HBO’s True Blood alumna Anna Paquin, has been cast as series regular in the fifth and final season of Showtime’s crime drama, The Affair. The series’ new season will introduce a flash-forward plot that will center on Alison and Cole’s now-adult daughter Joanie Lockhart (Paquin), who returns years later to Montauk so she can grasp fully what happened to her deceased mother.
Some audience members will also remember Paquin for her Academy Award winning performance in The Piano and the Bryan Singer helmed X-men film series. She also starred in the television mini-series Alias Grace, Susanna and Bellevue, which she also executive produced. Paquin also starred recently in Amazon’s Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams adaptation.
The Affair‘s future season, will also follow the events leading up to Alison’s (Ruth Wilson) death at the hands of her boyfriend in the season four finale. Per usual, both story lines will run parallel to each and introduce conflicting narratives.
Dominic West, Maura Tierney, and Sanaa Lathan will return as season five’s present-day cast as Noah, Helen, and Janelle respectively. However, co-star Joshua Jackson has been confirmed as not returning for the series’ last installment. Although he has been rumored to return as a possible guest star, fans last saw Jackson’s character Cole grieving over Alison’s premature death and was left with just as many questions about what happened as the audience.
Recurring supporting cast members will return, with the new addition of Claes Bang as a new love interest for Helen. Emily Browning, Omar Metwally, Russell Hornsby, Abigail Dylan Harrison, Jake Siciliano, Kathleen Chalfant, Max Fowler and John Doman will round out the guest star list.
Deadline originally reported this story.