Trying Recap: What You Need to Remember Before Season 5 on Apple TV

Few shows have evolved as naturally as Apple TV’s Trying TV series. It has been more than two years since the fourth season premiered, and now we are days away from the release of Trying Season 5. 

What began as a heartfelt comedy about a couple struggling to adopt has gradually become a story about family in every sense of the word. By the end of Season 4, the series shifted its focus from Nikki and Jason becoming parents to the challenge of being parents. This transition successfully kept the show alive. By treating adoption not as a final ‘happy ending’ but as the opening chapter of a complex lifestyle, the narrative avoids sitcom stagnation and matures alongside its characters.

Princess and Tyler are no longer the young children that viewers first met, and now have challenges of their own as they grow up. With Season 5 premiering on July 8, here is every major plot point you need to remember before returning to Camden!

Name	Trying
Created and Written by	Andy Wolton
Cast	Esther Smith (Nikki), Rafe Spall (Jason), Sian Brooke (Karen), Darren Boyd (Scott), Scarlett Rayner (Princess), Cooper Turner (Tyler), Charlotte Riley (Kat)
Seasons and Total Episodes	4 Seasons and 32 Episodes; Season 5 upcoming on July 8, 2026
Platform	Apple TV
Ratings (as of July 7, 2026)	8.0 IMDb | 96% / 91% Rotten Tomatoes

What Is Up With Nikki and Jason?

Season 4 of Trying picks up with a six-year time jump. Nikki and Jason have now settled into family life with their adoptive kids: 16-year-old Princess and 12-year-old Tyler. After years of trying to conceive and adopt, their dream has been realized, but it comes with its own set of challenges.

Nikki and Jason are now navigating school meetings, parenting disagreements, financial pressures, and the realization that children eventually begin making choices their parents can’t control. As for their relationship, they have a few bumps here and there, but their relationship remains as strong as ever, which forms the foundation of the show.

Without a doubt, this foundational stability is the show’s greatest narrative asset. By keeping Nikki and Jason unified, the conflict is externalized onto the complexities of teenage independence rather than typical marital drama.

Furthermore, that stability becomes increasingly important as Princess begins asking difficult questions about where she came from and her real mother. Meanwhile, Jason realizes his passion for volunteering and helping kids after volunteering as a coach for his son’s football team. He also manages to grow closer to his father, Vic, with the help of Princess after losing his mother. 

What Happened to Bev in Trying Season 4?

Bev is the biological grandmother of Princess and Tyler and mother to Kat. In Season 4, viewers learn that she has passed away, but on her own terms. As the family attends her funeral, they find out that the old lady maxed out her credit card and bought gifts for everyone after finding out she had just days to live.

As for Princess, she ends up getting her biological mother’s old car thanks to Bev. The car and her funeral help Princess in locating her real mother. While Bev may have gone on, her thoughtful gifts reflected her insight and love for everyone she cared about. Her passing is bittersweet but serves as a catalyst in Princess’s search for her biological mother. 

Why Is Princess Looking for Her Real Mother?

Trying Season 4 features one of the hardest challenges that adoptive parents and kids face: the identity of biological parents. Throughout Season 4, the teenager is eager to find her real mother, only to know her and not as a rejection of Nikki and Jason.

As she grows older, she naturally begins wondering about the parts of herself that remain unanswered: where she came from, who she resembles, and why she was placed for adoption. The writing deserves credit here because it avoids creating artificial divisions.

Princess does not let Nikki and Jason know initially and quietly continues her search. She confides in Karen, her aunt, who tells her to come clean to her parents. But Nikki accidentally hears them talking and struggles with understandable fears, worrying that Princess’ curiosity means she has somehow failed as a mother.

But when she finds out Princess is going to Spain secretly to find her mother, she goes in her place and manages to find Kat. The two women become friends, but when Kat accidentally finds out the reason why Nikki is there, Kat disappears again. Nikki comes back and lies to Princess that she failed to find her real mother to save her from heartbreak. 

Scott and His Rowing Expedition

Not every storyline in Trying Season 4 revolved around parenting, as Scott provides much of the season’s lighter humor. Scott has always struggled with direction and confidence, often masking uncertainty with optimism and grand ideas. He feels guilty over climate change and decides to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

Even when he interviews an experienced ocean rower for his new podcast and listens to how tough such an expedition will be, he does not back down. But by the end of the series, we see Karen has managed to convince Scott to leave his rowing expedition. 

Rather than existing solely for comic relief, Scott reminds viewers that adulthood often means searching for purpose long after you expected to have found it. His eccentric subplots act as a necessary safety valve for the show, balancing out the heavy, emotionally taxing realities of the adoption dynamics with a gentle absurdity.

How Did Trying Season 4 End?

The finale of Trying Season 4 ends on a cliffhanger. While Princess struggles to come to terms with not finding out about her real mother, she discovers that Nikki lied to her after finding photos of Kat on her phone. Nikki and Jason have to accept that parenting isn’t about having every answer; it’s about being present while children search for answers themselves.

As Princess deals with Nikki’s betrayal, Kat shows up at their doorstep. It is shocking that after years of frantic searches for her biological mother and the truth behind why she was put up for adoption, Princess finally comes face-to-face with Kat. 

In the meantime, Jason realizes that he really likes helping out people and kids, and decides to retrain as a social worker. Having discovered that he can connect with kids really well, he wants to help out adoptive parents like himself and kids. Meanwhile, Vic also abandons his plan to start dating again, still struggling with the loss of his wife. 

In the finale, while viewers are initially led to believe that Scott has changed his mind about the rowing expedition, we see him rowing alone. Despite his near-death car crash, he still chooses to go forth with his plan. However, the aftermath of his car crash is not explained, making his fate debatable and uncertain. 

Many believe that the near-fatal car crash either made him realize that he only gets to live once, or he might have already died, and his rowing in the boat alone is symbolic of his dying.

By the finale, the family feels different from where they started, but not because they have been torn apart, but because they have grown. But the new revelations threaten their peace, and it remains to be seen how they will affect them in the new season.

What are your thoughts about the upcoming season? Let us know in the comments section below.

Trying Season 5 releases on Apple TV on July 8, 2026.