The final episode of Animal Kingdom marked the end of not just one but two stories about the Cody family. There was the story of the Cody brothers and their nephew in the present-day and there was also the story of young Smurf (Leila George), her adopted son Baz (Darren Mann) and her twins Julia (Jasper Polish) and Andrew, aka "Pope" (Kevin Csolak).
The dual timelines have been a feature of the series for several seasons, but it took the shocking revelation of what really went down between Smurf, Andrew and Julia to bring the Cody family story full circle. You can read what happened in the Animal Kingdom series finale here.
What to Watch had a chance to talk with Polish and Csolak about the final season of the series and what it was like bringing Julia and Pope’s tragic history to life.
After admitting that watching the screener for the final episode, "Fubar," hit us hard in the feelings, Polish said that the final days on set were equally emotional.
"It left us with a lot of feelings when we finished filming, too," she said. "I mean, when we finished filming in general it was a heartbreaking day, all around, just saying goodbye to everybody. There were a lot of tears saying goodbye and a lot of tears just for our characters, because it’s just that heartbreaking."
Csolak agreed. "You’re leaving a part of you [on the set]. It’s a beautiful thing."
We talked about a comment from our pre-season interview with Ben Robson and Jake Weary about how the show could have ended in season 5. They teased that there was so much more to come and now that the show is over it’s impossible to think of it ending any other way, especially when it comes to learning the full story about Julia and Andrew and their history.
"I feel like you really get to meet Julia this season," Polish noted. "You’ve seen photos of her and you meet her when she’s really young, but now she’s a young adult and she has a lot of opinions about things."
Polish adds that in the early seasons of the show you never heard anything other than Julia being a drug addict, but now the truth comes out.
"Smurf really doesn’t have anything good to say about her in the first few seasons. In this season you really get to see Julia and you feel for her and you see the amazing relationship that she actually had with her twin brother that was never spoken about until after she’s gone.
"You could have ended it in season 5," she added, "but leaving it with this season makes you love these characters a little bit more because you see all these different sides of them that you didn’t see before."
The same can be said about Pope’s development in both storylines this season.
"I think what we’ve developed through this season is a beautiful contrast," Csolak agreed. "I think it’s a beautiful contrast to how the season ends with the present-day cast. It’s this beautiful crossing throughout the season that happens with Pope’s character being manipulated by Smurf and then we see Shawn Hatosy’s present-day Pope slowly starting to think for himself for one of the first times and really unravelling his past."
Csolak credited writers and the brilliant "1992" team, including Polish, George and Mann, that brought their part of the story to life.
When asked about whether there was anything in their characters’ stories that surprised or shocked them, they both agreed that it was more about seeing how their characters developed that was the most surprising and central aspect.
"What surprised me more," Csolak said, "was young Pope trying to figure out all of his hormones and watching his [adopted brother Baz] and sister having this relationship and trying to figure out what that meant. I think what was really interesting and surprising was the episode where young Pope thinks it’s okay to kiss his sister because that’s what Smurf manipulated into his head, that affection is expressed that way."
Polish agreed, noting that there wasn’t anything shocking about Julia’s story other than the intense emotions tied to what happens to her.
"More than anything, I became more and more heartbroken for my character. And one thing that sort of surprised me is when you’re in a relationship like that and then we’re on set playing these two characters that just love each other so much. Knowing that the betrayal is coming," she said, "there’s just nothing that can prepare you for it. It’s just heartbreaking and very sad."
In the end, Polish summed it all up perfectly: "it’s a dysfunctional family, to say the least."
The final season of Animal Kingdom is available to watch on demand now on the TNT app.
