The stories seen throughout the show are fictional, but the Charlie Hunnam Sons of Anarchy character took inspiration from a real-life biker that the actor met when preparing to play Jax Teller.
He was the lead of Sons of Anarchy from beginning to end and went through a major journey that saw him go from SAMCRO’s hope to change their history and take them on a new path, to the man who almost destroyed the club he grew up in.
Jax’s tale isn’t based on a true story and takes many elements from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a confirmed inspiration for the show, but the Charlie Hunnam Sons of Anarchy character Jax was heavily based around a real biker he met in several other key ways. Speaking to The Huffington Post back in 2015, Hunnam was asked if he got to spend time with real motorcycle clubs, and he shared that he spent a lot of time with one particular club during the initial rehearsal period of Sons of Anarchy, where he met the real Jax Teller.
Hunnam Based Jax On A Young Oakland Biker With A Similarly Tragic Fate
Jax Tellar, the lead protagonist of Sons of Anarchy
Hunnam explained he went to Oakland before Sons of Anarchy season 1 started shooting and hung out with “a very well-known club that have a presence in Oakland,” enough for him to get the feel of what life as a member of a motorcycle club is all about. Once there, he met a 22-year-old member of the club who Hunnam says “was Jax Teller.” His dad was in the club, he had been in it his whole life as well, and he was “the heir apparent.” Hunnam went on to describe the unnamed biker as having “an amazing presence about him” and was like “an old school outlaw, cowboy” and gunslinger in the modern-day.
Unfortunately, the young biker also had a similar fate to Jax Teller’s, as according to Hunnam, he was killed the week after he left Oakland. Hunnam inherited his necklace, which he keeps as a memorial for him. The biker had such an impact on the actor that he based everything about Jax on him – from the jeans and shoes he wore to his mannerisms.
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