Summary

• During his meteoric rise through Sons of Anarchy, Charlie Hunnam was receiving more tough-guy action-esque roles that fit the American mold he had inhabited in his seven seasons of the show.
• Guy Ritchie headlining Hunnam in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword didn't do so well at the box office, but still opened the gateway to Hunnam's performative flexibility in costume dramas and more introspective roles.
• Hunnam has been seen in several different genres across film and television since, in roles that don't pigeonhole his acting skills to any sort of typecasting.

It can be very hard for an actor to rebrand their image or show their performative flexibility after making it big through a long-standing television series. It's a big reason why, before this golden age of TV, television actors and film actors had a great divide between them. One was meant to be a household name and known exclusively for one role, whereas the other was seen as a person who could inhabit any role. In the case of Charlie Hunamm, his seven-season run as Jax Teller in Sons of Anarchy skyrocketed his career. Of course, like most British-born actors, he had a dynamic resume of family television and even the Dickensian costume drama film where he played Nicholas Nickleby.

It was after such time that he dipped his toe in Hollywood with Cold Mountain and Children of Men that momentum began to pick up, not only in his career but in how Hollywood was breaking the barriers between television and film budgets and actors. Once he kicked off in Sons of Anarchy, it was going to be hard to revert to his roots and a more familiar accent. That's when the underrated saving grace of Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword could work its magic, and help Hunnam remind Hollywood he could be a biker and a King.

Charlie Hunnam's Career During Sons of Anarchy

Hunnam's career began in 1999 when he played Jason in Byker Grove. "I had already, for many years, identified that I wanted to work in film," Hunnam told Den of Geek in 2017. "And at that point in my life I had left school and was at a college in Carlisle –Cumbria College Of Art And Design – studying film. And just by luck of the devil, I was approached by a lady called Elizabeth Binns and asked if I’d ever though about acting. I said 'well, a career in film is all I’ve ever thought about' and so through that I did a few episodes and was able to get an agent and start working."

Hunnam eventually landing the role of Jax Teller, a character whose family owns and operates the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, was a massive undertaking. Jax appears in every episode throughout the show's run and is a major character. From his rugged looks to his intense and subtle performances, Hunnam was able to create Jax to a deep level that audiences connected with and loved. In a time when crime dramas, westerns, and political intrigue TV series were rampant on television, Sons of Anarchy retained a very loyal audience, in large part to the story, but also its casting.

I have an idea that I'm exploring in its infancy that [Jax's return] could be a possibility.

"It was a very deep experience," Hunnam said of his Sons of Anarchy tenure in 2020 while shooting down hopes of a revival. "I lived with that character inside me for years, like, in a very real way. In a way that manifested in ways that I could never even [have] imagined." He even brought up Teller's death in the series finale by adding, "He's dead now. So there would be no ever bringing him back...When he died, he died." Two years later, however, Hunnam shared his thoughts on a possible Jax return, saying, "I have an idea that I'm exploring in its infancy that [Jax's return] could be a possibility. And it would be something that I'd be incredibly excited about. So we're sort of, like I said, we're in the infancy of exploring the viability of the idea but next time I talk to you hopefully I'll have information on that."

Sons of Anarchy did open up some film opportunities for Hunnam during his seven years on the show. His incredibly American profile as Jax resonated with audiences across the pond but also put him in a position of having to start from scratch when it came to the films he was able to initially take. Wild comedies like 3..2..1 Frankie Go Boom and crime and romance thrillers like The Ledge and Deadfall filled his schedule until he got a bigger action credit in Pacific Rim. Of course, Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim was a positive jump ahead, but it still was not in the realm of challenges that Hunnam had long been ready for in his acting career. Enter British directing legend Guy Ritchie and his idea for a bombastic King Arthur film.

Guy Ritchie Crowns Hunnam As King Arthur

The beauty of being cast as the lead next to other legends from the commonwealth like Jude Law, and Eric Bana, and directed by Guy Ritchie is that Hunnam could be re-released to Hollywood as a flexible performer in a classic setting. Of course, in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, the film still made use of his familiar rugged look to build his character's profile, but Hunnam's performance, wardrobe, accent, and demeanor could be redefined to tell audiences that he could act shoulder-to-shoulder with the best from both the stage and screen.

I’d like to go back to King Arthur because there’s a lot of things went wrong during that and a lot of things that were out of our control.

That's not to say his previous films did not also contain great actors as well. In Deadfall he had worked alongside Bana already, as well as Olivia Wilde, but it's rather that he got to work with a director who saw his long career experience before Sons of Anarchy and cast him based on that. Most of the time, it can be difficult for actors coming from Europe or Asia to break into leads unless they move to Hollywood for a while or take a break from a big co-production between countries. It's only then that most Hollywood producers and directors really consider an actor's resume has truly begun. As unfair as that may be, Hunnam found a perfect way to surpass that by getting the role of Arthur.

Unfortunately, the film underperformed. "I’d like to go back to King Arthur because there’s a lot of things went wrong during that and a lot of things that were out of our control," Hunnam explained in 2020 while discussing King Arthur's challenges. "I just don’t think we ended up matching the aspiration — we just didn’t quite make the movie we wanted. The idea was that if it was a success, we would’ve made several of those films, and I’m really captivated by the Arthurian legends and I just feel like we really missed an opportunity to tell a long-form story. There was a piece of miscasting that ended up crippling the central story line. It’s actually not in the film anymore."

Charlie Hunnam's Career After King Arthur

Soon after Sons of Anarchy came to an end, Hunnam scored a couple more roles that were fitting for his full career. Guillermo Del Toro's Crimson Peak had him playing as Dr. Alan McMichael and The Lost City of Z gave him the true-story role of Percy Fawcett. As soon as Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword was released, a stream of films seemed to open the floodgates completely. Headlining and large supporting roles in Westerns, international dramas, beloved novel adaptations, and military action dramas filled up his repertoire and expanded his filmography. Then he got the call from Zack Snyder. Considering his work already on big action films like Pacific Rim and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, it seemed like that attention on him getting close to a superhero genre director should have come much sooner. Luckily for Hunnam, Snyder would have a very interesting and specific role in mind for him in a science fiction epic known as Rebel Moon.

Rebel Moon was a passion project for Snyder, assembling a top cast of experienced but grossly understated actors was a good recipe for building a cast for a sweeping space opera. Star Wars and the Alien franchise had seen repeated success in introducing understated but deeply experienced actors into the limelight for a grand spectacle, and Snyder was following suit with the likes of Hunnam, Djimon Honsu, Sofia Boutella, and Bae Doona, to name a few. Although Rebel Moon seemed to take off from a rough start in its first part, it is quickly building a more silent cult-following fandom away from the louder negative critics. Many science fiction films like Blade Runner and even the Star Wars prequel trilogy saw similar and slower rises in generational popularity once the unfortunate anti-hype of critics wore off and fans could enjoy it noise-free. Hunnam may have played what some would call a villainous role, but in reality, Hunnam wanted to protect the role from being seen as such and layered Kai with the traumas of living in subjugation his entire life. With that in mind, he wanted to perform a character who was willing to do anything to be free from his toils. It's for that range and nuance that he installs in his character that Charlie Hunnam is still a top casting choice today.