After four successful seasons, the Cody Family is back! Read this article to learn every single detail about Animal Kingdom Season 5!
Don’t confuse the title Animal Kingdom with any wildlife documentary. Animal Kingdom is an American crime -thriller drama series. The latest season of this show came in 2019. Since then, the fans have been waiting for the show to make a comeback. Finally, we’ve got something solid that confirms that the fifth season is on the go!
If you like crime series full of action, you would surely love Animal Kingdom. Continue reading this article to know more!
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Animal Kingdom – A Crime Story
Animal Kingdom is a remake of an Australian movie of the same name, released back in 2010. Bolstered by Ellen Barkin’s acting, Animal Kingdom is appealing, although sometimes predictable, twisting family drama.
John Wells Productions and Warner Horizon Scripted Television handle the series. It was developed by Jonathan Lisco. The executive producers of the show are Liz Watts, Jonathan Lisco, David Michôd, Andrew Stearn, John Wells, Eliza Clark, Etan Frankel, and Christopher Chulack.
The story focuses on 17-year-old Joshua “J” Cody, who migrates in with his freewheeling relatives in their Southern California beach town after his mom’s death by heroin overdose.
Boot-tough matron Janine “Smurf” Cody and her right-hand Baz operates the family business. There is also one important character named Pope. He is the oldest and most vulnerable of the Cody guys. Craig is the strong and bold middle son, while Deran is the youngest son. We often see him as the baby of the Cody family.
The story revolves around a dysfunctional family involved in a lot of corruption. The viewers expect to see more family drama and crime take over this family in Animal Kingdom Season 5.
Before we get into the updates of season 5, let’s look at how well the previous seasons did!
Animal Kingdom Season 1 to 4
|
Season
|
Episodes
|
Broadcast | |
| First Released | Last Released | ||
| 1 | 10 | June 14, 2016 | August 9, 2016 |
| 2 | 13 | May 30, 2017 | August 29, 2017 |
| 3 | 13 | May 29, 2018 | August 21, 2018 |
| 4 | 13 | May 28, 2019 | August 20, 2019 |
Animal Kingdom arrived on the screens with season 1 in 2016 with ten episodes. From 2016 to 2019, the series has premiered four successful seasons on the TNT network.
On July 24, 2019, TNT renewed the show for a fifth season. The third season of Animal Kingdom was its most-watched season to date. It has 5.5 million viewers per episode across all online platforms, and it stands as a top 10 cable drama amongst adults 18-49 in Nielsen’s live plus seven-day ranks.
On March 16, 2020, the production team suspended the work for the fifth season until further notice because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Production work for Animal Kingdom resumed on September 7, 2020. We’ve found much evidence that the shooting for the fifth season ended on December 11, 2020.
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Animal Kingdom Season 5 – Latest Updates!
On July 25, 2020, the official Animal Kingdom Twitter account announced that the series is renewed for Season 5.
The Codys are here to stay 🔥 #AnimalKingdom will officially be returning for a Season 5! pic.twitter.com/5KJSqyMjyd
— Animal Kingdom (@AnimalKingdom) July 25, 2019
Since the fans got the news of Animal Kingdom Season 5, they’re eagerly waiting for its release.
Shawn Hatosy, who acts as Andrew Cody (aka Pope) in the show, verified the news for Animal Kingdom Season 5. On July 24, he tweeted and said the following:
Animal Kingdom has been renewed for season 5! To all our fans: the Cody family thanks you for your loyalty. Let’s eat some pie—🥧 pic.twitter.com/PIzhaeGjXR
— Shawn Hatosy (@ShawnHatosy) July 24, 2019
In his new post on Instagram, Hatosy wrote that he had completed his job for the year as it seemed to be the final week of shooting. Don’t take this statement to assume that Pope dies. He may just not have had any shooting scheduled for the last scenes.
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What To Expect From Animal Kingdom Season 5?
Animal Kingdom Season 5 might resume the story. It ended in season 4 with a flashback unveiling Smurf’s past, including how she settled herself in the criminal business and supported the family.
The fourth season ended with Smurf’s unexpected death. After she was diagnosed with a terminal disease, she framed her last major heist. During the mission, she instigated a gunfight, hoping to get killed, but Pope saved her.
She then gave Pope a gun and ordered him to shoot her. She warned to shoot Pope if he resisted. In the end, J walked in and gunned her down.
The executive producer of Animal Kingdom, John Wells, said in an interview with Deadline that Smurf’s past would continue to influence her children’s lives in the fifth season.
He added that the biggest opportunity and test rolled into one is finding a way to reveal the depth and meaning of Smurf’s character in the Cody family psychologically.
“Next season, the writers will get a chance to explore how our characters were formed by Smurf and how those twisted connections continue to affect them after she’s gone. There is a lot to unpack there,” said Wells.
The fifth season will have 13 episodes, just like seasons 2, 3, and 4 had. Animal Kingdom season 5 seems very capturing, and with such an intense and exciting story, it will definitely blow our minds. When people are more into series and films during such a pandemic, the fifth season will be worth their time.
Animal Kingdom Season 5: Cast
The crew behind the series hasn’t given much information on the cast yet. However, we believe that it will remain more or less the same.
- Ellen Barkin as Janine “Smurf” Cody
- Finn Cole as Joshua “J” Cody
- Ben Robson as Craig Cody
- Jake Weary as Dean Cody
- Shawn Hatosy as Andrew “Pope” Cody
- Sohvi Rodriguez as Mia Benite
- Rigo Sanchez as Manny
Release Date for Animal Kingdom Season 5
With everyone wrapping up their shooting, the ball is on the post-production team’s court now. We can assume that it might take the early part of 2021. The fans are hoping that the fifth season will arrive in the spring, but it seems that TNT won’t break its trail of releasing every new season around May every time.
Usually, Animal Kingdom premieres right after Memorial Day Weekend (maybe it’s kind of lucky for them). So they might not want to change it now. The global pandemic has delayed the release date, and the production team might be planning to release Animal Kingdom season 5 around mid-2021.
