Showtime Renews 'The Affair' for Season 5, But It Ends There

Showtime’s Montauk-set series The Affair was recently renewed for its fifth and final season, but after the events of Season 4—including the death of a major character—how will it proceed?

In a July 26 announcement, Showtime President of Programming Gary Levine explained that The Affair is going according to plan. “We love the intimacy, the nuance and the emotional honesty of The Affair’s subjective examination of both infidelity and fidelity,” he said, adding, “[Showrunner and co-creator] Sarah Treem has always envisioned this as a five-season series, and we will be fascinated to see where she takes her talented cast and all of us next year in its climactic season.”

SPOILERS BELOW – DON’T READ IF YOU’RE NOT CAUGHT UP!

For those watching The Affair Season 4, which is currently airing on Sunday nights, last week’s Episode 8 was utterly shocking and leaves questions about how the show will continue. Primary character Alison (Ruth Wilson) is dead from an apparent suicide, though we won’t know if foul play was involved until Season 4 ends—if we’re lucky. According to teasers, all will be revealed about Alison’s fate in this Sunday’s episode, but that seems hard to believe.

In the trailer for Sunday’s Episode 9, we see Alison entering the roiling ocean, her voice saying, “I remember promising myself I’d get to 35. If nothing had changed, well, then I had tried hard enough.” Along with the ocean footage and Alison holding a knife, the words “THE TRUTH IS REVEALED” come across the screen. Let’s hope that’s true.

Despite Alison’s death, it’s quite possible Wilson will continue to play her role in flashbacks next season. As any fan knows, this show is no stranger to shifting timelines. If not, we’re left with Alison’s reeling ex husband Cole (Joshua Jackson)—who just came to terms with his need to win her back—a recovering Noah (Dominic West), who’s trying to be a better man, and his ex-wife Helen (Maura Tierney), who’s about to lose her new husband Vic (Omar Metwally) to cancer.

Will Noah and Helen find their way back to one another in Season 5, after all that’s happened? Will Noah’s eldest daughter Whitney (Julia Goldani Telles) return to the show? So much depends on what transpires in the final episodes of Season 4. Only two episodes remain, and we expect the Season 4 finale to be a big one on Sunday, August 19.

For now, let’s see what happens in The Affair Episode 9 this Sunday, August 12 at 9 p.m. We expect there will be much to speculate about in the coming weeks!