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Animal Kingdom Season 4 has started filming and this is what we know

By Rachel Roth

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Thanks to set photos and Instagram posts, we know Animal Kingdom Season 4 has officially started filming to meet its usual May premiere date.

Animal Kingdom has started Season 4 production and the cast has gathered on set to start filming. The TNT crime drama is keeping its usual filming schedule that starts in January and continues throughout the next five/six months for a summertime premiere date.

Based on the Australian film of the same name that’s based on the lives of the Pettingill family, Animal Kingdom follows matriarch Janine “Smurf” Cody (Ellen Barkin) and her family as they make a career out of crime. Smurf’s children are the members of her homemade crew, a family she essentially made for labor purposes that includes Andrew “Pope” (Shawn Hatosy), Craig (Ben Robson), Deran (Jake Weary), her deceased adoptive son Barry “Baz” (Scott Speedman), and her grandson, Joshua “J” (Finn Cole).

The series starts when J’s mother dies of an overdose and he’s sent to live with his grandmother and uncles, where he proves he’s just as much a Cody as they are. Even though J is the main character, he often takes a backseat to the other subplots, and behaved as if he was an eager to please child falling in deep under their influence. This, however, turned out to be a ruse the entire time as he’s been planning to destroy Smurf and her “empire” since he arrived.

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Anyone who saw the film might have noticed a similar pattern by now, and probably weren’t surprised when J turned full Darth Vader on his mentor. Cue the song from Chicago and change “he” to “she”: “she had it coming, she had it coming, she had it coming all along.”

If you want to know what might happen, watch the movie, they follow the same outline.

Some of the cast is already on set to film Season 4 and thanks to some gracious posts on social media, we know a little of what to expect. As of right now, we know that the first episode will be written by Eliza Clark (Spencer Treat Clark’s sister) and will be directed by John Wells, who usually directs the first and last episode of every season. Episode 2 will be directed by David Rodriguez and written by Daniele Nathanson.

Several guest stars are listed for the first episode but no one we’ve previously met. Actress Kelli Berglund will appear as a woman named Olivia, David DeSantos as a guy named Dennis Livengood, and Roman Mitichhyan will be playing a referee, so count on a possible pool game or surfing competition.

Time jump

Based entirely on Jake Weary’s hair, I think it’s likely that Animal Kingdom Season 4 will jump a few months ahead of time. There were several light cliffhangers at the end of last season that require answering: J threatening Smurf and squaring off against Pope (run Pope!), Adrian being pulled aside for a drug search, Mia’s ex-boyfriend returning, and Pope reuniting with Amy. These all require further explanation, but it looks like Season 4 will jump ahead and explain things later.

I’m basing this entirely on the length of Jake Weary’s hair. Last season he cut it short but now it’s at a noticeably longer length, not the surfer look he was sporting earlier in the series but not the short cut he had in Season 3 either, meaning some time has past for the characters.

Flashbacks

In spite of the dark history plaguing the characters, Animal Kingdom isn’t fond of discussing the past. The trauma consuming the Cody family is all rooted in past events, from the relationship between Pope, Baz, and Julia to Smurf’s implied childhood abuse, but nothing is ever described in full detail. We’re left in the dark about a lot of things.

Now it looks like we just might get a flashback or two about Smurf when she was young. Actress Leila George recently joined the cast as a character named Janine who sounds all-too familiar. Described by The Wrap as:

"“a street savvy, scrappy survivor. Janine is a nihilist who doesn’t expect to live past 30. She runs with a small crew of men a few years older than her, vets and surfers who steal to support their vagabond life on the road. She realizes very quickly that they are the ones who should be proving themselves to her.”"

Nothing’s been confirmed yet, but a flashback is looking likely. Ellen Barken and Leila George are both beautiful blonde women with kindred facial features, and their characters have the same personality and same first name.

If we’re seeing Smurf when she was young then there’s a chance we might get to meet Pope and Julia’s father. Smurf is probably in her early 60’s and Pope is probably in his early 40’s. That means Smurf had the twins when she was twenty-something. Lelia George is 26, the perfect age for Smurf to meet her first baby-daddy.

I for one have been dying to meet the man that Pope came from. The fangirl in me hopes they cast Ben Mendelsohn, who played Pope in the original movie, as the father, but that almost certainly won’t happen.

Adrian and his short-lived drug smuggling career

Adrian has already been confirmed to return for Season 4, but the question of his prison time remained heavy in the air. In the Animal Kingdom Season 3 finale, he was stopped at the airport for suspected drug smuggling and the police were shown checking his surfboard for hidden drugs. Now, it never showed them finding anything, but most likely there were some drugs hiding in there. Unless he changed his mind at the last minute.

However, thanks to set photos and Instagram posts by Spencer Treat Clark (Adrian) and Jake Weary, it seems that Adrian won’t be sent to prison straight away. Clark’s IG stories show him on set at the Cody house hanging out with Deran and Craig, instead of behind prison bars. Not all TV shows film their episodes in order, but Animal Kingdom usually does, so they’re probably filming the first or second episode.

There’s also a chance of seeing Clark promoted to a series regular in Season 4. With Molly Gordon and Carolina Guerra gone there’s room to fill and Clark posted a screenshot of the very first script given to him with the “Episode 1” label clearly seen on the front. Being in the first episode gives high hopes for a character that started out barely being in the show at all.

In an interview with DAMAN magazine, Clark said that Adrian’s actions from last season will either drive him further towards the Cody’s or pull him away. There was no question which direction it’ll be, he was always going to be pulled into their circle one way or another. It’s possible Smurf did some Smurf-magic and got him off the drug charge in exchange for pulling jobs for her.

Mia and Renn

J’s current love interest, Mia, played by Sohvi Rodriguez is confirmed to return to the series and though it’s yet to be confirmed, it’s likely that Christina Ochoa will also return as Renn Randell, Craig’s on-again/off-again girlfriend. Last time we saw Renn, she dropped the pregnant bomb on Craig who seemed dumbfounded. Yeah Craig, that’s what happens when you have drunken unprotected sex during a six-month getaway.

Doubt the show would include that announcement without a reason, so we’ll see Renn again. Is it just me or were there a lot of pregnancy warnings last season? Two people referred to Mia getting pregnant and then Renn actually turned up pregnant.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs_aAvTFefI/

The first job

Early images of the Cody boys suggest a job will be taking place almost immediately. There’s a photo of Craig and Deran sitting in a truck, but that could mean anything, and Shawn Hatosy posted a picture of himself looking beat up wearing safety glasses with the caption “time to make the fucking donuts.” Honestly, I don’t know what “make donuts” means in relation to the image, it could be a joke about making money or going to work, or he’s making some really dangerous donuts. Maybe I’m just dense.

Judging by his face, he just got in a fight and is in post-recovery. There are bandages on the cuts meaning whatever fight he gets in, will come before safety goggles are required. Meaning whatever happened to him isn’t robbery related. Knowing Pope, he probably got in a fight with some random guy and it has nothing to do with anything.

Additional photos were posted on the actor’s IG stories showing Pope, Craig, and Deran dressed in matching white button-down shirts, looking like respectable members of society. Ben Robson is standing in a prayer stance with the caption, “I worship at the Church of Craig”, and he posted another picture that mentioned forbidden fruit. Are they robbing another church or a religious camp? Who knows?

Next. Everything to know about TNT’s limited series I Am the Night. dark

There’s no premiere date yet but Animal Kingdom Season 4 will probably air in late May as it’s done for the past two years.

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