The Killjoys are back!

It’s a bittersweet time to be a Killjoys fan. Space’s most electrifying sci-fi series caps off its five-season run starting this Friday, July 19 at 10 p.m. ET.

Killjoys is Space’s most-watched original sci-fi program, and you can guarantee that the show is going out with a bang. After a successful third season, Killjoys was greenlit for seasons four and five. This gave the show’s producers a two-year window to wrap up the story in the most satisfying way imaginable.

Late last summer, the show’s producers invited the media to visit their set for a behind-the-scenes look. You couldn’t ask for better hosts. We spoke with the writers and cast, toured the sets, and received up-close looks at the costumes and props. After talking to the team behind the show (and watching them shoot some scenes), it’s clear that season five is shaping up to be the best season yet.

In anticipation of Killjoys return, here is a rundown of what you should know.

Is this show for me?

First off, you couldn’t ask for a better summer watch. Expect ten weeks of high-stakes episodes packed with colourful characters, wrenching drama, and over-the-top-action sequences. And of course, plenty of screen time with the galaxy’s sexiest trio of bounty hunters.

If you’re looking for a show that places strong characters and moving relationships over epic action, Killjoys is the series for you — but the show also features top-notch action. Consider it a win-win.

Who are the Killjoys?

If you’ve never watched the show before, here’s the 411.

The series follows three space-travelling bounty hunters (Killjoys), Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen), John (Aaron Ashmore), and D’avin (Luke Macfarlane), who work for the Reclamation Apprehension Coalition (RAC). They travel the system taking on warrants to apprehend people and valued property on RAC’s behalf. But this description only covers the tip of the iceberg.

When the show begins, Dutch has a mysterious past linked to a manipulative character named Khlyen (Rob Stewart). And John and D’avin are brothers who are finally reunited after years apart. The show’s soapy twist and turns leads to plenty of drama for the crew to sort out; often while navigating life and death missions by the seat of their pants. By the time season five rolls around, the stakes are no less than the fate of the galaxy.

If you want to catch up, start binging right now.

What to expect heading into season five

By the end of season four, things look bleak for our heroes. The Lady (Alanna Bale) has won; she left the Green, the Green was destroyed, and there’s no way to put her back in. Thousands of years studying human memory has taught The Lady how to manipulate it, and she has taken away the team’s knowledge of each other. Season five begins at the lowest point they’ve ever been in. But in a red pill versus blue pill-like twist, they all seem to be happy in their fake lives.

Season five’s memory wipe gave the writers and actors a chance to put familiar characters in new situations, which makes for compelling drama. What’s more impressive is how the storyline dovetails with Killjoys’ thematic pillars.

“TV is a bit of a magic trick. You start off with plans, and then you see what things excite you and interest you, what starts to come out naturally,” said executive producer and Showrunner, Adam Barken.

Barken added. “As we were working, right from the beginning, one of the things that came out very naturally was this idea of memory and how it relates to family. And the more we explored that every season, the more we found, the richer the stories became. While it wasn’t necessarily a plan that we knew in season five, ‘Aha. Ok, now we’re going to strip everybody’s memories,’ by season two we had a pretty good idea that one of the main themes of the show is family. And then, of course, one of the main ways you interact with and deal with family is through your shared memories. The idea of Dav and his lost memories started us down a path that seemed [like] a really good one to follow.”

Barken then said, “I think we were lucky to find one that meant a lot to us and allowed us to build in a season that goes back to some of those core themes of memory, family, what this trio means to each other and what the wider world means to them.”

The memory wipe gave the writers and actors free rein to take characters in fresh directions. The entire crew was enthusiastic about all the storytelling possibilities.

Barken enthusiastically added, “Let’s have some fun at least at the beginning of season five saying what if people were completely different? What if Pree (Thom Allison) wasn’t a bartender. What if Turin (Patrick Garrow) wasn’t the head of the RAC? Who would they be in a new Old Town society, and how could we have some fun playing around with it? I think we did.”

“One of the tensions they’ve been playing with is how unearthable are those [personalities],” said actor Luke Macfarlane who plays D’avin Jaqobis. “What is the pure state of these people, and does it supersede memory? Is there something pure underneath them? Will we actually be seeing a truer expression of these people without [what] they’ve gone through over the last four years?”

“The fun thing is to have a complete shift in roles and shift in costumes as well, which will be very fun to see,” said Hannah John-Kamen, who plays the crew’s resident badass, Dutch. “It’s the idea of how do you find each other again when you’re completely distant and completely alien to each other? And what remains? What are the remnants from the past life? What is that connection, and how do you bring these characters back together? That was really fun to play as well.”

“I don’t think it changes anything in the dynamics necessarily,” added Aaron Ashmore, who plays John Jaqobis. “I think a lot of those things are potentially under the surface, anyways. But it’s exciting to play with characters and actors that you know, but in these different lights because you don’t have to treat them the same. It’s almost like being in a different show, in a sense. It allows you to reveal things that are fresh and new. It’s exciting.”

Here’s a synopsis for season five’s first episode, Run, Yala Run. It’s a clear nod to German director Tom Tykwer’s 1998 thriller, Run Lola Run.

In the season opener, “Run, Yala, Run” (Friday, July 19 at 10 p.m. ET) Dutch wakes up and realizes that The Lady has put Westerley under a collective delusion. With no memory comes a new reality. Dutch struggles to find a way to wake up her gang before it’s too late. But before she can, a new Killjoy comes into town looking for Jaq.

How do I watch the show?

Canadian viewers can watch Killjoy’s final ten episodes Friday nights on Space (soon to be CTV Sci-Fi Channel), and American viewers can tune in to Syfy.

Season 1- 4 of KILLJOYS is currently streaming on Crave and On Demand.