Here's Everything We Know About Season 6 of TNT's Hit Drama 'Animal Kingdom'

Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for Animal Kingdom Season 5.

The hit crime drama Animal Kingdom is based on David Michôd's 2010 Australian film with the same name. The movie first premiered at Sundance and was later adapted as a television show that began on TNT in 2016. Since Animal Kingdom's debut, fans have been in love with the drama series that centers around the Cody family in Southern California.

The series follows J (Finn Cole), a 17-year-old who moves in with his grandmother Smurf Cody (Ellen Barkin) and his uncles after the death of his mother.

Smurf is not only the matriarch of the dysfunctional family but also the final authority when it comes to their criminal operations. Over the show's first five seasons, the action-packed family drama had received a lot of praise.

In an interview with Deadline, executive producer John Wells stated, "We want to keep the audience guessing in a way that still feels real to our characters' world."

The show has definitely done that, and most likely, there will be more guessing to come in the forthcoming season. The one big question on fans' minds is: When will Season 6 of Animal Kingdom be released? Here's what we know.

The production for Season 6 of Animal Kingdom began in early March and wrapped up in August 2021. However, it’s still going to be a while before audiences are able to watch the much-anticipated final season begins airing.

Even though it’s done filming, the series still requires some time for post-production work, and usually TNT typically releases the new installments between May and July. So, fans can expect the release date for Season 6 of Animal Kingdom to be sometime during the summer of 2022.

Fans took to social media after the Season 5 finale to share their excitement or Season 6. One fan tweeted, “Stoked for next season, not stoked that it's the last season.”

Another tweeted, "I’ve never been so excited for something yet so totally devastated about something ending. Let us know the date please so we can start a countdown on our calendars!"

For the majority of Season 5, viewers saw the police trying to track J, Craig (Ben Robson), Deran (Jake Weary), and Pope (Shawn Hatosy). When a detective got a massive lead on them, the stakes became even higher. The discovery of Catherine Blackwell's (Daniella Alonso) body at the end of Season 5 became a total game-changer for the long-term future of the characters in Animal Kingdom.

In the Season 6 promo, there's one moment where a detective gets an enormous box full of information on the Cody family. This detective isn't going to stop until she has them all locked behind bars, it seems, and with the police closing in, they're going to need to be even more careful next season.

Fans will see some fresh new faces as well in the new season. We will see younger versions of Smurf's sons as well as Pope's twin Julia.

Actor Kevin Csloak will be portraying the younger version of Pope, and Jasper Polish will play a young Julia. Darren Mann will take on the role of young Baz. It also seems that J will have a new love interest.

Stevie Lynn Jones will appear as Penny, who's a rule-breaker by nature but tries to play by the book. Even though she's is in a loveless marriage with a Marine, she and J will get closer throughout the season.

We can't wait until Season 6 and will keep fans updated on the release date.