Sons Of Anarchy: How Every Main Character Dies In The Series

If it hadn't been overshadowed by "Game of Thrones," "Sons of Anarchy" would probably be remembered as the bloodiest show on television in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The series has an estimated 300-plus on-screen deaths, with dozens of them being attributed to named characters appearing in multiple episodes.

To make the most of our mileage for the purposes of this list, we're focusing solely on the biggest kills from the original series, including series regulars and recurring guest stars who appeared in multiple seasons. Their deaths paint a tragic, Shakespearean portrait of the Teller legacy of violence, extending from the murder of a father to the downfall of his only son. Be advised that, due to the nature of this article, it's impossible to avoid major spoilers for the entirety of "Sons of Anarchy" from this point forward.

Season 2, Episode 8, "Potlatch"

The first major death on our list happens after over 50 bodies have already hit the floor — and, somewhat curiously, occurs offscreen. Luann Delaney (Dendrie Taylor) is the wife of ill-fated SAMCRO member Otto Delaney (portrayed by series creator and showrunner Kurt Sutter), as well as the proprietor of an adult film studio associated with the Sons.

When her rival, Georgie Caruso (Tom Arnold), lures her actors away, it starts a swift cycle of escalating retaliations that ends with Luann dead on the side of a road. We find out about her fate rather suddenly, by way of Taylor Sheridan's Deputy Hale. It's one of the most shocking and impactful moments in the series, ultimately leading to Otto's downfall much later. It isn't until Season 4 that Georgie admits (before his own execution by SAMCRO) to causing her death, having ordered his enforcers to send a message by roughing her up. He claims she wasn't supposed to die.

Season 2, Episode 13, "Na Trioblóidí"

Kip "Half-Sack" Epps (Johnny Lewis) is the last character to die in the bloody Season 2 finale. Ten people die on the episode, including True IRA member Edmond Hayes (Callard Harris), who is shot by ATF agent June Stahl (Ally Walker) when Edmond himself fails to kill her on orders from his father, Cameron Hayes (Jamie McShane).

Believing that Gemma Teller Morrow (Katey Sagal) killed his son (thanks to June's impromptu frame job), Cameron attempts to ambush Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam) in his home. Though Jax is out, he finds Half-Sack, Tara Knowles (Maggie Siff), and Jax's infant son, Abel. Cameron decides it's only fair to exchange a son for a son and kidnaps Abel at gunpoint, fatally stabbing Half-Sack with a knife when he attempts to intervene.

Kurt Sutter said after the fact that the death was written as a noble way of letting Lewis out of his contract, at the actor's request. Lewis, who readers may also recognize from "Criminal Minds," died less than three years after this episode aired.

Season 3, Episode 1, "SO"

Half-Sack is memorialized in the Season 3 premiere with a grim service well-attended by SAMCRO members and, as a protective measure, the local Charming Police Department. It's tragically proven to be an appropriate precaution when an unmarked van drives through the service, its occupants opening fire in a deadly drive-by. (We soon learn this attack was perpetrated by members of the Calaveras.)

After a shootout between the van and the cops, the driver makes his escape — running over Deputy Chief David Hale in the process. Though it didn't seem like it in the moment, Hale's death was one of the most impactful TV deaths of all time. It was written into the script after actor Taylor Sheridan quit the series over pay disputes. Of course, this led him to transition to writing and producing, resulting in some of the biggest shows of the streaming era, including "Yellowstone" and "Landman."

Season 3, Episode 2, "Oiled"

After abducting Abel, Cameron Hayes flees to Belfast for safety — and, strangely, absolution. One of his first visits is to his cousin, Father Kellan Ashby (James Cosmo), a Catholic priest connected to the True IRA. Cameron formally confesses to the murder of Half-Sack, ostensibly to cleanse himself in the eyes of his God. Father Ashby has other concerns on his mind.

