Jax Teller

Character

Jax Teller was born in 1978 to John and Gemma Teller and raised within SAMCRO. His father, a Vietnam veteran and club founder, died in a road accident in 1993, after which Clay Morrow became president and married Gemma. Jax is a trained mechanic with a GED. He wears white Nike Air Force 1 sneakers, an unconventional choice for a biker. By the series end, his kill count is 46.

Storyline

In 2008, Jax is SAMCRO's Vice President and works as a mechanic at the family shop. The club has controlled Charming since 1979, working with police chief Wayne Unser. Jax, a convicted felon for gunrunning, is estranged from his pregnant wife Wendy, a heroin addict whose overdose endangers their son Abel. Jax finds his father's manuscript, 'The Life and Death of SAM CROW', describing disillusionment with the club.

He rekindles a relationship with high-school sweetheart Tara Knowles, a neonatal surgeon. After a gun warehouse is destroyed, ATF attention increases. Jax kills ATF agent Josh Kohn, Tara's stalker, after Kohn attempts to rape her. To maintain IRA gun sales, Jax, Opie Winston, and Bobby Munson kill a port authority member; a witness identifies Bobby.

ATF agent June Stahl tries to frame Opie as an informant. Clay Morrow and Tig Trager plan to kill Opie but mistakenly kill Opie's wife Donna. Jax rescues the real informant and deduces Clay's role in Donna's death, causing a rift.

Origins and critical response

Charlie Hunnam prepared for the role by spending time with an Oakland outlaw motorcycle club, basing Jax's personality and attire on a 22-year-old member who was killed in a shooting during the first season's production. Dadcentric.com named Jax one of TV's best dads, describing him as a brutal anti-hero and rebel, while noting that Abel's birth and his father's memoirs transformed him. The Chicago Tribune called Jax the heir apparent to the gang with nostalgia for his father's early hopes.