“I never thought this would last forever: the outcome was always in my head,” Jesse Armstrong, the creator of Succession, revealed to the New Yorker. It was said, rumored and suspected that the Roys’ comedic drama could end with the fourth season but it had never been confirmed: it was hard to believe that HBO would want to fire its award-winning horse, having taken the Emmy for the best series in two occasions. But, before the new episodes land on the content platform this coming March 27, Armstrong wanted to be honest to make the public aware: the story closes this spring.
Armstrong has explained that, when he entered the writers’ room in November 2021, he already expressed to the rest of the writers that perhaps it was time to put an end to the Roy dynasty, this dysfunctional one marked by a despotic patriarch, Logan (Brian Cox), and the sons yet to inherit the empire, Roman (Kieran Culkin), Shiv (Sarah Snook), Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Connor (Alan Ruck).
Different scenarios were considered: writing two short seasons or, for example, “turning the series into something quite different”, having fun and betting on longevity: a series “in which there would be good weeks and bad weeks”. But, instead of these options, they chose to “muscle and complete” the story, ending on a high. And, seeing that the scripts were heading towards the final ending, they tipped off the cast that they were possibly in their final season on Succession.
What’s interesting about the New Yorker interview is that you rarely get such an exhaustive look at the decision-making that leads to the end of a series. In part, it’s due to HBO’s mentality of giving Armstrong freedom to decide at what point he wants to drop his work. And, if the author did not make the final decision until embarking on the writing of the last episodes, it was because he wanted to leave the door open to improvise: “In the past, we have discovered potential plots and character dynamics that required us to explore them.”
The third season left the Roys in an a priori irresolvable confrontational position: Logan, rather than leave the company to his children, preferred to sell it to a third party, the tycoon with a sociopathic profile played by Alexander Skarsgard. And what will you have to solve in the episodes? The relationship between Logan and his children, since he loves his children but “is not the most terribly emotionally sophisticated person” and “as a human being he has a desperate will to win.” We will have to see how Kendall resurfaces after stripping himself of all power or see if there is hope for Tom and Shiv: “Why are he and Shiv together?”
Since its premiere in June 2018, Succession has become a flagship series for HBO. Initially covered up by Game of Thrones, the Roys managed to win the Emmy for best writing for its first season when they went head-to-head with the knights of the Seven Kingdoms. While waiting to broadcast the fourth season, Succession accumulates 13 Emmy awards. The most prominent? Jeremy Strong for Best Dramatic Actor, Matthew McFadyen for Secondary, Andrij Parekh for Directing, the two awards for Best Drama Series already mentioned or the three statuettes for Best Screenplay for Armstrong, who is unbeatable in the category.