While God might forgive his sin, Ashby and the True IRA are less lenient. In retaliation for antagonizing their allies in SAMCRO, Cameron is blessed by Ashby and strangled to death by another IRA member. It reads as somewhat merciful, given what the Sons would've done to him, and feels reminiscent of the way one major character on "The Sopranos" went out in Season 5.

Season 3, Episode 13, "NS"

Dangerous, unpredictable, and obsessive, June Stahl was formidable for SAMCRO in the first three seasons. Her journey finally comes to an end in the Season 3 finale, shortly after she makes the arrest that would've made her career: True IRA street boss Jimmy O'Phelan (Titus Welliver).

Stahl managed to nab Jimmy O in a shell game of double crosses with her unlikely collaborator, Jax Teller. He seems to betray SAMCRO by making a deal with Stahl to deliver Jimmy O from their own retribution in exchange for a deal for Gemma. In reality, Jax orchestrated everything with SAMCRO to take two chess pieces off the board at once, with help from the corrupt and terminally ill police chief Wayne Unser (Dayton Callie).

Unser pulls Stahl over under the pretense of protecting her from an IRA ambush. SAMCRO arrives soon after, allowing Chibs Telford (Tommy Flanagan) to take revenge against Jimmy O for scarring his face, and Opie Winston (Ryan Hurst) to take revenge against Stahl for causing the death of his wife, Donna (Sprague Grayden), in Season 1. Opie stages Stahl's execution by submachine gun in her own car, similar to how Donna was killed. The bloodbath is staged as an IRA hit with further cooperation from Unser.

Season 4, Episode 8, "Family Recipe"

Though Season 4 of "Sons of Anarchy" is the series' second-deadliest season (with roughly 67 deaths throughout, bringing the running total above 175), it's relatively light on major character deaths. The first comes near the end of the season, with Opie's father, SAMCRO co-founder Piermont "Piney" Winston (William Lucking), dying at the hands of the traitor he patched into the club.

Throughout the season, a small group of SAMCRO members, including Piney and Jax, had been trying to covertly steer the club away from harmful criminal enterprises like drug-running for the Galindo Cartel. To that end, Piney began to blackmail SAMCRO President Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman) with secret letters written by Jax's late father, J.T., accusing Clay and Gemma of killing him to usurp leadership of SAMCRO (a shocker to anyone who got out of reading "Hamlet" in school). Clay feigns cooperation, only to ambush Piney in his own home and shoot him with his own shotgun. He then pins the murder on the Galindos' rivals, the Lobos Sonora Cartel, and isn't found out until the Season 4 finale.

Season 4, Episode 11, "Call of Duty"

Season 4's only other major death is that of Herman Kozik (played by Kenny Johnson), a former Marine and SAMCRO member who transferred from the Tacoma charter at the beginning of Season 4. He dies in an attack against Lobos Sonora when he steps on one of the cartel's landmines.

Outside the show, Johnson (who had previously worked with Kurt Sutter on "The Shield") had been cast in a larger role on NBC's "Prime Suspect" (a short-lived reboot of an underrated British police procedural). Amusingly, Curtis "Lemonhead" Lemansky, Johnson's character on "The Shield," was also killed in an explosion.

Season 5, Episode 3, "Laying Pipe"

By Season 5, Opie Winston — once the heart of "Sons of Anarchy" — had been thoroughly hollowed out by the cycle of violence he chose to rejoin, following his release from prison at the beginning of the series. His best friend, Jax, played a major role in dragging him back in — and, poetically, Jax is there to watch when Opie is imprisoned once more and killed on the inside.

Drug kingpin and Season 5 antagonist Damon Pope (guest star Harold Perrineau) uses his influence to have Jax, Chibs, and Tig Trager (Kim Coates) arrested in retaliation for Tig murdering his daughter (which was itself an act of retaliation against the One-Niners, who were believed to be behind the attempted assassination of Clay Morrow in Season 4). Opie gets himself intentionally arrested alongside them by assaulting Sheriff Eli Roosevelt (Rockmond Dunbar).

