Sons of Anarchy was no stranger to brutal deaths. The crime drama, which detailed the exploits of an outlaw motorcycle club, gave Game of Thrones a run for its money when it came to dispatching main characters in shocking manners. One never knew who was going to bite the dust next, which added to the show’s tension. That being said, few deaths hit as hard as that of Tara. The character, played by Maggie Siff, was a doctor who made her debut in the very first episode.
Tara played a substantial role in season 1. She was the wife of Sons of Anarchy protagonist Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam), which made it seem as though she’d be safe from the horrors that Jax’s motorcycle club unleashed on their enemies. For a while, this proved to be the case. Tara was a steady recurring presence throughout the majority of the show, but she couldn’t escape her husband’s dangerous lifestyle.
Here’s a breakdown of when, how, and why Tara Knowles was killed in Sons of Anarchy.
Tara dies in the season 6 finale “A Mother’s Work”
Tara Knowles made a point of staying out of Jax’s business as much as possible, but it proved not to be enough. The character ran afoul of Jax’s mother, Gemma (Katey Sagal), in the season 6 finale, and their interaction proved to be fatal. Gemma became convinced that Tara was going to rat her and Jax out to the rest of SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Originals), and she decided to nullify the risk through the simplest means imaginable: murder.
Gemma’s dispatch of Tara is absolutely brutal. She bashes her daughter-in-law’s head in, and then shoves her bloodied face into an overflowing sink. If that weren’t bad enough, Gemma then takes a barbecue fork and stabs Tara in the head multiple times before calling it a day. It’s a devastating scene, made all the more upsetting by the fact that Jax was considering going clean in the days leading up to Tara’s death. He realized things had gone too far with SAMCRO, and decided he wanted to turn over a new leaf with his family.
Does Jax get revenge against Tara’s killer?
Gemma manages to keep the truth of Tara’s death a secret for most of season 7, but Jax learns the truth in the episode “Suits of Woe.” He’s absolutely gutted to discover the familial betrayal that his own mother perpetrated against him, and kills her in the following episode, “Red Rose.” The death of both his wife and mother effectively dooms Jax to a life of sin and crime, with the brief window in which he considered going straight being little more than a pipe dream.
Maggie Siff talked about her character’s death during a 2013 interview with TV Guide. She told the outlet that she had a feeling Tara was going to meet an untimely end, but admitted that it was hard to shoot the scenes given how high the emotions on set were. “My character is supposedly dead but I’m very much there,” she explained. “Witnessing and experiencing the gamut of emotions that they’re having about it, both as actors and as characters…. That was really painful.”
Charlie Hunnam also felt overwhelmed by Tara’s death. During the featurette for the season 6 DVD release of Sons of Anarchy, the actor reflected on the Jax and Tara relationship. “The relationship with Jax and Tara is the thing that I find plays the most real and deep and rich and has been the thing I’ve been most proud of,” he asserted. It’s one of the most consequential moments in the show’s history, and it remains as impactful today as when “A Mother’s Work” aired.