Pope’s promise
Wildest Cody brother Pope is packing more than just a mean temper as season 2 of Animal Kingdom kicks off.
Animal Kingdom
Season 2 Wednesdays (from 17 February)
e.tv (*194) 22:00
Serving time for a crime you were only partially to blame for wears a person down. But not Shawn Hatosy’s character Pope Cody in actionpacked drama Animal Kingdom (2016now). “He is responsible for a lot of the season 1 chaos and carnage. He is to blame for people losing more than just their money and diamonds that Pope and his brothers stole. People have lost their lives and it doesn’t seem to bother Pope at all. He takes it as it comes,” says Shawn, who was surprised that his violent ex-con character survived at all. “He comes out of prison and before going home to his family, he’s breaking and entering and stealing. I don’t think that he’s got a death wish, but he isn’t all there upstairs,” adds the actor.
TRIAL BY FIRE
Pope’s behaviour in season 2 is going to be key to most of the other characters and where their storylines go. “He had an infatuation with his adopted brother Baz’s (Scott Speedman, Michael Corvin in 2003 vampire horror movie Under
world) since before he went to prison. Pope knows something that Baz doesn’t and that’s going to impact the brother’s relationship this season. They’re going to get very violent with each other,” says Shawn, who describes Pope as “the most psychotic, aggressive, manipulative and downright vicious character I’ve read”.
It gets worse: Pope’s mental issues push him into very dark places during the season. “Throughout his three years in prison, he experienced trauma that we hinted on in season 1. He wouldn’t let his brothers or his mom Smurf (Ellen Barkin, Jane in comedy series The New Normal, 2012-2013) visit him and that left him feeling abandoned when he wasn’t. That was his choice,” adds Shawn, who admits that he struggled with some of the violence that he was asked to carry out as Pope.
IT’S NOT HIS FAULT
While Pope is a raging monster waiting to erupt this season, Shawn cannot be clearer: “It’s not his fault. He needs forgiveness. Pope spent a lot of time reading the Bible in prison. The Bible and going to bible study group helps him with more than just his guilt, it’s going to let him meet someone this season who looks at him like a normal person. His mom Smurf turned him into this monster, she did the bad stuff to him and turned him into what he’s become. He craves acceptance.”
Pope has another unlikely source of support from season 2 onwards: his nephew Joshua aka J (Finn Cole, Eugene in 2019 thriller film Dreamland), who moved into the Cody home in season 1 after his mom overdosed in episode 1. “When Pope came home, he didn’t like or trust J because he was new, he came into the family while Pope was locked up and in a way he resented J for not protecting his mom, Pope’s twin sister,” says Shawn. Their relationship changes 180° during the season, adds the actor. “Pope shares a bond with J because of the bond Pope had with his sister, and J goes from problem #1 in Pope’s books to ally #1. He’s the guy in this family of crooks and criminals that Pope doesn’t have to worry about. J isn’t that guy who’s doing something behind Pope’s back and he’s not going to hurt Pope, which is the opposite of his brothers.” And that “brotherly love” is the tipping point of problems in each episode as Pope realises who he can’t trust…