On the inside, Pope tells Jax that, while Tig will rot in prison, two of the Sons will be released once one of them is dead. Opie sacrifices himself to paid-off prison guards and is brutally beaten to death by prisoners in front of Jax.

Season 6, Episode 4, "Wolfsangel"

Kurt Sutter kept himself on "Sons of Anarchy" as long as possible, even if he sidelined his character Otto by having him imprisoned from the start. On the inside, he learns about Luann's death and the fact that she'd had an affair with Bobby Munson (Mark Boone Junior).

Otto retaliated as best he could behind bars, killing a nurse with a crucifix smuggled to him by Tara so that she'd be implicated in the crime. The nurse's brother, Lee Toric (Donal Logue), makes it his mission to make Otto's imprisonment as horrific as possible — and, to an arguably lesser extent, get Otto to flip on the Sons.

Clay, excommunicated from the club and imprisoned himself by this point, encounters Otto in prison and slips him a shiv. Later, he pretends to offer Toric information on Clay's crimes, only to stab him to death before being gunned down by prison guards.

Season 6, Episode 11, "Aon Rud Pearsanta"

Despite having his fate sealed by the Bard centuries prior, Clay Morrow stuck around arguably a hair too long on "Sons of Anarchy." By the end of Season 5, the club had voted to oust him, following revelations about his murders of founders Piney and J.T. Gemma (at that point on the road to being Clay's ex-wife) had successfully convinced Jax that Clay was solely responsible for J.T.'s death.

Though he is spared so that he can remain useful to the fractured club, his usefulness and goodwill are entirely spent by the back half of Season 6. SAMCRO unanimously votes to execute Clay while appearing to aid in his escape from prison. In reality, it gave them the opportunity to kill both Clay and True IRA gunrunner Galen O'Shay (Timothy V. Murphy), ending SAMCRO's involvement in the gun trade. In his final moments, Clay aids SAMCRO in staging his own death. He takes a final look at Gemma before Jax shoots him dead.

Season 6, Episode 13, "A Mother's Work"

The "Sons of Anarchy" Season 6 finale is, without question, the most shocking episode of the entire series. Throughout the season, Tara had been working to free herself and the kids from Jax, feeling the pressure of his life of crime while facing prison time herself for "aiding" in Otto's murder of the nurse. Her plans had mostly worked and, prior to her reconciliation with Jax in the finale, it seemed as though she'd manage to escape Charming as a free woman.

Unfortunately, after Jax cuts a deal to effectively turn himself in in exchange for Tara's freedom, Wayne Unser tips Gemma off in a way that unintentionally leads her to believe Tara flipped on Jax. Gemma drunkenly races to Tara's home without talking to anyone and lies in wait. When Tara comes home, Gemma wordlessly beats her, attempts to drown her in a sink, and then stabs her in the back of the head with a fork. It's a point of no return for the series that leads to every subsequent death on this list.

Season 6, Episode 13, "A Mother's Work"

Tara had been driven home by Eli Roosevelt. When he returns to his car outside, he's intercepted by SAMCRO member Juan Carlos "Juice" Ortiz (Theo Rossi), who informs him that Gemma had stolen Unser's car to get to Tara.

They rush back inside to save Tara, but it's too late. Eli reveals to a traumatized Gemma that Tara didn't rat. As he appears to be preparing to call for backup, Juice kills him with two gunshots to the back. As Kurt Sutter pointed out after the finale, Eli's death lined up with Rockmond Dunbar getting promoted to series regular on "The Mentalist."

Season 7, Episode 9, "What a Piece of Work Is Man"

Robert "Bobby Elvis" Munson served loyally as Jax's vice president throughout Season 5. He ultimately becomes a casualty of his downward spiral following Tara's death.

