Sons of Anarchy saw a lot of deaths, many of them by the hands of of the title club – but who is the SAMCRO member with the highest kill count? Created by Kurt Sutter, Sons of Anarchy premiered on FX in 2008 and lived on for a total of seven seasons, coming to an end in 2014. The series was very well received throughout its whole run, with critics praising its story, themes (such as racism and corruption), and the performances of the main cast, especially that of Katey Sagal as Gemma Teller-Morrow.
Sons of Anarchy tells the story of Jackson “Jax” Teller (Charlie Hunnam), VP of the motorcycle club Sons of Anarchy (shortened as SAMCRO) in the fictional town of Charming in California. The events of the series begin when Jax finds a manifesto written by his late father, John Teller, one of the founding of the MC, and in which he shared his plans and vision for the club. These were very different from those of the current President and Jax’s stepfather, Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman), sending Jax on a personal journey that led him to question his path, role in the club, relationships, family, and more. Sons of Anarchy was packed with action and a lot of drama, but it also had a fair dose of violence, and the of the club were responsible for many, many deaths.
SAMCRO followed Happy Lowman (David Labrava), who every time he killed someone, he got a smiley-face tattooed on his ribcage, so he had a whole collection of smiley faces. However, Happy isn’t the SAMCRO member with the highest kill count, as throughout Sons of Anarchy he only killed 23 people, and the #1 spot actually belongs to none other than Jax Teller.
Throughout Sons of Anarchy, Jax fought to break the chain of violence brought by the club and did his best to follow his father’s ideas found in the manifesto and take the club out of shady businesses. The main reason why Jax wanted to break the cycle was so that his sons, Abel and Thomas, wouldn't go through it, which makes it quite ironic that he has the highest kill count in Sons of Anarchy. Among his most notable kills are those of AJ Weston (Henry Rollins), Clay, Jury White (Michael Shamus Wiles), Wayne Unser (Dayton Callie), and his own mother, Gemma, as she was the one who killed his wife, Tara Knowles (Maggie Siff). Holding the #2 spot on the list of highest kill count in Sons of Anarchy is Tig Trager, with 26 kills. The most notable and heartbreaking death on Tig’s list is that of Opie’s wife, Donna, and he also killed Damon Pope, who wanted to kill him.
Of course, these are deaths that were shown in Sons of Anarchy, as they surely killed a lot more people before the events of the series, as they had all been either in the club or involved in the world of motorcycle clubs for years. As mentioned above, it’s ironic that Jax, who wanted to break free from the club and break its cycle of violence, is the character with the highest kill count, and it’s unknown if all those kills eventually helped him achieve the goal of keeping his sons away from the club.