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‘Sons of Anarchy’: Two Kids, One Character: How Evan And Ryder Londo Went About Playing Abel

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 01:40 PST, Jun 30, 2015

Sons of Anarchy fans would be familiar with Abel Teller, the young son of Jax, who had an important role to play in the last season in particular.

Siblings often share things precious to them with each other. But how often have you heard of brothers sharing screen time on TV? That is exactly what Evan and Ryder Londo did when they played Abel, a steely-eyed kid on the action-packed FX drama, Sons of Anarchy, which wrapped its seventh and final season last December.

Known for its gritty content and swashbuckling violence, Sons of Anarchy often required Abel, the young son of the protagonist Jackson “Jax” Teller (Charlie Hunnam), to bear much of the brunt of the tragedy that unfolded on the screen. As the Wrap mentioned, some of the episodes in Season 7, in particular, had some pretty intense moments for Abel.

It is difficult enough for one child to live up to such a character, but for two child actors to portray such a serious little boy must have been a Herculean task. Not so much, says their self-employed father, Tom Londo, who never noticed a difference in the behavior of his two sons and who says that his sons are as buoyant now as they always have been. Tom Londo spoke to People Magazine about the affect the role of Abel on Sons of Anarchy has had on his sons.

“It’s never really affected them whatsoever. No violence has leaked over. I know some would assume it might have. The weird thing for me is that in the show they play such a sad character, but in real life they are the exact opposite.”

But surely such a graphic show like Sons of Anarchy would have some impact on the kids. As it turns out, the two kids never watched any episodes of Sons of Anarchy, except for the sequences they were part of. To get into their character, Tom would tell them to pretend as if it was Halloween.

“They understand it’s all for pretend.”

What is even more interesting is the way the two brothers decided who would do which scene on Sons of Anarchy. Evan (younger by two minutes!) would go for the action-packed sequences, while Ryder would focus more on the sensitive parts of the show. Having played Don Draper’s son, Eugene Scott, in Mad Men, the two kids were already somewhat familiar with the filmmaking aspect of TV, but it was not until the last season of Sons of Anarchy that Ryder and Evan acquired a taste for acting.

“They’re both definitely up for it. They don’t admit they like it as much as you can see they like it, though. They’re pretty humbled by it.”

Now that Sons of Anarchy is complete, the boys’ father expects his two sons to get back to what kids do best, like playing soccer on the beach. But with Sons of Anarchy on their acting resumes, it wouldn’t surprise us if we saw them land more film or television roles in the future. Very rarely do children make a mark in front of the camera, and the ones who do don’t like to shy away from it.

[Photo via YouTube]

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