Netflix has added all six seasons of the TNT drama Animal Kingdom. Even though a few years have passed since the final episode, the show is enjoying a resurgence after landing in the Netflix Top 10.
Animal Kingdom is a crime drama that ran from 2016 to 2022 on TNT and was based on the 2010 movie of the same name. It was one of the last shows to air before TNT made the decision to scale back production on scripted series, but the network gave the show a chance to wrap up the story with one final season. Original series star Ellen Barkin departed the show in season 4, but the Cody family legacy continued with Shawn Hatosy, Jake Weary, Ben Robson and Finn Cole.
Barkin starred as Janine "Smurf" Cody, the matriarch of the Cody family and the head of their small, but powerful, crime family empire. Smurf and her three sons, Pope (Hatosy), Craig (Robson) and Deran (Weary) welcomed Joshua "J" Cody (Cole) into the family after the death of his mother, who walked away from the family years before. It wasn't long before J was initiated into the family business. The Codys lived large off their spoils while also looking over their shoulders to make sure they didn't get caught.
Ahead of the Animal Kingdom season 6 premiere, we spoke with Robson and Weary about the "high octane" final season, and had a chance to speak with season 6 newcomers Jasper Polish and Kevin Csolak on the show's "heartbreaking" ending.
One of my first assignments upon arriving at What to Watch was to cover Animal Kingdom's final season so I quickly binged all five seasons ahead of the season 6 premiere. I didn't expect to become so drawn into the show and its dynamic characters, but it pulled me in from the start. Between the high stakes crimes, Smurf's cunning and the overall dynamic between the Cody family members, Animal Kingdom quickly became must-watch TV for me and I was sad to see it come to an end.
While the show is over, the Animal Kingdom ending was written in such a way we explored some of the ways the show could live on in a future spinoff.
Now that it's on Netflix, Animal Kingdom is worth checking out if you've never seen it before or if you were a fan and are interested in another watch. There's so much to take in that it will keep you entertained through the bittersweet end.
Animal Kingdom is now available to stream on Netflix.
