'Sons of Anarchy' Season 7 News: Paris Barclay Talks Why They Didn't Go 'Full Sopranos' With Ending [VIDEO]
One of the executive producers of FX's Sons of Anarchy revealed this week why the show concluded with such a tragic Shakespearean ending.
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MAJOR spoilers for the end of Sons of Anarchy ahead:
Paris Barclay, who actually directed some parts of the Sons of Anarchy series finale, spoke with TVGuide.com about the ending, which featured Jax (Charlie Hunnam) riding to his death. According to the director and executive producer, they wanted to make it a tragic ending while also having it be satisfying.
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"Well, we always saw it as a tragedy in the Shakespearean sense. So, we wanted to close out the story of Jax Teller in particular in a way that was satisfying for the audience and satisfying for the rules of a really good tragedy," Barclay said.
He said that they had spend "a lot of hours and weeks" going over how to make the ending fitting yet satisfying. They did not want to leave the audience feeling gipped, as some felt at the end of HBO's The Sopranos.
"We didn't want to leave you hanging," he said. "We didn't want to give you a full Sopranos. We wanted to give you something that felt like it was a real closure."
The ending did satisfy many fans, with very few complaints about Jax's epic final ride coupled with the Kurt Sutter original song Come Join the Murder.
Most Shakespearean tragedies ended with the death of the main character, and with the motorcycle drama drawing so heavily from such stories, it was almost inevitable that Jax had to die. However, to have it be on his own terms instead of the cops shooting him left many viewers feeling at peace with the ending.
"He sort of takes control and ended the way that he wants to end it," Barclay said.
