Animal Kingdom Season 6 cast and characters: Here’s who brought the TNT crime drama to life

Animal Kingdom is finally ready to say goodbye in Season 6, and the burden of all past events cannot be overlooked at all! The Cody clan has already done its part in the crime world and is no more; the plot has moved this time to destruction, exposure, and long-overdue consequences.

The very first episode gave the viewers a clear idea of the season’s theme: what will be the aftermath of the loss of control? The last season of Animal Kingdom aired on TNT from June 19 to August 28, 2022, and it was notable for employing a dual-timeline structure that showed the present-day disintegration of the Cody family along with the flashbacks to Smurf’s younger days.

Instead of introducing new power struggles, the final season leans on its established characters to propel the narrative forward. As a result, the ending is deeply character-driven and remains true to the show’s core tone and themes.

Here’s who brought the Animal Kingdom to life

Shawn Hatosy as Andrew “Pope” Cody

Hatosy returns as Andrew "Pope" Cody, the character whose psychological condition is now one of the main concerns in Animal Kingdom Season 6. With Smurf gone, Pope loses the main influence that controlled his conduct, personality, and sense of being. The season portrays him as increasingly unbalanced, lonely, and powerless without the outside authority.

Pushing Pope to either become a better person or become a saint is not something Animal Kingdom is going to do. Hatosy’s portrayal brings out the stillness of the environment, emotional distancing, and unresolved guilt. Pope’s transformation in Season 6 shows how profoundly Smurf’s power over him was, and that hardly anything is left when the framework disappears.

Ben Robson as Craig Cody

In the sixth season of Animal Kingdom, Craig Cody, interpreted by Ben Robson, is still having a hard time whirling between the two extremes of vice and virtue. Although he was recognised for his reckless actions and drug and alcohol use in the previous seasons, Craig now has the baby’s fatherhood as a burden, but still, on the other hand, enjoys the speculations and hazards of the family’s illegal activities.

However, the season does not frame Craig as a character on a path to redemption. Instead, it presents his state as a consequence of circumstance and reaction, one shaped by conditioning and fear rather than growth or enlightenment. Robson’s performance remains consistently controlled, effectively portraying a man caught between a sense of duty and the instinct for self-preservation.

Jake Weary as Deran Cody

Entering the sixth season of The Animal Kingdom, Jake Weary's Deran Cody is getting more and more turned off from the family's affairs. He distrusts the ones in charge and is exhausted by the unstable times that have lasted for years, so Deran's plot is centered around survival and even emotional detachment rather than the usual ambition.

Moreover, Deran’s character reflects one of the main ideas in the show, i.e., the fear-based loyalty eventually turns into non-loyalty, and then it collapses. He is not acting like a king and trying to get more control, but rather like a coward who just wants to leave a place that does not give him safety anymore. Weary’s subtle performance conveys Deran’s increasing withdrawal without any dramatic confrontation.

Finn Cole as Joshua "J" Cody

Joshua "J" Cody, the character brought to life by actor Finn Cole, is the one who sticks at the center of the Animal Kingdom Season 6. J has now become a character that is the result of the story's long-time plot, which started in the past and has recently become active in the present.

As the story goes along, J gets involved in very sophisticated, calm, and emotionally detached ways of doing things. It seems that authors just do not propose J’s actions as a heavy moral counterbalance against the other Codys throughout the season. On the contrary, he is shown to be a product of the very same environment of neglect, exploitation, and survival that had shaped the family in the first place.

Finn Cole’s acting remains somewhat subtle, allowing the impact of J to gradually unfold rather than through the use of sheer force.

Leila George as Young Janine "Smurf" Cody

Leila George comes back to the role of the young Janine "Smurf" Cody in the flashback part of Animal Kingdom Season 6. These sequences delve into the early life of Smurf as a young and single mother who is eventually involved in illegal activities, at first, hesitantly, but later on even more so.

The flashbacks show no signs of either wanting to reframe Smurf in a sympathetic or villainous light. Rather, the show presents her early choices as a way of balancing her life in a world that was unstable and financially insecure. The season explicitly points out the connection between Smurf's growing-up years and her sons' later behaviors.

Charlayne Woodard portrays Pamela Johnson

The character of Pamela Johnson, who is played by Charlayne Woodard, is a person from Smurf's past that the unresolved financial conflicts return to during the Animal Kingdom Season 6. Pamela is a reminder of the long-term effects of Smurf's illegal activities and the financial obligations that still exist long after the end of a relationship.

Her presence reiterates one of the main themes of Animal Kingdom: crime never disappears, it only grows. Pamela's character allows us to see how far Smurf's influence reaches, beyond even the Cody family.

Young Pope and Young Julia in the Flashback Timeline

The series, in its sixth season, continues to show the childhoods of Pope and Julia Cody through flashbacks. The child version of Pope is depicted as someone who is emotionally dependent and vulnerable, while that of Julia is becoming more and more evident as a neglected child.

The present-day story gets a lot of help from the flashbacks. Animal Kingdom is very clever in illustrating how favoritism, neglect, and emotional manipulation were the factors that shaped the future of the siblings. The narrative does not take sides but rather presents these experiences as mere contributors to the later outcomes.