Why did Ellen Barkin leave 'Animal Kingdom'? Ellen Barkin portrayed swindler extraordinaire Janine 'Smurf' Cody within the first four seasons.
Season 6 of Animal Kingdom, the adrenaline-drenched TV adaptation of David Michôd's neo-noir crime drama, captures the newest headaches the illustrious contributors of the Cody family have to face. The Season 6 opener juxtaposes flashbacks to 1992 — when the iron-fisted matriarch, Janine 'Smurf' Cody (Ellen Barkin), was once very much alive and kicking — and scenes set within the warehouse explosion-filled provide. What went down previously few episodes? Why is the O.G. Smurf not in them?
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Janine 'Smurf' Cody (Ellen Barkin) got killed in Season Four of 'Animal Kingdom.' Why did she leave 'Animal Kingdom'?
As the torchbearer of the Cody clan, Janine 'Smurf' Cody (Ellen Barkin) governed the next generation of Codys with various degrees of success within the first four seasons of Animal Kingdom. An authorized Machiavellian, she had a substantial amount of influence on the motions of Andrew 'Pope' Cody (Shawn Hatosy), Craig Cody (Ben Robson), Deran Cody (Jake Weary), and others. Smurf died an abrupt death in Season 4, Episode 12, quickly after she won a most cancers analysis.
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Smurf went out with a bang in Season 4, Episode 12, quickly after studying that she has melanoma. In the episode, Smurf provokes a gunfight with Odin (Matt Bushell) and his brothers. She gets shot in the leg — which she considers a essential step towards securing her legacy as a fearless, invincible woman who got a handful of unlawful operations across the end line.
But Pope steps in, effectively saving Smurf. Smurf does not respond neatly to the surprising flip of occasions. Pope carries her away from Odin and his coterie, joining forces with Joshua 'J' Cody (Finn Cole), Craig, and Deran. Smurf implores Pope to shoot her. He can not. In the top, J is the one to finish the activity.
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Ellen Barkin's abrupt departure gave strategy to numerous fan theories. Why did she leave 'Animal Kingdom'?
Repetitive storylines, a way of monotonousness, and wanting to allocate more screen time to different characters like young Janine were simply one of the most elements that had been on the creators' minds after they determined to kill off Ellen Barkin's character. John Wells, the chief manufacturer of Animal Kingdom, instructed Entertainment Weekly that they wanted to stay the episodes fresh. A plot twist involving Smurf's abrupt loss of life helped them succeed in their goal.
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"A big part of the challenge on any show is to try and keep it feeling real for the audience in the sense that it’s still fun to watch because you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen," John stated. "We were feeling that we were repeating a little bit the Smurf stories. We had told the Smurf stories in the present that we wanted to tell but what we were really interested in is how did she get to be Smurf?"
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"And that led to where we ended up," he added. "We came to the realization that the thing that would shake the family up most is if Smurf wasn’t there to hold them together anymore."
In a 2019 tweet, Ellen decried the creators for failing to peer past ageist stereotypes.
"Many talented women work behind the camera on Animal Kingdom. I've never been on a set with as many women behind the camera. Not even close. It's beautiful to see. But that does not diminish the erasure of the onscreen 64-year-old female lead. When will it be ok to show my face?" tweeted @EllenBarkin.
Catch new episodes of Animal Kingdom Saturdays at Nine p.m. EST on TNT.
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