During the Sons of Anarchy season five finale, fans strongly reacted all over social media to seeing Charming’s Sheriff Eli Roosevelt (Rockmond Dunbar) show up at Jax Teller’s (Charlie Hunnam) home with a warrant to arrest Dr. Tara Knowles (Maggie Siff), who was being charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Fast forward seven months later to the San Diego Comic Con. It’s a safe bet the entire press core, including yours truly, was dying to ask Siff what will happen with Tara next season.
I had a lot of questions to ask Siff but to put things in perspective, an element of participating in press rooms includes showing respect to both the talent and fellow members of the press. That includes salutations, small talk, and taking turns when asking questions. As Siff was about to join us, I looked at my watch and although the FX team does a great job ensuring the press has access to all the talent, it’s a busy room and I knew I wouldn’t have much time with Siff. Even though I was dying to ask her about Tara and Jax, the discussion began politely by inquiring how her Comic Con experience was going.
“Tara is trying to assemble her allies as best she can,” Siff revealed.
How do you like doing these fan events? “It’s kind of intense; I like it though. When we were doing the signing, people waited for hours in line. It’s so rare you get to be in a place where people are so enthusiastic — there’s so much innocent enthusiasm. I think that is kind of nice.”
If you can choose one show to guest star in, which one would it be? “Probably The Americans. I think that show is really smart and the acting is really great. I like the spying, the intrigue, it’s good. Good characters!”
We move next to Jax-Tara territory and I was happy.
How do you think Tara will do in prison? “I think she’ll do OK. Luckily, she’s not there for very long; she is tough. She’s got all these years in Charming; she’s got a pretty thick skin, some scrappy skills.”
Is there anything that can drive Jax and Tara apart? “Everything! I mean, Gemma, the Club, prison…I think he’s made his choice in a way; I think he’s not going leaving Charming. I think she ends up going to prison. This season doesn’t find them particularly bonded. I think they’re living together and they’re trying to make it work but there is a lot of alienation surrounding them already.”
I checked the time again and I knew it was almost time to wrap things up. After playing nice, I couldn’t take it anymore. My head was about to explode with juicy questions for Siff so I went for the gold – three questions in a row!
Siff shared she is a big fan of “The Americans” and “Games of Thrones,” both of which seems to be the all around favorites of the cast.
Last season, there was so much that was not said between Jax and Tara. Plus they often lied to each other. What do you think tipped them to that point? “They often made vows to communicate and then lied. I think the thing that kind of broke it for them last season — it’s him shooting up Wendy with heroin was a rally hard moment for Tara. I think that was a hard thing for her to swallow. That kind of violence for someone that he once loved, I think that was really, really hard. I also think her going to prison — it was like, ‘Wow, you promised me, this wasn’t going to happen.’ If there is one thing you hope your criminal husband can prevent from happening, it’s that. He swore to me that it wouldn’t happen and it happened. That was work she was doing for the club. I don’t know, he’s bad!”
Are we going to see the Jax’s Wives Club unite? “Yeah, I think Tara is trying to assemble her allies as best she can. She and Gemma started to figure each other out last season and I think that will continue into the next season.”
Personally, I think seeing Tara and Wendy (Drea de Matteo) uniting to give Gemma a hard time would make for fabulous drama. At that point, I jumped in with my last question.
What is the one thing that keeps Tara fighting the good fight? “It’s her kids. It’s really the only thing that’s keeping her super focused.”
As Siff was whisked away – the SDCC panel was only 30 minutes or so away – I assessed whether I got the details I wanted. The answer was no but I’m grateful I was able to talk to her. What Siff did reveal strongly hints at a tense dynamic for the Tellers. In thinking about the descriptions of the interactions between Jax and Tara, they include words like alienation, lies, broken promises, trying to make it work, etc. They all point to a challenging landscape of ups and downs between them. Based on my interview with Hunnam earlier that day, the couple shares a common motivation: their kids. Whether they work together or against each other is the billion dollar question. Kurt Sutter certainly knows how to brew drama, and it looks like we’ll be getting major doses of it next season from Jax and Tara.
Sons of Anarchy will return to FX on September 10, 2013 at 9:00pm EST in a special 90-minute episode.
To learn more about the show, visit: http://www.fxnetworks.com/soa and http://www.sutterink.com/.
To check out Kurt Sutter’s Sons of Anarchy video channel on YouTube, go to http://www.youtube.com/sutterinksoa.
Follow @sonsofanarchy, @sutterink, and @FXNetworks, and tweet using the hashtag #SOAFX.
Photos © 2013 YourEntertainmentCorner. All Rights Reserved.
elleL
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3 comments
Screw Tara’s unloyal arse. She is the biggest hypocrite on the show and that’s saying a lot. And she has never behaved like she really loves Jax Anyway. And this is the saame woman who was stomping on kiddie pianos in the middle of the night to walke up their infant so she could feel needed. Hopefully this is finally the season she gets killed off.
UMMM… Tara better NOT spend more than a few hours in prison. I mean, c’mon Jax paid hundred of thousands to get Wendy from the IRA and he hates her guts! Surely he’d pull out all the stops to bail Tara out asap. And I love Jax and Tara together,. Truly, they’re so sexy and so in love… but i’d understand 100% if she takes those boys and peels the hell out of Charming and doesn’t look back.
Author
It’s a very stressful for them indeed. From the persepctive of a mother, no one could blame Tara but Jax loves his boys so much too. We’ll see where the season takes them and thanks for your comment!