Katey Sagal Talks Emotional and Shocking ‘Red Rose’ Episode

Warning: Spoilers ahead. If you have not watched this week’s episode of Sons of Anarchy, “Red Rose,” stop here.

Katey Sagal, matriarch of the Sons of Anarchy, says the final scene between Gemma and Jax in “Red Rose” was emotional, but also the perfect end for Gemma.

Fans who have long awaited a confrontation between mother and son finally got their wish on Tuesday’s episode of Sons of Anarchy. As some fans had hoped since Gemma killed Tara, that brief confrontation did not go all that well for Gemma as Jax (Charlie Hunnam) ultimately guns down his mother.

Sagal tells People she knew Gemma’s time would be up near the end of the seventh season, but she was not sure exactly when since her husband, Kurt Sutter, just told her it would be “near the end.” As far as how Gemma would go out in this final season of the show, there were many discussions beforehand about if she would die, and once that was decided, exactly how.

Katey says filming her final scene was extremely emotional for herself and Hunnam.

“Charlie and I cried a lot. It’s how Sons of Anarchy has always been. Everybody goes there. Charlie and I just hugged each other, really hugged each other, because it was also goodbye for Katey and Charlie after seven years. It was very emotional in a beautiful way. It wasn’t torturous. It was kind of a relief. We’ve all been building to this moment for this last season, and have all been in our own forms of denial by not really dealing with it ending. But on that day, there was no turning back. It was extremely emotional.”

Fans may have been surprised when Gemma urges Jax to kill her, while he’s hesitating to do must be done, but Sagal says her dying by Jax’s hand was just about being a mother helping her son…and because Gemma couldn’t do it herself.

“It’s part of her mothering and loving him that she feels he needs to kill whoever killed Tara. She feels like she’s doing him that favor. It’s that, combined with the fact that she’s too afraid to do it herself. She needs him to help her do that, and to do it for himself.”

As for what is going to happen in the Sons of Anarchy finale, Sagal tells TVLine she is keeping mum on that topic.

“Of course I know what happens in the finale. And of course I’m keeping it a secret. [Laughs] I was there for the last shot of the last episode.”

What will Katey Sagal miss most about playing Gemma?

“It was so fun to play a badass. Gemma put people in her place. She called it like it is. It’s hard to find women who are written that way. So I will definitely miss that. She was one of a kind.”

The final episode of Sons of Anarchy airs Dec. 9 on FX.

[Photo credit: Prashant Gupta/FX]