During Sons of Anarchy season five finale, Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam) settled scores while minimizing major threats to the motorcycle club. Jax’s amazing feat came at a great personal cost as the episode wrapped up with a major cliffhanger: Sheriff Eli Roosevelt (Rockmond Dunbar) arrested his wife Tara (Maggie Siff). I caught up with Hunnam during the San Diego Comic Con to find out how things are in Charming.
Hunnam said he feels very close to Jax, adding, “I don’t need to reach too far to find his truth.“
How is Jax emotionally and mentally at the beginning of season six?
“I think he’s in a really good place. I think there are some problems with Tara but in comparison to the problems he’s been facing in the past, it’s relatively simple to fix those problems so I think he’s really in a good, strong place. How long he remains there, remains to be seen.”
While Tara is in prison, how is Jax, as a father, coping?
“I think Jax really struggles to balance his home life and the demands the Club makes of him. And Tara has always been a big factor in creating that balance; I think it’s going to be a big struggle. Gemma (Katey Sagal) is always there to pick up the slack; it’s a good support group around him. I don’t think so much whether he worries about how he’s going to look after the kids day after day but what the future is providing them in keeping them in this world, in this violent tumultuous world he lives in. That’s going to be the question. Ultimately, which leads to the huge decision that he’s been heading towards the whole show—is he going to stay in the club and compromise his family or is he going to get out and show them a better life than he was shown.”
Do you have a sense if he’s going to stay or leave the MC? “I’ve been very close to this character and frankly, close to his world—the real world. I know a lot of guys who are living Jax’s life for real and just see they very, very rarely leave the club. It becomes such a part of who these guys are and their identity. It’s very difficult to go and live a normal life after living in the fast lane and with such freedom. I couldn’t imagine no matter what that Jax would ever be able to walk away from his club but he’s also not going to walk away from his children. He’s going to do everything he can to continue to balance both the best way he can. There are always external factors that contribute to that decision and who knows, maybe the decision won’t be his in the end.”
When asked about which TV show he watched, Hunnam said: “I fucking love Games of Thrones!”
You’ve played this character for so long, how do you prepare, or do you do anything differently now? “There’s a lot less writing in the script than there used to be. I used to keep meticulous notes and always be exploring the character and how we would feel here and how we’d react to this and much more now, I just feel very close to him; I don’t need to reach too far to find his truth.”
Is it starting to feel like the end?
“It’s been an amazing journey. I just dread having to take that cut off now in the end. There’s a part of me that is excited about the future and excited to finally exorcise him from my psyche because it’s been a weight carrying this guy for so many years in my mind and heart, but the much bigger part of me absolutely just dreads it. Already, it’s almost like finding out a relative is sick, having like to prepare oneself to having to say goodbye is the feeling I have being halfway through the sixth season. I’m pretty sure that Kurt’s committed to doing one more season after this so less than 20 episodes left to be this guy. It’s going to be really bittersweet.”
The sincerity in Hunnam’s words in regards to the affection he feels for his character was palpable and I wasn’t surprised. The intensity of his performance has been increasing in correlation to the conflicts his character has been involved with. In addition, it was touching to hear him say he’s dreading having to say goodbye to Jax.
Based on last season’s events, we can expect Jax to experience some deep and complex personal journeys. All I can say is, we only have six weeks to go for the season six premiere!
Sons of Anarchy will return to FX on September 10, 2013 at 9:00 EST in a 90-minute episode.
To learn more about the show, visit: http://www.fxnetworks.com/soa and http://www.sutterink.com/.
To check out Kurt Sutter’s Sons of Anarchy video channel on YouTube, go to http://www.youtube.com/sutterinksoa.
Follow @sonsofanarchy, @sutterink, and @FXNetworks, and tweet using the hashtag #SOAFX.
Photos © 2013 YourEntertainmentCorner/Elle Lutz. All Rights Reserved
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