Good news! The Affair Season 5 is happening. Showtime has announced that a fifth season of its infidelity drama will be arriving eventually. Bad news! It’s the last season.
“We love the intimacy, the nuance, and the emotional honesty of The Affair’s subjective examination of both infidelity and fidelity. Gary Levine, President of Programming Showtime Networks, said in a statement. ”Sarah Treem has always envisioned this as a five-season series, and we will be fascinated to see where she takes her talented cast and all of us next year in its climactic season.”
The Affair has been on quite a journey for the past four years. It debuted in the fall of 2014 to almost immediate acclaim. The first season even won the award for best drama at the Golden Globes.
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Since then, however, The Affair has struggled to maintain the excitement of its original premise. After the titular “affair” worn down, the show has been left with the story of deeply unhappy people living in Montauk, all trying to figure their lives out.
Thankfully The Affair Season 4 was something of a return to form for the show. It only had to lose one of its original key characters in the process.
The Affair Season 5 Cast
The big casting changes for The Affair Season 5 continue on. Jennifer Jason Leigh is the next big addition to the show’s final season. Showtime president of programming Gary Levine announced at the 2019 TCA winter press tour that Leigh will be joining The Affair Seaosn 5 in an unspecified role.
Jennifer Jason Leigh is perhaps best known for her role in Single White Female. In recent years, Leigh has popped up in the films Anomalisa and The Hateful Eight.
Anna Paquin will be joining the cast of the show for its fifth and final season, according to TV Line. Paquin’s return to pulpy pay cable shows would be a big deal on its own but even more interesting is who she is playing. Paquin will be portraying the adult version Joanie Lockhart. You know what that means…TIME JUMP!
Another character will be leaving The Affair Season 5…sort of. TV Line reports that Joshua Jackson will not be appearing as a series regular in The Affair Season 5. It’s possible that Jackson’s character Cole will return on a recurring basis. But as things stand that is now officially half the cast who has not made it to The Affair‘s final season.
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Those of you who watched the final two episodes of The Affair Season 4 are privy to some information: Ruth Wilson is no longer on the show. Yes, her character, Alison, sadly died and dead people don’t always make compelling TV characters. A question does remain, however: why is Alison dead? It’s entirely possible that the character had run her course and the show wanted to try something new. But some Ruth Wilson quotes make it seem as though there were issues behind the scenes.
Wilson told Gayle King of CBS This Morning: “”I’m not allowed to talk about why.” She would later tell other outlets that the reason wasn’t about pay and wasn’t about another job. But that still seems to suggest….there was a reason. Either way, Ruth Wilson will not be a part of The Affair‘s final season.
The Affair Season 5 Trailer
Check out the trailers for The Affair Season 5!
If you were hoping to use to it to determine who was still in the cast, you can now rest assured that Dominic West and Maura Tierney are still around. And that’s it apparently!
The Affair Season 5 Release Date
The Affair Season 5 has an official release date! Mark your calendars for Sunday, Aug. 25 at 9pm ET.
Alec Bojalad is TV Editor at Den of Geek and TCA member. Read more of his stuff here. Follow him at his creatively-named Twitter handle @alecbojalad