anarchy trivia, there are still untold truths about the
show that are definitely worth discovering. For fans and anyone else interested, here are
more facts that you may not know about the show. In the show's first season, Charlie
Hunnam's Jax Teller is introduced as struggling with the pressures of
being the heir apparent of SAMCRO, AKA the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club
Redwood Original. It's something made all the worse for the kid when he stumbles across
some writings by his late father which confirm Jax's suspicions that the club has become the
opposite of what was originally envisioned. "Hey. You want me to be your number two, protect this club? Then I gotta know where
you're takin' us, otherwise there's no trust." In a 2008 interview, showrunner
Kurt Sutter confirmed this comes directly from the history of the Hells Angels. But to really drill into the tensions
of such a club for seven pulpy seasons, Sutter also focused on how
motorcycle clubs represent certain American values while aggressively
rebelling against the establishment. Of course, while they claim to be rebels, they're
not exactly free. As Sutter told The Verge - "[Motorcycle clubs] say they're all about 'ride
free' and 'f--- the establishment, but within the structure of these outlaw clubs, there are
more rules and regulations than you or I have." By now the idea of the show being based
on Hamlet has become an ingrained part of Sons of Anarchy's mythology,
but it isn't exactly correct. Instead, the play was used to inform Jax's
character and follow his journey into manhood. However, Sutter has also revealed that Hamlet
served as a tonal reference point for the show's dramatic arcs, with the play's themes often
overlapping with those of Sons of Anarchy. Though the showrunner has admitted he cringes
somewhat when the Shakespearan overtones are referenced by fans, they're also difficult to
avoid in a show where bodies litter virtually every episode, and where manipulation,
deception, and hierarchy reign supreme. If Charlie Hunnam's performance as the
pretty-boy-you-don't-wanna-mess-with biker came across as more authentic than
anyone expected, it's probably because the actor based Jax on the 22 year-old heir
apparent of an Oakland based motorcycle club. Hunnam spent a lot of time researching
his role and fessed up to The Huffington Post that he got to know bikers and club
members really well. It's there that the actor met the young biker who would inform
the complex and tragic character of Jax, right down to the aesthetics, including the
character's clean white kicks and blue jeans. Hunnam said the guy was perfect for
the character. As the actor explained, "His dad was in the club and had
been in the club his whole life. And he was 22. He had 22 birthday parties in
the Oakland clubhouse of this motorcycle club. He was the heir apparent, like the
history and future of that club." But it came at a cost. The biker who
served as inspiration for Jax was killed the week after Hunnam left Oakland,
right before the show started shooting. The actor still has a necklace from that
time which he wears as a memorial. With such a commitment to the role, it's no surprise Hunnam got so deep in character
that he struggled to leave Jax on set. The British actor revealed to GQ that he put everything he had
into the show. That includes dressing primarily in plaid and, oh yes, acting like a legit biker
on and off the screen, with Hunnam saying - "I lived it as much as I could. I never got in
a car the whole seven years. I was only on my bike and rolling around with a bunch of real
bikers and occasionally acting like a maniac." The line between character and actor was so
blurred that Hunnam even rode a Harley Dyna, the same bike as Jax. It likely didn't help him to shake off that SAMCRO scuzz when
he went home at the end of the day. It also made saying goodbye to the
character intensely difficult for Hunnam, who compared it to feeling, quote,
"like a genuine bereavement." Speaking to Glamour about the emotional process, he admitted to returning to the set
after the show had wrapped, saying - "I'd just walk around at night because I wanted to be in that environment and go through
a personal process of saying goodbye." One of SAMCRO's most interesting
and beloved members is Happy, the ironically named sergeant-at-arms of
the motorcycle club who loves killing so much that he tattoos a smiley face
on himself for every life he snuffs out. And the actor behind the character is
about as legit as they come on the show. "I'm bringing to the performance
my own personal life experience. On some level I've either
seen it happen or lived it." David Labrava is a former member of
the Hell's Angels who was originally brought on to be a technical advisor.
