Who killed Baz in Animal Kingdom is still one of the most searched questions tied to TNT’s crime drama, years after the episode that finally answered it aired. Part of that comes down to timing rather than mystery alone. When Netflix added all six seasons of the series to its library in 2025, a new wave of viewers reached the Season 2 finale, watched Baz get shot, and went looking for the answer instead of waiting a full season the way the original audience had to.
Here is the full story, drawn from the episodes themselves and from what the cast and crew have said about it since.
Baz Was Never Just Another Cody Brother
Barry “Baz” Blackwell, played by Scott Speedman, was brought into the Cody family by Smurf when he was twelve years old. By the time the series begins, he has become one of her steadiest and most trusted partners in the family’s criminal operation. He is also widely believed among fans to be the biological father of J Cody, the teenager at the center of the show. That closeness to the family is a big part of why his death landed so differently than the show’s other losses.
The Shooting That Closed Out Season 2
The attack itself happens in the Season 2 finale, “Betrayal.” Baz and his girlfriend Lucy are getting ready to leave for Mexico for good, walking away from Smurf and the family business. Before they can drive off, an unseen shooter fires four rounds into his chest. The finale ends without showing a face, and the identity of the shooter carries straight into the next season as an open question.
A Slow Reveal, By Design
Season 3 opens with Baz still alive but badly wounded, and in the premiere episode, “The Killing,” he dies from his injuries. Even then, the show holds back the shooter’s identity for two more episodes. As ScreenRant’s breakdown of the storyline points out, the show did not reveal who killed Baz until several episodes into the new season, turning a single gunshot into a season long question mark.
Here is how the story actually unfolded, episode by episode:
- Season 2 finale, “Betrayal”: Baz is shot four times, shooter unseen.
- Season 3 premiere, “The Killing”: Baz dies from his wounds.
- Season 3, Episode 3, “The Center Will Hold”: The shooter is finally shown on screen.
- Season 3, Episode 11: The person who ordered the killing admits to it directly.
- Season 4: The shooter’s own storyline comes to an end.
So, Who Actually Pulled the Trigger
The reveal in Episode 3 replays the shooting, only this time the camera follows the shooter to her own getaway car afterward. That shooter is Mia Benitez, played by Sohvi Rodriguez. CBR’s recap of the twist confirms that Mia carried out the shooting but was not the one who wanted Baz dead in the first place, which points the story toward whoever gave the order.
A few details about Mia that matter here:
- She is the niece of rival gang leader Pete Trujillo.
- She later becomes romantically involved with J Cody, despite what she did to his uncle.
- At the point she fires the shots, no one in the Cody family suspects her at all.
Why Baz Had to Go
The motive traces back to something Baz did months before the shooting. He broke into a private storage unit belonging to Smurf and found millions of dollars in cash along with jewelry she had claimed was long gone.
Quick fact: Baz split part of the stolen money with his brothers and with J, but held back extra for himself, then planned to leave the country with Lucy while framing Smurf for a separate murder to cover his own exit.
For Smurf, that combination of theft and betrayal threatened both her freedom and her control over the family at the same time.
Smurf’s Own Confession Settles It
By Episode 11 of Season 3, Smurf admits to Lucy that she arranged the killing. She had reached out to Pete Trujillo’s crew, and Mia was the one who carried it out. The Cinemaholic’s recap of the arc notes that Mia did not act out of personal spite, she was simply following Smurf’s orders. Earlier in Season 2, Smurf had actually pushed her son Pope to be the one who finished off Baz, leaning on old family guilt. When that attempt went nowhere, hiring Trujillo’s crew became her backup plan.
Mia’s Story Doesn’t End Quietly Either
In Season 4, Mia steals from the Cody family, and J ends up killing her after tracking down what she took. Before she dies, she admits on screen that she was the one who shot Baz, which stands as the final confirmation the show ever gives on the matter.
What Cast and Crew Have Said About Baz’s Exit
Behind the camera, there are two different explanations for why Baz’s story ended when it did. Executive producer John Wells has said the character’s death was always the plan, tracing it back to the original 2010 Australian film the series is based on, where the equivalent character is killed within the first fifteen minutes of the movie. Wells has said the show simply held off for a season once the writers found more material to explore with Baz.
Ellen Barkin, who played Smurf, gave a different account in an interview with HuffPost, saying Speedman asked to leave the show and was let go without pushback, while her own requests to exit earlier were repeatedly turned down.
Neither account contradicts what happened on screen. Both agree the door was already open for Baz’s story to end in Season 3, and the writers built the mystery around that ending rather than treating it as an afterthought.
The Bigger Picture
Baz’s death was never a random shock written in for its own sake. Mia pulled the trigger, but Smurf set the whole thing in motion from behind bars, over cash and jewelry Baz thought he had gotten away with. That single decision reshaped the balance of power inside the Cody family for the rest of the series, and it is the reason this particular twist keeps getting rediscovered by every new group of viewers who reaches that Season 2 finale for the first time.
