Will "J" Cody End up Dead like His Father on 'Animal Kingdom'?

The first season of TNT's crime drama Animal Kingdom focuses on 17-year-old Joshua "J" Cody (Finn Cole) and how he adapts to living with his estranged criminal father after his mother dies from an overdose.

J quickly learns the rope, and over the past five seasons, he has joined in on his family's heists and proves he can keep up with his hardened grandmother and matriarch of the family Smurf (Ellen Barkin) and his four uncles.

As he gets closer to his extended family, he also uncovers quite a few secrets, including that his uncle — and Smurf's adopted son — Baz (Scott Speedman) is actually his father. After Baz's betrayal and demise, Smurf grooms her grandson just like she did to a young Baz and teaches him the inner workings of managing and running the family's criminal empire.

Smurf makes J her second in command because, just like Baz, she knows that J is way smarter than his uncles.

Baz was never involved in J's upbringing, and until he moved in with Smurf, he never even knew he existed. While J never had guidance from his dad, there's a pivotal moment in Season 3 of the series where it's evident to viewers that J is following in his father's footsteps, which could lead to his undoing.

So, will J survive to the series finale? Keep reading to find out the fate of his character.

After Smurf passes the torch to J, he literally runs with it. In Animal Kingdom's Season 3 finale, while Smurf is sleeping, J sneaks into her room and whispers in her ear, "I'm going to take it all, Smurf. Everything you have. Everything you've ever cared about. Everyone you've ever loved."

This is the same thing Baz said about Smurf in Season 2. Baz told Lucy (Carolina Guerra) that he would "take away everything on this Earth that [Smurf] cares about."

While Smurf was in prison, J pulls a similar move like his father; instead of stealing her cash, he decided to steal some of her properties, with his newly attained title as power of attorney.

However, after going to great lengths of covering his tracking, including a murder, Smurf still finds out about J's betrayal. She could have had him killed just like she did Baz, but Smurf knew she couldn't run her operation without him.

Now with Smurf totally gone, J is still following a similar path to his father. He desires control, power, and respect. While he could rise up and be the new Smurf, this road he is taking like his father does highly suggests that it could eventually bring him down.

In Episode 8 of the latest season, J almost drowned to death at the hands of Craig Cody (Ben Robson).

That fight was a long time coming for J's secretive ways, but it was pretty brutal, and for a minute, fans probably thought he was going to die.

While J survived that near-death incident, there might be some deadly consequences on Animal Kingdom for J if he tries to cross his uncles again.

While it seems like Finn Cole's character could be heading down a deadly path this season with his self-centeredness, Finn has not announced any intention to leave Animal Kingdom.

The showrunners have also not said anything negative about Finn's fate, so it seems that he is not going anywhere. Hopefully, he will make it to the sixth and final season.

Watch Animal Kingdom on Sundays at 9 p.m. EST on TNT.