At the center of Animal Kingdom is the complicated Cody family, led by its matriarch, Janine "Smurf" Cody. The TNT crime drama series is based on the 2010 Australian movie of the same name by David Michôd, which was developed for television by Jonathan Lisco. The story revolved around the Codys as they navigated the dangers of running a criminal family enterprise in Oceanside, California.
Animal Kingdom had a star-studded cast that included Ellen Barkin, Scott Speedman, Shawn Hatosy, Ben Robson, and Daniella Alonso. The series ran for six seasons on TNT, with its final episode released on August 28, 2022.
Animal Kingdom Family Tree Explained
Janine "Smurf" Cody
As the matriarch of the Cody family, Janine "Smurf" Cody orchestrates everything behind the scenes. She is a ruthless and formidable leader who will stop at nothing to achieve her goals.
Janine is the mother of Pope, Julia, Craig, and Deran. She also adopted Baz when he was 12 and developed him to become the leader in the family's various heists. As a mother, Janine uses twisted ways to manipulate her sons to do her bidding while exhibiting unusual affection toward them.
Colin
Colin was a member of Janine's crew in the past and is also the biological father of Julia and Pope. He was a ruthless criminal who helped mentor Janine and transform her into a violent mob boss. Colin died before Julia and Pope were born, after getting shot by the police during a shootout while they were escaping.
Billy
Billy is a low-level criminal who had a recurring intimate relationship with Janine during her peak crime years. He is Deran's estranged father, who returned to Oceanside to try to reconnect with his son. It was later revealed that he only uses the Codys to help him with a complex heist.
Lila
Lila Cole is a one-time fling of Janine and a photographer who appeared in Animal Kingdom Season 1, Episode 5. After Janine manipulates her to get crucial information about J's mother, she is never seen again in the series.
Andrew "Pope" Cody
Andrew "Pope" Cody (played by Chicago PD Season 12 guest star Shawn Hatosy) is Janine's eldest son. Due to his unstable nature, he is deemed most dangerous by the family and their enemies.
Animal Kingdom began with Pope being released from prison before returning to his family's old ways as a member of the criminal empire.
Julia Cody
Julia Cody is Pope's twin sister and the mother of "J" Cody. During the pilot episode of Animal Kingdom, Julia, a heroin addict, overdosed and was found dead in her apartment.
Barry "Baz" Blackwell
Barry "Baz" Blackwell is Janine's adopted son who has a secret intimate relationship with his adoptive sister, Julia. Due to his past romantic ties with Julia, it was implied in Animal Kingdom that Baz is J's biological father.
During the various family heists spearheaded by the Codys, Baz served as team leader, but he slowly questioned Janine's way of handling things for them (which ultimately led to a power grab in later seasons). The series also revealed via flashbacks that Baz is the main reason why Pope ended up in prison before being released three years later.
Catherine Belen
Catherine Belen is Baz's longtime girlfriend and the mother of their child, Lena. As a mainstay of the Cody family's criminal empire, Janine thought she would betray them after learning that she had become a criminal informant for the police.
Pope, who was unusually obsessed with Catherine, eventually killed her under Janine's order.
Lucy
Lucy is Baz's mistress, also the head of a Mexican gang. While she had intimate relations with Baz throughout her stint in Animal Kingdom, Season 3 revealed that part of the reason why she agreed to be his mistress was because of his money.
Craig Cody
As the fearless middle son of Janine, Craig Cody knows no bounds in taking risks for the family while still being unreliable at times. He is the half-brother of Pope, Julia, and Deran. He is also the son of one of Janine's former allies in her criminal crew, Jake Dunmore. In later seasons, Craig and his girlfriend, Renn, had a son named Nicholas.
Renn Randall
Renn Randall, a former drug dealer, is Craig's girlfriend and Nicholas' mother in Animal Kingdom. While Craig and Renn had a rocky relationship at first, they eventually improved their bond after Renn got pregnant with Nicholas.
To protect her son from the dangers of the criminal empire, Renn moved to Singapore with Nick for a fresh start. However, Craig was eventually killed during the prison transport heist to get Pope out, leaving Nick without a father and Renn without a husband.
Deran Cody
Deran Cody is Janine's youngest son, who slowly embraced the life of crime despite being torn between following his half-brother's footsteps or pursuing his career as a competitive surfer and bar owner.
While he initially had a legitimate bar to make ends meet, he later became part of the Codys' illegal shenanigans after being persuaded by his brothers and mother.
Deran is the son of a low-level criminal named Billy, whom Janine occasionally hooked up with.
Joshua "J" Cody
Joshua "J" Cody is Janine's grandson. He was forced to move in with her and his uncles, and slowly acclimated to a life of crime following the death of his mother, Julia.
J had some resentment toward his uncles after learning how badly they treated his mother. This resentment grew throughout the six seasons of Animal Kingdom, which led to him betraying them during Pope's prison transport heist.
Lena Blackwell
Lena Blackwell is Baz and Catherine's young daughter, unaware of the Cody family's illegal activities. Pope took her in after Catherine's death, but was later placed in a foster care system to give her a fresh start.
Carlos
Carlos is Lucy's son, who may or may not be Baz's child as well. Not much is known about Carlos' life aside from the fact that he witnessed his mother's brutal death at the hands of Mia Benitez.
Nicholas Cody
Nicholas Cody is the son of Craig and Renn. His mother, Renn, took him to Singapore after she decided to move him away from Codys' criminal empire.
Paramount+ has a similar series, MobLand, that revolves around crime families (read more about its complex Harrigan family tree on MobLand here).