However, the guy is more than just a biker. When Kurt Sutter visited the Oakland
chapter of which Labrava was a member, he jumped at the opportunity to show off
his creative flair to the showrunner. Speaking to Collider, Labrava said - "I showed him that I wrote scripts, and I asked
him to let me have a chance, when he cast the show. I got cast on the show, and then he gave
me a real chance to write, and here I am." As well as depicting the trigger-happy biker, Labrava also wrote the tenth episode
of the fourth season, "Hands." Throughout the show's run, Sutter filled
the series with fun, unusual cameos, usually featuring celebrities playing
against type. Season two notoriously starred anti-fascist punk musician Henry
Rollins as a violent neo-Nazi. Season seven featured the infinitely badass Courtney Love as
a sweet-natured pre-K school teacher. Meanwhile wholesome High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale
depicted a high-class escort in season five. Sutter clearly had great fun with
these playful guest appearances, which were as surprising as they were
oddly fitting for the celebrity involved. Where else could you possibly find David
Hasselhoff playing a retired adult movie star or revered horror master Stephen King
playing a "cleaner" of dead bodies? Considering what a gargantuan presence he brought to the show as slick SAMCRO president
Clay Morrow, it may seem utterly inconceivable that Sons of Anarchy could ever exist without
Ron Perlman. But unbelievable though it may be, the original pilot actually starred iconic
character actor Scott Glenn in the role. Speaking to The A.V. Club about his
brief Sons of Anarchy experience, Glenn actually sounded relieved that he was
fired from the show. The way that Glenn tells it, he found out that FX was going ahead with the
series but without him in the role, and said - "It was ultimately probably one of the
better things that could've happened to me." Enter Perlman, who gave NPR his own side
of the story. Revealing that although he's a fan of Glenn's work, the actor
divulged about Glenn's performance that, quote, "the network decided that they
weren't getting what they were hoping." This required Perlman to take on the role with
hardly any prep time, which might explain why he never exactly became accustomed with riding a hog
the way his fellow Sons of Anarchy co-stars did. "When I would start the bike, and I would get
ready to pull out at the end of a shot you know, after all the dialogue was over
people would go 'Cut Cut Cut!'" Eager but often mocked, Half-Sack was
a fan–favorite for the two seasons that the character managed to survive on Sons of
Anarchy, and he likely would've lasted even longer had actor Johnny Lewis not asked Sutter
to cut his time short, with Sutter explaining - "Johnny wasn't happy on the show. Creatively,
he really wanted out of his contract." Just a couple of years after leaving the
series, the 28-year-old was found dead in a driveway in Los Angeles after allegedly
beating his 81-year-old landlady to death. The actor was reportedly struggling with
severe mental health issues at the time. Sutter published a blog post
responding to the actor's death, in which he admitted that he unfortunately
wasn't surprised by the events, and called it - "A tragic end for an extremely talented
guy, who had unfortunately lost his way." Suffice to say, fans were utterly
devastated when Jax's ride-or-die besite, Opie, was horrifically killed at the start
of season five. And it seems that the cast and crew of the show were hurting just as much
as fans over the lovable character's demise. To help actor Ryan Hurst and the rest of the cast
properly say goodbye to the character, Hunnam bought his friend and co-star a samurai sword
and encouraged him to use it to remove his beard. As Hunnam tells it, the actor hadn't shaved
for the three months since he'd left the show. In fact, he hadn't shaved once
since landing the role of Opie, which had been over five years
prior. Hunnam explained - "It was a catharsis that we all needed for him to get rid of that beard and for
all of us to just let Opie die." Cue a supremely emotional video of the
symbolic beard-cutting, in which Hurst, Hunnam, and Mark Boone Junior absolutely sob
as they take turns lopping off Hurst's beard before watching the remainder be shaved off his
face. See? They're big softies at heart, really. Let's face it. Wearing a whole lot of
leather is one of the least appealing options no matter the weather. So to have
to wear such a challenging costume during long work days on set in 100 degree
heat? Yeah, it's less than ideal. However, that's exactly the environment that the
Sons of Anarchy cast and crew found themselves in while filming the show. As Kim Coates told
Entertainment Weekly during a set visit - "We used to call it doing 'the timber.' We'd lose a crew member a week from
passing out. Boom. Gone." Tommy Flanagan, who plays Chibs on the show, was once in such bad shape from the heat
that he was even sent to hospital for an IV. Super-fans of Sons of Anarchy had the final
episode of their favorite show spoiled due to a stupid, throwaway mistake. The snafu was because
of the release of a Sons of Anarchy guide book that was immediately sent out to fans who'd
pre-ordered it. The book arrived just before the final episode, and it basically screamed sensitive
plot points in the faces of unprepared fans. Kurt Sutter was understandably livid about the
mistake. Despite adding that there were many different people he could blame for the book
being delivered far too early, he also decided to shoulder the brunt of the blame for coming up
with the idea for the book in the first place. Sutter apologized profusely, and also urged
people not to ruin the ending for others. Creator and showrunner Kurt Sutter built a bit
of a reputation as a blunt-talking maverick during his days working on
Shawn Ryan's The Shield. Sutter's reaction to criticisms of the show's
third season, which saw the club head to Ireland, could politely be described as
vitriolic. He later called out specific critics who reviewed each episode
in another fiery post on his own blog. After Sutter's first post-Sons show, The Bastard
Executioner, failed to find an audience and was canceled, he wound up returning to
the world of the Sons with Mayans M.C., a spinoff he co-created Elgin James set
three years after the events of Sons. Mayans M.C. deals with an offshoot of the Mayans, who were depicted in Sons of Anarchy as
antagonists and then allies of Charlie Hunnam's Jax Teller. The spinoff deals
with JD Pardo's EZ and his struggles, with the Mayans having a different structure
and culture than the Sons. To make the voices authentic, Sutter was committed to hiring people
of color, telling the Hollywood Reporter - "I didn't think that it made
creative sense to be the sole voice of a show that takes place
in an entirely different culture." That attitude probably led to Sutter
being fired from his own co-creation. Sutter says Fox's parent company, Disney, disliked
an off-color joke he wrote about Walt Disney, an issue he believes he compounded
by writing more jokes. However, the apparent reason for his ouster stemmed
from complaints about his behavior. Sutter moved on and will direct his
feature film debut, Blumhouse's This Beast. Check out one of our newest
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