The Affair at Showtime is nearly at an end, as the premium cable channel has set a final season premiere date for the Sarah Treem drama.
The series, which stars Dominic West, Maura Tierney and Sanaa Lathan, that “explores the emotional and psychological effects of an affair that destroyed two marriages and the crime that brings these individuals back together,” will return for its farewell batch of episodes on Sunday, Aug. 25 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
As previously announced, Anna Paquin has joined the final season as Alison (Ruth Wilson) and Cole’s (Joshua Jackson) 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.
Per Showtime, Season 5 of The Affair will chronicle the aftermath of last season’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.
Helen (Tierney) begins the season involved in an intoxicating new affair with a charismatic movie star (guest star Claes Bang), who offers to give her everything she’s been missing. Noah (West) meanwhile has to swallow his pride and his jealousy and step in to take care of his family in her absence. But just when things seem to have stabilized, a chance encounter with someone from the distant past sets in a motion a sequence of events that brings them both to their knees.
New guest stars in season five include Bang, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Lyric Bent, with Russell Hornsby returning.
In addition to West, Tierney and Paquin, series regulars for the fifth and final season include Julia Goldani Telles and Jadon Sand as Noah and Helen’s children, Whitney and Trevor Solloway; and Lathan, as Janelle, Noah’s girlfriend and the principal at the school where he teaches. Emily Browning, Omar Metwally, John Doman, Kathleen Chalfant, Max Fowler, Michael Braun, Abigail Dylan Harrison and Jake Siciliano will also guest star.
News of Jackson’s exit from the series followed that of Wilson’s, who left the series when Alison was killed off toward the end of Season 4. Along with showrunner Treem, The Affair is executive produced by Jessica Rhoades, Hagai Levi, and Michele Giordono. The fifth and final season of The Affair premieres Aug. 25 a 9/8c on Showtime.
