If you’re caught up on Sons of Anarchy through Season 6, news that Drea de Matteo is being upgraded to series regular for Season 7 shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. And if you’re not caught up, read no further because we’re about to get seriously spoilery! The Sopranos star has appeared in the show on and off since the start of the motorcycle drama’s run, but this is the first time she’s going to be a regular on the show.
TVLine reported news that de Matteo will be a series regular for Sons of Anarchy’s seventh and final season. In the biker drama, she plays the role of Wendy, Jax’s ex, as well as the biological mother to Jax’s eldest son. Since the beginning of the series, she’s drifted in and out of the picture, often struggling with substance abuse. Wendy’s addiction issues have been an ongoing part of her arc on the series.
She was back in the picture in Season 6 as Jax’s wife Tara attempted to work out a way to escape Charming and the motorcycle club. And then Gemma killed Tara, brutally murdering her with a carving fork while she held her face down in a sink full of dishwater. That was part of the sixth season’s cliffhanger, as the series ended with Jax sitting on the floor holding Tara’s lifeless, blood-covered body just as the police walked in. Whether or not Jax is pinned for Tara’s death, we won’t know until Season 7 gets started, but in the meantime, de Matteo’s promotion obviously indicates that Wendy won’t be disappearing anytime soon.
With Jax presumably in jail, possibly awaiting trial, who’s looking after Thomas and Abel? One might speculate that Gemma would assume responsibility of mothering the boys, and by assume, we mean claim with an iron-clad grip. That is, assuming she even wants to after what she did. There’s always the possibility that she’s a mess with guilt and can’t even look at her son’s children without thinking about what she did. But then again, there’s even more a possibility that Gemma will be over the shock of the situation by then, possibly even convincing herself that things are better off as they are. It’s really hard to predict how she’ll handle any given ordeal, and there’ve been plenty of ordeals on this show. I have a much easier time picturing her trying to maintain custody of both boys than I do trying to picture her curled up in a ball somewhere feeling terrible for what she did.
So Gemma could be taking care of Thomas and Abel. Or maybe just Thomas? Wasn’t Tara looking to set things up legally so that Wendy would take custody of Abel if something happened to her and Jax? Was that ever made official or did Tara not follow through with that? That would certainly make things interesting. We’ll have to wait and see where things pick up when the show returns for its final season later this year.
