The finale of Sons of Anarchy season 6 has one of the most heartbreaking moments in the series, as it saw the death of Tara (Maggie Siff), Jax’s wife, and here’s why Siff left the show. Created by Kurt Sutter, Sons of Anarchy premiered on FX in 2008 and came to an end in 2014 after seven seasons. The series was very well-received and praised through its whole run thanks to its story, tone, and the performances of the main cast, as well as its exploration of themes like racism and corruption.
Sons of Anarchy follows the story of Jackson “Jax” Teller (Charlie Hunnam), VP of the motorcycle club Sons of Anarchy in the fictional town of Charming, in California. It all begins with Jax finding a manifesto written by his late father, John Teller, one of the founding members of the club, which leads Jax to question the club’s motivations and path, his relationships, family, and himself. Over the course of seven seasons, Jax went through a whole personal journey, which included a lot of tragedies and heartbreak, the biggest ones being the deaths of his best friend Opie (Ryan Hurst) and his wife Tara Knowles-Teller.
Tara was introduced in the first episode of Sons of Anarchy, as she was the doctor who attended Jax’s newborn son Abel. It was quickly revealed that Tara and Jax were high school sweethearts, and Tara returned to Charming to work at the local hospital after leaving the town when she was 19. They eventually rekindled their relationship and she became Abel’s legal mother, and she later had a son with Jax, named Thomas after Jax’s late brother. As the series progressed, Jax and Tara went through bigger and bigger problems and their marriage began to crumble, especially after Tara was abducted and smashed her hand in a van door while Jax fought those who took her, leaving her unable to perform surgery for a while. It all got worse when she was sent to prison for conspiracy to kill a nurse, as Otto (Sutter) used her to get what he needed to kill her. This led Tara to do everything she could to distance herself and her sons from Jax, his family, and the club, but a terrible misunderstanding with Jax’s mother, Gemma (Katey Sagal), led to her death at the end of season 6.
Maggie Siff’s departure from Sons of Anarchy was a tough pill to swallow for fans, who had witnessed her journey alongside Jax in both her personal and professional life, and after the death of Opie, she was the only guiding light Jax had. However, Sutter knew Tara wasn’t going to make it to the final season early on in the series, as he had a clear idea of what he wanted for Jax’s story. Speaking to TVLine back in 2013, Sutter explained that he wanted to remove Jax’s “True North” because he felt there was a “major psychic and emotional shift” that had to happen, and in order to achieve that, Tara had to die. This, along with Opie’s death, is what pushed Jax’s story through Sons of Anarchy season 7, as it saw a devastated Jax who lost two of the people he loved the most (and one by the hand of his mother), which took him on a downward spiral fueled by revenge and resentment.
Tara’s death was necessary in order for Jax’s story to move forward and reach the ending that Sutter had in mind, which brought Jax’s arc to a full circle. Surely, it was heartbreaking for viewers to see one of the most important characters in Sons of Anarchy die in such a cruel and violent way just because there was a lack of communication between those involved, as Tara only wanted her family to be safe and ended up using her backup plan in case something happened to her.