Animal Kingdom Star Shawn Hatosy Had Some Harsh Words For The Show's Ending

"Animal Kingdom" might've concluded with Season 6 in 2022, but Shawn Hatosy still isn't over it. "I didn't love the way it ended," he told TV Insider in 2025 while addressing the renewed interest in "Animal Kingdom" following the TNT series' arrival on Netflix. Hatosy played the eldest son of ruthless matriarch Smurf (Ellen Barkin), Pope Cody – a man with a hard, menacing exterior and mommy issues galore.

"I think Pope was such a multidimensional character who at first you really didn't like, who just seemed disturbed," Hatosy said in the same interview. "So [the viewers] end up hating him at first, but he becomes the favorite by the end." 

The "Animal Kingdom" finale ends a 75-episode arc with Pope slumped over by the pool – likely dead – which isn't the ending Hatosy wanted for his character after all the growth and heartache he experienced.

Pope's final scene in "Animal Kingdom" picks up after the police shoot him. Pope uses his last bit of strength to confront his nephew, J (Finn Cole), about setting him and his brothers up. While Pope ultimately lets J go, Pope falls to the ground, seemingly succumbing to his wounds. 

It was this moment that Hatosy cited as a sore spot. "I care so much about [Pope]," he continued. "It becomes a part of you. So watching him be betrayed like that and not surviving — maybe we don't know. We didn't see, did we? We didn't call time of death, so who knows."

TNT's "Animal Kingdom" is loosely based on the 2010 Australian movie of the same name. In the film, Pope (played by Ben Mendelsohn) meets a similar demise. Then again, as Hatosy pointed out, maybe his version of Pope isn't gone for good.