Anna Paquin To Join Season 5 Of Showtime’s ‘The Affair’ In Flash-Forward Storyline

Showtime’s hit show just got a brand-new cast member!

According to Deadline, actress Anna Paquin will shake things up a little on the fifth and final season of The Affair. According to the publication, the show will be set in a flash-forward manner, decades into the future. This means that Paquin will play the existing role of Joanie Lockhart as an adult. In the previous season of the show, Joanie was just 5-years-old when she was last seen but Paquin is 36-years-old.

The adult Joanie will reportedly come back to a “climate-change ravaged Montauk” to try and find out information about what happened to her mother Alison Lockhart in an attempt to bring the entire series full circle. Series regulars Dominic West and Maura Tierney will also return for Season 5 but Ruth Wilson will not. Joshua Jackson will also not reprise his regular role as Cole Lockhart but could “guest star” in 1 or 2 episodes this season.

And while there will be a “flash-forward” storyline in The Affair this year, the show will also deal with the aftermath of Alison Lockhart’s death in the months after it happens. At the end of the last season, it was unclear as to whether Alison died of suicide or if her violent boyfriend Ben may have killed her.

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According to TV Line, Season 5 of the show will be 10 episodes and will air sometime in 2019, though the exact air date has yet to be released. The show’s official website explains the exact events of the upcoming season the best.

“Will chronicle the aftermath of the [Season 4] finale’s horrific events and find the characters coming to terms with the consequences of their choices — as they make the realization that if they really want to change their futures they must first face the past. This final season is about how everything does really fall apart in the end, but somewhere in that wreckage, the seeds of change finally sprout.”

Paquin herself has yet to announce the news of her role on the show on either her Instagram or Twitter accounts. The Canadian born actress is no stranger to television as she is perhaps most well-known for her role as Sookie Stackhouse in the hit show True Blood. The actress has also had her work recognized, winning an “Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role” as well as an Emmy for “Best Actress” for her role in True Blood.