Animal Kingdom to End With Season 6

Michael Ausiello
·1 min read

Animal Kingdom is closing its doors: TNT announced Thursday that the crime drama will conclude with the just-ordered sixth season. The pickup comes ahead of the premiere of Season 5 this summer.

Animal Kingdom has been off the air since its Season 4 finale was broadcast in Aug. 2019. Season 4 marked the farewell of embattled leading lady Ellen Barkin, whose alter ego, Smurf, was killed off in the penultimate episode. The actress took to social media following her final episode to seemingly express frustration with how her departure was handled, liking several tweets that took direct aim at EP John Wells for comments he made to TVLine in which he explained why he wrote Barkin off the show. Two of the tweets even called for the series’ cancellation.

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In the upcoming fifth season, Pope (Shawn Hatosy), Craig (Ben Robson), Deran (Jake Weary) and J (Finn Cole) are “still dealing with the fallout from the events surrounding Smurf’s death, including family members out for revenge. With their kingdom without a leader, the Codys struggle to maintain their fragile alliance, and to see which of them will come out on top. Meanwhile, they search for more information on Pamela Johnson whom Smurf (former cast member Ellen Barkin) made the beneficiary of her estate. And back in 1984, an increasingly volatile 29-year-old Smurf is forging her own path raising Pope and Julia and leading the charge on dangerous jobs with new and old friends.”

TVLine’s Cable Renewal Scorecard has been updated to reflect Animal Kingdom‘s pickup.

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