Sons Of Anarchy Star Maggie Siff Was Amazed By Tara's Perpetual Fierceness
"Sons of Anarchy" is often synonymous with "Shakespearean Tragedy, " and for a good reason. The crime drama, which focuses on a Californian outlaw biker gang, is filled with plenty of disaster and death for its main cast. "Sons of Anarchy" did a masterful job presenting the tragic journey of characters unable to steer away from their troubled and doomed fates like a motorcycle continuously weaving around train tracks. And fans couldn't stop watching because the "Sons of Anarchy" cast experienced captivating transformations on these calamitous roads to certain doom, especially Jax Teller's (Charlie Hunnam) old lady Tara Knowles (Maggie Siff).
Initially the high school sweetheart of Jax, Tara begins the series as one of the show's rare beacons of light. She's a doctor who desires her, Jax, and their family to leave SAMCRO and their home of Charming behind. But as the seasons continue, Tara goes from wanting to save Jax from the outlaw life to herself becoming embroiled in it. Before her final appearance and last efforts to fully get out, Tara has racked up enough assaults and manipulations to almost rival Jax's mother, Gemma Teller (Katey Sagal). Tara goes through a complex transformation in "Sons of Anarchy," which displays the darker aspects of her humanity. But it also shows off an unexpected reserve of fierceness, which surprised Siff.
Tara's stock of inner strength never weakened
By Season 6, Tara is entirely different from how we see her in the "Sons of Anarchy" pilot episode. Of course, the most prominent visual cue is her new haircut, which Maggie Siff was eager to do. But it was only to help accentuate how the show's moral compass was now chaotically spinning in the shadows. At this point in Season 6, Tara is cruelly peppered with horrible catastrophes like attempted kidnappings, assassination plots, a stint in prison, and dashed medical dreams. It's all enough to make any character develop some edge. But despite all that happens to Tara, Siff noted to Collider in 2013 that the character seems to have an endless supply of inner strength.
"The thing that surprises me in playing her and in figuring out how to play her are really her reserves of strength and power," Siff said. "Even as her mind is warping and things in her psyche are shifting, in a way that I think is really negative, and things are breaking, there's also a fierceness in her that rises up, perpetually. That's the surprise." Perhaps Tara's fierceness comes from her love for her family. It can be argued that many of Tara's decisions, although sometimes terrible, have been rooted in looking out for Jax and their children. On the other hand, Tara is also a character whose back has been against the wall many times. Her final actions in Season 6 show her finding the strength to make one last-ditch effort at a safer life. It's just too bad her plans don't work out in the end.
Siff was also satisfied with how Tara went out
Tara's end goal of getting herself and her children away from Charming comes to the forefront in Season 6 yet again. However, a misunderstanding leads to her demise instead. Jax turns himself in to authorities to protect Tara and their sons, but Gemma believes Tara ratted him out and the club. What follows is a confrontation between Tara and Gemma that results in one of the most gruesome deaths in all of "Sons of Anarchy." Plenty of grisly murders have occurred in the series. It's as common as a leisurely bike ride. But the scene of Gemma stabbing Tara in the back of the head and then drowning her in the sink is still challenging to watch, even for the most hardened fans.
For Maggie Siff, watching her character's brutal murder was definitely unusual, as she revealed in a 2013 interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Yet, the actor also added that she felt satisfied with how her character went out, especially given the lasting effect her death would have in the following season. Tara's death certainly was the main driving force for Season 7, as Gemma finally met her tragic end once Jax learned of the truth of Tara's murder. He also got the kids out of Charming, finally fulfilling Tara's ultimate wish for their children.