‘Succession’ Is Officially Ending After Season 4—But Don’t Rule Out a Spinoff
It’s a sad day for Succession fans. Since the HBO series hit screens in 2018, it’s gathered a near-fanatic following of devotees, and its sensational success means that creator Jesse Armstrong likely could have turned the show into a decade-long empire if he wanted to. But, unlike Logan Roy, Armstrong knows when to let go—and he confirmed yesterday that the upcoming season, premiering on March 26, will be the series’s last.
Armstrong spoke with The New Yorker about the future of Succession, or lack thereof, and while fans may be momentarily heartbroken, his reasoning makes a lot of sense.
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“I hope that no one ever thinks that we are outstaying our welcome—that we’re going to do a dud season, or be stretching it out,” Armstrong explained, admitting that he’s had these thoughts about “other people’s shows” as he watches them. “I’ve never thought this could go on forever.”
Armstrong has been thinking about how to end the show since at least season 2, and he feels confident that season 4, still in the final stages of editing, is a good endpoint.
“I do think that this succession story that we were telling is complete,” he reveals, which is probably the closest thing we’ll get to a spoiler about what happens in season 4. “This is the muscular season to exhaust all our reserves of interest, and I think there’s some pain in all these characters that’s really strong.”
The prolific screenwriter confirms HBO “would probably have done more seasons,” but that “they have been nice about saying, ‘It’s your decision.'” And it was by no means an easy one.
“It’s been a difficult decision, because the collaborations—with the cast, with my fellow writers, with Nick Britell and Mark Mylod and the other directors—they’ve just been so good,” says Armstrong. “And I feel like I’ve done the best work I can do, working with them.”
With that in mind, Armstrong isn’t shutting the door completely returning to the Succession universe on one day.
“I have caveated the end of the show, when I’ve talked to some of my collaborators, like: Maybe there’s another part of this world we could come back to, if there was an appetite?” he teases; and he must know full well that there’s an appetite for that.
“I imagine I’ll be a little bit lonely, and wandering the streets of London in a funk, and wondering, ‘What the fuck did I do?'” he says of how he’ll feel after ending the show for good. “I’ll probably be calling you up in about six months asking if people are ready for a reboot.”
So, the arc of Succession is coming to a close, but Armstrong sounds no more ready to really say good-bye than his legions of fans are. If there’s enough commotion to see more about the world of the power-hungry Roys and their enemies and allies, it sounds like Armstrong and his fellow creators could be tempted into giving us another avenue to explore it. But for now, we’ll have to trust his artistic judgment and accept that Succession is ending where it should be: at the height of its game and not overstaying its welcome a second too long.
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