Sons of Anarchy is officially returning to our screens more than a decade after the bikers of SAMCRO rode off into the sunset – although not in a way anyone could have predicted.
The original series, created by Kurt Sutter, premiered in 2008 and became one of FX’s biggest hits.
It followed outlaw motorcycle club Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original – better known as SAMCRO – and particularly Hunnam’s Jax Teller as he struggled with the increasingly bloody realities of the club his father helped create.
The series ran for seven seasons and 92 episodes before ending in 2014, with its universe later expanding through spin-off Mayans M.C.
The new spinoff, however, seems determined to take that universe somewhere entirely different.
Charlie Hunnam and a huge chunk of the original cast are reuniting for a new FX limited series called Legends, which appears to be part reunion, part action thriller, and part extremely elaborate experiment in breaking the fourth wall.
In other words, no, Jax Teller will not miraculously return from where he went at the end of the series (no spoilers). In fact, Jax Teller will not be in the new project at all.
But, you might be wondering, how can Charlie Hunnam star in a new SOA series if the character he made iconic is not featured at all?
Charlie Hunnam will play… Charlie Hunnam.
According to Variety, Legends will see the cast of Sons of Anarchy reunite at a fan convention more than a decade after the original series ended.
Things then take a spectacularly strange turn when ‘the line between life and art blurs’ and the former co-stars find themselves facing a genuine threat more dangerous than anything their fictional biker gang encountered on the show.
Considering Sons of Anarchy involved approximately seven seasons of murder, gun-running, gang warfare, explosions and increasingly creative ways of settling personal disagreements, that is quite a promise.
Joining Hunnam will be cast members Ron Perlman, Katey Sagal, Maggie Siff, Mark Boone Junior, Tommy Flanagan, Kim Coates and Theo Rossi, who originally played Clay, Gemma, Tara, Bobby, Chibs, Tig and Juice respectively.
Quite how much their Sons of Anarchy alter-egos will bleed into their fictionalised real-life selves remains to be seen, but fans are already trying to get their heads around the attention-grabbingly bonkers concept.
‘I still have no idea what this is really gonna be, but it sounds entertaining as hell,’ one Reddit user admitted.
Another compared the idea to ‘SoA meets This Is The End’, referring to the 2013 comedy in which stars including Seth Rogen, James Franco, and Jonah Hill played exaggerated versions of themselves while attempting to survive the apocalypse.
Others were equally baffled – but importantly, not put off.
‘This sounds a little confusing but I love this franchise so I’m in !!!!’ one declared.
Another joked that it sounded as though Hunnam had somehow managed to pitch his own Sons of Anarchy fan fiction to television executives, adding that there was an undeniable ‘WTF?! quality’ to the entire thing.
Hunnam actually developed Legends alongside Jonathan Groff (no, not the one from Mindhunter), whose previous credits include Black-ish and How I Met Your Mother, and will serve as a writer, performer, and executive producer.
It marks a major new step for Hunnam, who has spent the years since Sons of Anarchy appearing in everything from Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen and Pacific Rim to Shantaram and Rebel Moon.
He also recently picked up the first Emmy nomination of his career for playing Ed Gein in Netflix anthology Monster: The Ed Gein Story.
What does Metro think of the new Sons of Anarchy series?
Assistant Entertainment Editor and Sons of Anarchy fan Brooke Johnson shares her thoughts.
Part of what made Sons of Anarchy so enjoyable was its complete lack of embarrassment about its own enormous scale.
Its storylines frequently veered into full-blown soap opera territory, while plot points had a habit of falling conveniently into place just in time for the most spectacular showdown imaginable. But because the show believed so earnestly in the world it had created – and filled it with characters compelling enough to make us believe in it too – somehow, all that melodrama worked.
Which raises one fairly major question: how on earth does any of that survive this new premise?
Does Legends make an enormous tonal pivot and become a comedy? Because when your concept involves the actors from Sons of Anarchy playing versions of themselves at a fan convention celebrating Sons of Anarchy, only to find themselves facing a genuine threat worthy of Sons of Anarchy, playing the whole thing completely straight would surely be an act of madness.
And that’s perhaps the most fascinating – and baffling – thing about the project. How do you transplant the deadly serious, testosterone-soaked tone of Sons of Anarchy into something so inherently ridiculous without one cancelling out the other?
It feels a little like staging a Shakespearean tragedy with the entire cast dressed in inflatable sumo suits. You can commit as hard as you like to the emotional stakes, but there’s still a seven-foot nylon belly wobbling around in the background.
Then again, perhaps that collision is exactly the point. Rather than trying to recreate Sons of Anarchy more than a decade later, Legends could use the absurdity to become something genuinely strange, self-aware, and entirely separate from the original.
And, annoyingly, that might actually be genius. Because whether this turns out to be inspired or an absolutely spectacular disaster, I will be watching – if only because I desperately need to know how on earth they’re going to pull it off.
Nick Grad, president of FX Entertainment, said the network immediately ‘sparked’ to Hunnam’s idea when he brought it to them.
He described Legends as both ‘a love letter to the series’ and a ‘fun meta twist on what fans think they know.’
Kurt Sutter, the creator of the original series, will not be involved in Legends, but he has spoken out to ‘fully endorse’ the new project.
‘I know the news about Charlie’s show hit today, and I’m beginning to get some queries about it,’he said in a video on Instagram.
‘I just want to say my piece. I’m not involved with Legends at all — nor should I be. It has nothing to do with the characters I created, or the mythology. It’s really about the show and the legacy of the show, and, quite frankly, there are thousands of people who are responsible for that legacy.’
He continued: ‘I just want folks to know that Charlie came to me when he was in the process of pitching this to the network to ask for my blessing, knowing that the IP would probably not be able to be invoked for various reasons of legalese stuff.’
‘I gave Charlie my full blessing. I wish nothing but the best for him in this project. My wife [star Katey Sagal] is in the project. I have nothing but love for [FX Networks chairman] John Landgraf and the folks at FX who have been so good to me, so generous. So it has my full-blown support.’
That meta element has inevitably left some viewers wondering whether Legends can really be considered a Sons of Anarchy spin-off at all.
One fan on Reddit pointed out that if the actors are playing versions of themselves rather than Jax, Clay, and the rest of SAMCRO, the connection to the original series could become fairly loose.
They also highlighted the particularly amusing prospect of Perlman being dragged back into the biker universe considering the actor has previously spoken about not exactly sharing Clay Morrow’s enthusiasm for motorcycles.
‘I will be watching, of course, but I’m rather wary at how it could turn out,’ they admitted.
Others think ditching the original characters could actually be Legends’ greatest strength.
One fan argued that much of Sons of Anarchy’s success came from the chemistry between its cast, who became incredibly close while making the drama.
They suggested Legends could tap into those relationships without being constrained by years of increasingly complicated SAMCRO history – although they were hoping the new series leans heavily into comedy, because, honestly, how could it not, given the concept?
At this stage, it’s difficult to tell what to expect. Is it a sequel? A reunion? A satire? An action thriller? Eight actors being forced to confront the fact that millions of people still associate them with a fictional Californian motorcycle gang?
Apparently, yes.
Whatever it turns out to be, the motorcycles are revving again — even if this time Ron Perlman may be desperately looking for the nearest Uber instead of hopping on his chopper.