Is ‘Animal Kingdom’ based on a true story? Meet the real-life crime family that inspired the hit show

Crime dramas can often double as complex family stories, and Animal Kingdom is no exception.

Developed by Jonathan Lisco, this high-octane TNT drama follows the Cody family, whose wealth is tied to a secret and dangerous criminal world.

The plot goes like this: After the death of his mother, Joshua “J” Cody (Finn Cole) moves in with relatives he barely knows in Southern California. What seems like a fresh start quickly turns into something darker when J realizes his family’s luxurious lifestyle is bankrolled by a criminal operation, led by ruthless matriarch Janine “Smurf” Cody (Ellen Barkin). To survive, J has no choice but to join the family business.

Although the show concluded its six-year run in August 2022, it has found new life since landing on Netflix in June 2025. As new viewers tune in, many are wondering if the gritty family saga is purely fiction or based on real-life events.

Here’s everything you need to know about the real-life crime family that inspired Animal Kingdom.

Is Animal Kingdom based on a true story?

While TNT’s Animal Kingdom TV series is not directly based on a true story, it is inspired by real-life events and figures. The show is a loose adaptation of the 2010 Australian film of the same name, which drew from the real-life exploits of one of Australia’s most infamous criminal families, the Pettingills.

Showrunner Lisco acknowledged the Pettingill family’s influence on Animal Kingdom during a Television Critics Association panel in 2016, noting that the Oscar-nominated film drew heavily from their story. He went as far as to call the crime family “a little over the top” before highlighting the strange and unsettling nature of the real-life events they were involved in.

Who are the Pettingills?

The Melbourne-based Pettingills were heavily involved in drug trafficking and armed robberies throughout the ’70s and ’80s. At the center of the bloodline was Kathleen “Kath” Pettingill, a.k.a “Granny Evil,” a former brothel owner who gained notoriety as a cruel and significant figure in Melbourne’s criminal underworld.

The 1988 Walsh Street police shootings are among the most notorious incidents connected to the family (and dramatized in the Animal Kingdom movie). In this high-profile case, two Melbourne police officers were shot dead while investigating an abandoned car.

Two of Kath’s sons, Trevor Pettingill and Victor Peirce, were charged with the killings, but were later acquitted. However, Wendy Peirce, Victor’s widow, publicly claimed in 2005 that he had not only planned the murders, but also executed them.

“[Walsh Street] was spur of the moment, we were on the run. Victor was the organizer,” she told Australian outlet The Age in 2005, adding that Victor believed the police were out to kill him. “We went on the run, living in motels with the kids.”

According to Wendy, Victor showed no remorse for his actions. “He just said, ‘They deserved their whack. It could have been me.'”

The investigation into the Walsh Street shootings became the longest in the Victorian police force’s history, lasting 895 days before four men were tried, per Green Left.

Who is Kath Pettingill?

Emmy winner Barkin’s take on Smurf in Animal Kingdom is as a fierce, cold-blooded matriarch who calls all the shots — but the real-life inspiration behind her character wasn’t quite the queenpin she’s made out to be onscreen. According to journalist and author Adrian Tame, who penned a 1996 biography on Kath, the notorious Aussie didn’t exactly mastermind her criminal empire.

“She certainly wasn’t the mastermind,” Tame said on the True Crime Conversations podcast in March 2024, stating that unlike Smurf, who runs the Cody crew like a leader, Kath’s kids largely acted on their own. Sure, she supposedly had her hands in drugs and prostitution, but orchestrating elaborate heists? Not so much.

Still, Kath’s legacy has persevered in pop culture. She was portrayed by Kris McQuade in the 2011 miniseries Killing Time, and Jacki Weaver’s chilling and acclaimed performance in the Animal Kingdom movie earned her an Oscar nomination.

Kath wasn’t exactly a fan of Weaver’s portrayal, telling the Sunday Herald Sun (via The Advertiser), that she distanced herself from the film because it didn’t accurately depict her or her life.

“We’re both short and blonde, but that’s where the similarities end,” she said. “If this is supposed to be a film about the life of me and my family, it couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Where are the Pettingills now?

As of 2014, Kath was reported by The Monthly to be living a quiet life in the seaside town of Venus Bay, Victoria. Now well into her 90s and blind in one eye from a past shooting, the once-feared matriarch has largely retreated from the public eye.

Of her 10 children, many met tragic ends. Some died, others spent many years behind bars, and a few disappeared into witness protection.

Victor, one of her most infamous sons, was gunned down in a suspected gangland hit in May 2002. Kath reportedly wasn’t surprised by his death, telling The Age, “Without a word of a lie since every day since Walsh Street I have expected this to happen to Victor or Trevor.”

Her eldest son, Dennis Allen, dubbed “Mr. Death” for his brutal reputation, died of a heart attack while in custody awaiting trial for murder. Another son, Jamie Pettingill, died in 1985 from a heroin overdose, per The Sydney Morning Herald.

Where can I watch Animal Kingdom?

All six seasons of Animal Kingdom are currently streaming on Netflix.

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