Sons Of Anarchy’s Sopranos Reference Debunks A Wild Fan Theory

Sons of Anarchy has made way for a variety of fan theories, and there’s a very popular one that links the show to The Sopranos, but a sneaky reference to the HBO series completely debunks that specific theory. In 2008, Kurt Sutter took viewers to California and into the world of motorcycle clubs in Sons of Anarchy. The series was praised by critics and viewers from the beginning, allowing it to live on for a total of seven seasons, coming to an end in 2014 after a lot of drama, conflicts, betrayals, and heartbreaking deaths.

Sons of Anarchy tells the story of Jackson “Jax” Teller (Charlie Hunnam), VP of the motorcycle club Sons of Anarchy in the fictional town of Charming, California. The moment that kickstarts the series is when Jax finds a manifesto written by his late father, John “JT” Teller, one of the founding members of the MC, in which he shared his plans and vision for the club. These were very different from those of the current President and Jax’s stepfather, Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman), and seeing these differences and more sends Jax on a personal journey that leads him to question his path, role in the club, relationships, family, and more. Over the course of seven seasons, viewers followed Jax’s personal life very closely, and one character who ended up being very important to Jax and his wife Tara Knowles (Maggie Siff) was Wendy (Drea De Matteo).

At the beginning of Sons of Anarchy, Wendy was Jax’s pregnant wife who had a drug problem, which led to the birth defects of their son, Abel. After Sons of Anarchy season 1, Wendy went to rehab and didn’t return until season 4, now sober and wanting to reconnect with Jax but most importantly with Abel, and became a recurring character in seasons 6 and 7 when she became an ally of Tara, who chose her as the legal guardian of Abel and her son Thomas if something happened to her. Before playing Wendy in Sons of Anarchy, De Matteo played Adriana La Cerva in The Sopranos, but her final scene in the show left some viewers wondering if she could have survived, leading to a theory that suggests she did and went into the Witness Protection Program, relocating in Charming under the identity of Wendy.

The author of the theory, posted on Reddit, explains that Wendy and Adriana have the same New Jersey accent and they both had a drug problem – however, this theory is debunked by one line said by Jax in Sons of Anarchy. When Jax invites LuAnn (Dendrie Taylor) to take a look at the warehouse they intend to use for their porn business, LuAnn is visibly uncomfortable and nervous as she doesn’t know what to expect, so Jax laughs and says “you thought I brought you here to Adriana you?”, in reference to Adriana La Cerva’s death scene. Back to The Sopranos, Adriana was tricked by Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt) to get in a car with him to supposedly drive her to the hospital after Christopher attempted suicide (which was a lie). Silvio took her to the woods, where a terrified Adriana tried to escape, but he dragged her out of the car and shot her, though her death isn’t shown on screen.

If Jax was able to make a (subtle) reference to The Sopranos, then Wendy and Adriana can’t be the same person, even if the author of the theory tried to justify this line by suggesting Wendy told Jax about her past and he just made a reference to that… to a person who had no idea about Wendy/Adriana’s life. Sons of Anarchy and The Sopranos, then, live in different worlds, and they are better off that way.