After a very busy gap between seasons four and five, The Affair will finally return to Showtime with its final slate of episodes — even though the drama surrounding the drama has eclipsed the show itself. Actress Ruth Wilson left The Affair for undisclosed but very hinted-at reasons, which resulted in a pretty depressing death for her character, Alison. (Wilson says she had no input on Alison’s fate, but that she had wished for something different.) Now, Maura Tierney’s Helen is having a tryst with a sexy movie star (Claes Bang), while Noah (Dominic West) tries to get her back. Meanwhile! Anna Paquin joins the cast as Alisons’ now-adult daughter, Joanie Lockhart, who “returns some years in the future to piece together the truth about what happened to her mother, bringing the whole story full circle.” (Joanie’s father is Cole, played by Joshua Jackson, who also left the show.) Really, it’s all appropriately complicated for a show about people whose lives were detonated by messy adultery and crimes. The Affair returns on August 25.
The Affair Season 5 Trailer: Oh Hey, Anna Paquin’s in This Show Now
