With an 11th-hour curve ball that would surely make Logan Roy smirk, “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong revealed the drama’s upcoming fourth season will be its last.
Armstrong broke the news in an interview with the New Yorker. A representative for HBO declined to comment, but confirmed the information within the New Yorker story was accurate.
“There’s a promise in the title of ‘Succession,’” Armstrong said in the piece, titled “The End of ‘Succession’ Is Near.” “I’ve never thought this could go on forever. The end has always been kind of present in my mind. From Season 2, I’ve been trying to think: Is it the next one, or the one after that, or is it the one after that?”
Prior to beginning work on Season 4, Armstrong met with the writing staff to get their assessment on bringing the story of the Roy family dynasty to a close: “I sort of said, ‘Look, I think this maybe should be it. But what do you think?’ And we played out various scenarios: We could do a couple of short seasons, or two more seasons. Or we could go on for ages and turn the show into something rather different, and be a more rangy, freewheeling kind of fun show, where there would be good weeks and bad weeks. Or we could do something a bit more muscular and complete, and go out sort of strong. And that was definitely always my preference.”
Once it was determined to end the series, which premiered in 2018 and has won two Emmys for drama series, Armstrong said he wanted fans of the show to enter the season knowing the end was near.
“We don’t hide the ball very much on the show. I feel a responsibility to the viewership, and I personally wouldn’t like the feeling of, ‘Oh, that’s it, guys. That was the end.’ I wouldn’t like that in a show. I think I would like to know it is coming to an end.”
With a quick getaway to Italy, the third season ended with the Roy siblings — namely Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) — finally coming together to overthrow their father, Logan (Brian Cox). Except he was one step ahead and proved why his ruthlessness has made him unstoppable, leaving them out in the cold of the family’s media empire, Waystar Royco.
The fallout from it all will likely make for a wild ride when the fourth season premieres Sunday, March 26.
