The Killing: Joan Allen Joins Season 4

Deadline is reporting that Oscar nominee Joan Allen has been added to the cast of The Killing for its six-episode final season on Netflix. She’s set to play Margaret O’Neal, the head of an all-boys military academy based outside of Seattle.

When we last left The Killing, Linden killed Skinner in the middle of the woods after finding out that he was the one responsible for the recent string of abductions and murders. As such, it seems likely that she won’t be a member of Seattle PD when season four picks up, if only for the psychological damage she suffered once she pulled the trigger on her former lover. But Linden is a cop to the core and someone who cannot get her mind out of that type of mode, so it’s no surprise that she eventually finds her way into the latest investigation, set to take place in and around the military academy headed by Allen’s character. Can Linden find a way to hold it together long enough to complete the investigation into the latest high-profile murders to happen in Seattle? Or is her psyche too bruised and battered to be able to withstand the emotional turmoil that cops go through in cases like this?

In addition to her Oscar nominations for Nixon, The Crucible, and The Contender, Allen has appeared on the likes of Luck, Frasier, and The Twilight Zone. Additional casting for the fourth season of The Killing should be announced in the coming weeks.

The fourth season of The Killing will premiere later this year on Netflix.

Will you be watching The Killing this season? Where do you think the show will go following the events of the third season finale? Is it possible for Holder and Linden to, if not have a happy ending, find the peace that has thus far eluded them?