After SAMCRO dealt with Damon Pope in Season 5, they were able to form an uneasy alliance with his successor, August Marks (Billy Brown). In Season 7, Jax forms a coalition of gangs to take down Marks, leading him to kidnap Bobby and torture him in retaliation. During a prisoner transfer, Marks executes Bobby in front of Jax and warns him there will be further bloodshed if he attempts to betray him again.

Season 7, Episode 12, "Red Rose"

Juice is arguably the most tragic figure in "Sons of Anarchy," caught in an existentially annihilating lie about his race that forces him to serve whoever has leverage against him for multiple seasons. By Season 7, Juice was clearly at the end of his rope — sent to prison as a pawn in Jax's war against the Lin Triad (a war ironically started because Juice's silence helped Gemma pin Tara's death on them).

After doing his part and telling Jax the truth about Gemma murdering Tara, Jax can only muster enough mercy to order Juice a quick execution. He is slain by his fellow inmate, serial abuser, and SAMCRO ally Ron Tully (an unfortunately cast Marilyn Manson), the first death in the series' bloodiest episode yet.

Season 7, Episode 12, "Red Rose"

With the secret out about Tara's murder, it's only a matter of time before Jax exacts his revenge against Gemma. Her new partner, Nero Padilla (Jimmy Smits), realizes what's coming and sends Wayne Unser to save her life by putting her behind bars.

Wayne finds Gemma moments before Jax, the two men drawing guns on each other. Wayne, who had long loved Gemma, makes it clear he's willing to die to protect her — thus, Jax shoots him in the chest. Though it's overshadowed by what happens next, Wayne's death is among the show's most heartbreaking.

Season 7, Episode 12, "Red Rose"

After hundreds of deaths, "Sons of Anarchy" finally reaches the murder we all knew would come from the moment the series started. Gemma herself is resigned to this inevitable fate, only requesting of Jax that she spend her final moments in her garden.

Jax leads her out at gunpoint, yet tearfully struggles to pull the trigger. Chillingly, and without turning to face the muzzle, Gemma comforts Jax and reassures him that this is the only way it can be. He acquiesces, sealing both their fates with a gunshot. Notably, Gemma dies without ever revealing her own role in the death of Jax's father.

Season 7, Episode 13, "Papa's Goods"

After the events of "Red Rose," Jax Teller is dead in spirit. He's lost so much that, when the other Sons of Anarchy charter presidents discuss what must be done for his killing of Jury White (a fellow president, played by Michael Shamus Wiles), Jax calmly and clearly admits to everything he's done wrong.

It's perhaps that clear-headed peace that sways the presidents to let Jax tie up loose ends first — which includes killing Charles Barosky (Peter Weller), a former ally who betrayed SAMCRO to the Lin Triad. Jax kills him in the middle of Barosky's bakery in front of several witnesses.

The other loose end Jax ties up is August Marks, whom SAMCRO managed to imprison following Bobby's murder. Just as August is walking out of the courthouse, Jax guns him down in broad daylight.

Season 7, Episode 13, "Papa's Goods"

Appropriately – and true to the show's Shakespearean inspiration – the final death of "Sons of Anarchy" is Jax Teller himself. Before his murder spree, Jax spends the series finale getting his affairs in order. He reunites with SAMCRO and — at the behest of the charter presidents and his own conscience — convinces them to vote unanimously in favor of his execution. He then entrusts his children to Nero and his ex-wife, Wendy (Drea de Matteo), confessing to the former that he killed Gemma.

In lieu of a formal execution, Jax (whose public murder spree served to both eliminate enemies and attract a police response) leads the police on a high-speed motorcycle chase to the very place his father died. Seeing a truck headed in his direction (driven by a shocked Michael Chiklis), Jax lets go of his bike and allows himself to be struck head-on, likely ending his life instantly. Though we won't ever see him in the show's spinoffs, Charlie Hunnam and the cast are working on a meta-thriller sequel series titled "Legends."