The final season of The Affair will look very different. The show’s last 11 episodes will feature a 20 to 30 year time jump in which Alison (Ruth Wilson) and Cole’s (Joshua Jackson) now adult daughter, Joanie, returns to town to dig into her mother’s mysterious death.
However, that’s not the only difference: Wilson, nor Jackson, will return to the show for the end and the absence was felt on set, Maura Tierney says in the latest issue of Us Weekly. Tierney, 54, Wilson, Jackson and Dominic West were the original four cast members when the series began in 2014.
“I really miss them so much. We still keep in touch with each other, but I did really miss them during the season,” the ER vet tells Us. “I mean, I still think the show is good, but I just miss them.”
At the end of season 4, Wilson’s character was murdered after the actress asked to exit the show. However, during press afterward, the Golden Globe winner, 37, revealed that she was “not allowed to talk about why” she made that choice. Jackson, 41, later made the choice not to return but it hasn’t yet been revealed how his character will leave.
“I wasn’t in that episode but, yeah, it is addressed,” Tierney confirmed. “It’s not a hanging thread.”
That said, many new characters have been added to the mix this season. Claes Bang will play Helen’s new love interest and Anna Paquin will play adult Joanie.
On that note, Tierney teases, “I think you can” expect resolution to the mystery surrounding Alison’s death when the series wraps.
For more from the actress, pick up Us Weekly, on newsstands now.
The Affair season 5 premieres on Sunday, August 25, at 9 p.m. ET.
