Animal Kingdom Season 5: Young Pope and Julia to join Smurf in flashbacks

Animal Kingdom Season 5 will continue Smurf’s flashback “origin” story into the 1980s. Will we see young Pope and Julia Cody take on their first family robbery?

The series of origin story flashbacks we see of Smurf, played by Leila George, will continue into the 1980s in Animal Kingdom Season 5, and we can confidently say that Smurf’s new wolf pack crew is tripling in size. At the end of last season, the flashbacks ended with the birth of the twins, and when the series returns to TNT later this spring, we’ll pick back up with this ongoing parallel story in the 1980s — and yes, that means we’ll definitely be seeing young Andrew “Pope” Cody and Julia Cody on-screen.

Played by Houston Towe and Scarlett Abinante, little Pope and Julia will very likely be getting into some trouble as they learn from — and potentially work for — their mother, Smurf in Animal Kingdom Season 5. And with Manny, played by Rigo Sanchez, upped to a series regular this season, we’re predicting we’ll see more of the tensions between Smurf, Manny and Jake unfold, likely complicated by the fact that kids are now thrown into the mix.

It was recently revealed that young Pope will have  “a darkness that his mother seeks to manipulate instead of control” this season, and we’re super curious to know how we’ll see that darkness unfold on-screen (and why he was using a prop knife on set). Throughout the series, older Pope has shared memories and hints of what his childhood was like with Smurf and Julia, and we’re hoping to see some of those situations realized in the upcoming episodes.

Everything we’ve learned about Julia across the series so far has been revealed to the audience through the perspectives and memories of other people. Animal Kingdom Season 5 will be the first time we truly meet Julia on-screen, and the show teased that the character, even at her young age, will already have “a taste for alcohol.” If Smurf’s enabling young Pope’s violence, we can only imagine how Smurf will contribute to Julia’s inevitable pathway of becoming an addict.

Though an official trailer has yet to be released, there are a few more clues about what’s in store this dysfunctional trio that we’ve caught on social media. We know Smurf’s mom-mobile is a 1980s station wagon and that they’ll be spending some time in a convenience store that was decked out with snacks and candy from the 80s. Do you think Smurf would have the twins help her rob the store? Let us know in the comments below!

What are you excited to see in the flashback scenes throughout Animal Kingdom Season 5? Let us know in the comments below and check back with Hidden Remote for more news and updates about the series returning to TNT later this year!