'Sons Of Anarchy' Creator Answers Questions Raised By Season Six's Shocking Finale

The finale of Sons of Anarchy's sixth season left fans with their jaws wide open as it came to a heartfelt close last night (10 Dec.) - SPOILERS AHEAD - as Tara (Maggie Siff) laid dead in the arms of a crying Jax (Charlie Hunnam) having being stabbed to death by an enraged Gemma (Katey Sagal) armed with a carving fork.

Sagal (L) and Siff (R) provided the emotional and shocking ending to season six

The death was shocking (what the hell kind of weed was Gemma even smoking?), but the circumstances around the death made it heartbreaking, as Jax gave Tara permission to leave Charming with her boys and under her own terms while he served time for providing guns to the boy who shot up the elementary school at the opening of season six. Taking unwarranted revenge on Tara after receiving some bad information, Gemma's heinous act also resulted in the death of Eli Roosevelt (Rockond Dunbar) at the hands of Juice (Theo Rossi) after witnessing the killing.

As shocking as the ending was, there was method to the madness, as show creator Kurt Sutter explained in a Q&A session held on Tuesday following an early screening of the final episode of season six. He explained (via MTV), "Obviously it's a major shift in the mythology and I knew ultimately where I wanted to take Jax in that final season. I wanted to remove his true north for that last season."

Sutter had Tara's death planned as soon as she was introduced

Next Page: Sutter, Sagal and Siff describe filming the scene and what will happen next

Sutter went on to say that he had planned Tara's death from the day she was introduced to the series in season two, although her story developed over time. Siff - who was present at the screening with Sagal, with both actresses walking out in tears following the emotional ending - was kept in the know with Sutter's plan from the start of season six, as she said "I had some time to wrap my head around it," but hoped Sutter would "change his mind."

Some of the SoA cast at the season six opener

"I knew I didn't want it to be a gun or a knife," Sutter explained. "This is almost more horrific."

"As an actor, it was kind of awesome to really do things that you've never done. I've never killed anyone violently in anything before, but I feel a lot of pain [watching it]," Sagal then added. Siff then recalled filming the scene, "Because the character kind of ends, my experience of shooting it was really about feeling everything around me, which was Katey and then Charlie [Hunnam]. That was really painfully hard, this sense of loss is really the people you leave behind. I was so aware of their loss but it wasn't about me; it was about them. It was very surreal."

With the imminent seventh season also being the final season of the series, Sutter says he "doesn't want to lose the weight of what's happened" when the show returns. Saying that the story will pick up shortly after where the season six finale left off, he concluded, "We will see next season, but that what happens to a guy like [Jax] when now he's lost both the people whom he loves and who centered him the most - or at least were able to be his moral compass. With Opie gone, and now with Tara, it really is Jax completely untethered and on his own in the final season."

What next for Charlie Hunnam's Jax