“Animal Kingdom” is an enthralling crime drama that blends messy family drama with weekly heists. Janine “Smurf” Cody (Ellen Barkin) is the tough matriarch of a family of ruthless career criminals who steal to get by. The Codys will do anything to maintain the good life they’ve created, including jeopardizing their youngest member, Joshua “J” Cody (Finn Cole), Smurf’s grandson.
After the death of his mother and Smurf’s only daughter, Julia, the 17-year-old is made Smurf’s ward. Smurf rules the family with an iron fist, towering over her sons as she runs the gang and attempts to keep the family’s foothold in their hometown of Southern California. Throughout the show, we see flashbacks to Smurf’s youth (played by Leila George), as she forms her street gang and progresses to selling drugs, laundering money, and murdering the competition on her way to forming her crime syndicate.
“Animal Kingdom” was recently renewed for a sixth and final season by TNT (per Deadline). When will it be released, what will it be about, and who will star in it? Here’s what we know about Season 6 of “Animal Kingdom.”
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Is there a release date for Animal Kingdom Season 6?
Season 6 of “Animal Kingdom” will premiere in 2022, according to the first teaser released by TNT. There’s no word on which quarter the show will air in or whether it will keep its regular time slot. According to IMDb, “Animal Kingdom” is typically a summer program for TNT, with new episodes airing from May to August, but the show broke this tradition for Season 5 and aired from May to October 2021.
If the network wants to replicate the show’s previous five seasons’ success, it’s likely that “Animal Kingdom” will return on Sundays at 9 p.m. EST, and it’s also possible that the show will return in May 2022. The fifth season of “Animal Kingdom” was spread out over a greater number of weeks than any previous season, making it impossible to predict when the series will end. Naturally, all schedules are subject to change.
Who will most likely appear in Animal Kingdom Season 6?
TNT has made no announcements regarding cast changes or additions ahead of the Season 6 premiere. However, given the number of dangling plot threads from Season 5, it’s easy to predict which main characters will return for Season 6.
Leila George will almost certainly return as the younger Smurf, as will Smurf’s three sons — Andrew “Pope” Cody (Shawn Hatosy), Craig Cody (Ben Robson), and Deran Cody (Jake Weary). Naturally, Finn Cole will return as J, and Jon Beavers and Rigo Sanchez will almost certainly return to wrap up their storylines as young Jake Dunmore and Manny, respectively, in the flashback universe.
There will also presumably be more incursions from law enforcement officials, some of whom we’ve likely already met, who are now on the trail of the Cody gang following a rather gruesome discovery in the Season 5 finale.
What could the sixth season of Animal Kingdom be about?
When “Animal Kingdom” returns for its sixth season, the Cody family will face some incredibly formidable foes. At the end of Season 5, the police discover the body of Catherine Blackwell (Daniella Alonso), the late wife of the late Barry “Baz” Blackwell (Scott Speedman), J’s biological father, and Smurf’s adopted son. Catherine is killed in Season 1 when Pope smothers her for stealing money from Smurf following a failed seduction attempt by Catherine. Catherine’s body is found buried in a new housing development connected to the Codys. This bad news could start a season of retaliation for the entire family.
In other news, J and Deran finally agree to co-lead the Cody gang after Smurf’s death. Dean, the family’s black sheep who initially refuses to participate in Smurf’s criminal enterprise, even agrees to launder money for the gang through his bar. In other news, Craig’s drug addiction reaches crisis proportions, forcing his long-term love, Renn (Christina Ochoa), to leave him. When “Animal Kingdom” returns for its sixth and final season next year, all of these plot points will almost certainly be resolved in a major way.
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