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HBO's Prohibition-era drama "Boardwalk Empire" will jump ahead seven years into the future for its fifth and final season.

(HBO)

"Boardwalk Empire" will jump ahead seven years into the future for its fifth and final season, according to the web site Den of Geek.

During a press junket for his latest film "The Purge: Anarchy," actor Michael Kenneth Williams, who plays gangster Chalky White, said, "The storyline has jumped seven years [into the future], which is why I have the beard now."

So what can fans expect with those Roarin' Twenties gone? "The Depression has set in. The days of the shiny shoes and fancy suits are long gone," Williams said.

Season 4 ended in 1924 on a downbeat. Chalky's stronghold in the African-American community was hijacked by Dr. Valentin Narcisse (Jeffrey Wright), with his oldest daughter accidentally shot by sniper Richard Harrow (Jack Houston), who later died from a bullet wound he endured during a battle at The Onyx Club.

As for the rest of the cast? A deflated Narcisse was fingered as an law enforcement mole; Eli (Shea Whigham) dropped a dime on brother Nucky (Steve Buscemi) to save his son Will; Gillian Darmody (Gretchen Mol) was hauled away for the murder of Roger McAllister (Billy Magnussen); and Chalky poetically retreated to the timeworn home of his mentor Oscar Boneau (Louis Gossett, Jr.) in Havre de Grace, Maryland.

So what key events may be peppered into the plots of Depression-era 1931? The possibilities are endless. Both the George Washington Bridge and Empire State Building opened, Yankee Babe Ruth hit his 600th home run, and inventor Thomas Edison submitted his last patent application.

Most important, though, Al Capone is ... well, 'Al Capone' and 1931 is the year he's finally convicted of tax evasion. Does this mean that we'll finally get an Eliot Ness character? Sounds like a safe bet. In addition, gangster Sal Maranzano is murdered by hitmen ordered by Charlie Luciano in New York.

'Empire' creator Terrence Winters will be shifting his focus to another HBO series — the Mick Jagger bio series set in the Big Apple during the gritty 1970s that will be produced by Martin Scorsese and star 'Empire' alum Bobby Cannavale.

Look for the final season of "Boardwalk Empire" to start in September. It is still unknown if this last season will be shortened when it returns next fall ala other HBO swan songs like "Treme" and "True Blood".

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