The new-gen Roys are going head-to-head with their father in Succession season 4, which will be the hit show’s final season. The official season 4 trailer was released on March 2 and gave fans a glimpse at the chaos to come. After turning against their father, Kendall tells Shiv and Roman that they need to team up with Sandy, Stewy, and Pierce.
However, Logan still has a grip on his kids. Logan asks for Roman’s help with Mattson, and it doesn’t look like Roman can resist. “I need you,” Logan says to his son. Logan stresses to his kids that he loves them, but they are “not serious people.” Meanwhile, Tom and Shiv have an inevitable confrontation after his betrayal, and Gerri threatens to sue.
The HBO show’s popularity is only growing, with 1.7 million viewers tuning in for the finale alone, marking a series high viewership. The series walked away with 4 Emmys at the 2022 Primetime Emmys, including the award for Outstanding Drama Series.
Succession season 4 is going to be the TV event of 2023. Here are all the key updates you need to know about, including the premiere date, the cast, and more.
Is Succession Coming Back For Season 4?
Yes, Succession will return for season 4. The HBO drama series was renewed for a fourth season back in October 2021, just after the show returned for season 3.
“With each season of Succession, Jesse Armstrong has continued to surpass our wildest expectations, pulling us deeper into the Roy family’s inner sanctum with indelible wit, humanity, and precision,” says Francesca Orsi, Executive Vice President, HBO Programming, said in a statement. “This season is undoubtedly no exception, and we couldn’t be more excited for all that’s in store in this next season ahead.”
A teaser trailer for the highly-anticipated fourth season was released on January 26. The footage teased the fallout of Tom’s betrayal and the Roy trio going against Logan. The Roy siblings don’t have the easiest path ahead with their father. Kendall points out that the whole situation is a “tightrope walk on a straight razor.” Gerri warns someone (likely Roman) in the teaser, “You cannot win. Your dad will wash you away.”
Is Season 4 The Final Season?
Creator Jesse Armstrong confirmed on February 23, 2023, that season 4 would the last season of Succession. “You know, there’s a promise in the title of Succession. 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?” he told The New Yorker.
He continued: I got together with a few of my fellow-writers before we started the writing of season 4, in about November, December 2021, and 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. I went into the writing room for season 4 sort of saying, ‘I think this is what we’re doing, but let’s also keep it open.’ I like operating the writing room by coming in with a sort of proposition, and then being genuinely open to alternative ways of going. And the decision to end solidified through the writing and even when we started filming: I said to the cast, ‘I’m not a hundred per cent sure, but I think this is it.’ Because I didn’t want to bullshit them, either.”
Jesse also explained why he decided to reveal Succession was ending before season 4 premiered. “We could have said it at the end of the season. I quite like that idea, creatively, because then the audience is just able to enjoy everything as it comes, without trying to figure things out, or perceiving things in a certain way once they know it’s the final season,” he began. “But, also, the countervailing thought is that 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.”
Days before The New Yorker interview, Jeremy Strong hinted that season 4 could be the end. “I have a broad-strokes sense of things,” he told GQ about filming season 4. “But this season, I didn’t want to know more. What I can say is I’m on the rack… I feel a sense of really wanting to, now that we’re at the one-yard line, finish this season and possibly the show, in a way that delivers a real payload of what this journey has been.” He added, “I still hope that there are rungs on the ladder that are redemptive for Kendall.”
Succession Season 4 Premiere Date
Succession season 4 will premiere on March 26, 2023. When the first teaser was released on October 23, HBO revealed that Succession season 4 will premiere in spring 2023.
The first season debuted in June 2018, and season 2 launched in August 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, season 3’s production was pushed back for several months. The third season premiered in October 2021, over two years after season 2 finished.
Succession Season 4 Filming
As of June 27, 2022, filming for Succession season 4 was officially underway. Filming is currently taking place in New York City. The official Succession Instagram page celebrated the announcement by posting a photo from the set.
The show will also be traveling to Norway for key season 4 scenes. Alexander Skarsgård, Nicholas Braun, and Sarah Snook have been shooing season 4 at a number of locations in Norway, according to Variety. Locations include Atlantic Ocean Road, the Romsdalen Gondola, and the luxury Juvet Landscape Hotel, located near fjord Geiranger, a UNESCO world heritage site.
The reason the show is filming in Norway is to explore more of tech mogul Lukas Matsson, who was introduced in season 3. “We were really excited when Alexander came onboard — he’s a wonderful actor. And from the beginning, [showrunner Jesse Armstrong’s] idea was that the tech company was going to be led by someone from a Scandinavian country. In the writer’s room, around February, Jesse had an idea for an episode they wanted to be in [Matsson’s] part of the world,” producer Scott Ferguson also told Variety.
Brian Cox told GQ back in October 2021 that he believed season 4 filming will begin in June 2022. “That’s roughly the plan,” he noted. “I think the writers are getting back in January. I was surprised because I thought they’d be getting back in November. But I do think they need a break. I mean, I think that they do need space, because they’ve been working really hard on this [series].”
After the season 3 finale, Brian admitted to Deadline that he wasn’t exactly sure when season 4 would begin filming. “We’re in the hands of so many things, with COVID going on,” he said. “It’s now gone into its second year, we don’t know where we are with all that, so there’s that to be dealt with. And then, is this going to be our last season? Or is there going to be another season? There’s all that to be dealt with as well. So in a sense, “Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise” [from Thomas Gray’s poem Ode on a Distant Prospect at Eton College].”
Creator Jesse Armstrong revealed in a post-season 3 finale interview that the season 4 writers’ room was expected to start in January 2022. “We will get the room going again after Christmas in January, I hope, and then we’ll see how long the season should be and how that makes everything in play down the line,” he told Deadline in December 2021, not specifying a specific start date.
What Happened In Season 3?
Season 3 began with the fallout of Kendall’s press conference where Kendall exposed his father’s role in the company scandal. Kendall was cast out of the family and attempted to bring his father down from the outside. He tried to get his siblings to join him in his fight, but they all stuck with Logan.
Kendall’s downward spiral continued over the course of the season, culminating in a brutal confrontation with Logan in Italy. Kendall asked to leave the company and the family for good, but Logan refused his offer. Logan continued to torture Kendall about the dead waiter at Shiv’s wedding and even made Kendall’s son test out his food to make sure Kendall didn’t poison it.
The end of season 3’s penultimate episode featured a broken and depressed Kendall on a float in the middle of the pool. The episode ended with fans wondering if Kendall was going to drown in the wake of this last conversation with his father.
Kendall was discovered in the pool by Comfrey before things took a tragic turn. He spent the night in the hospital and returned to the family the next day. The family stuck around for Caroline’s wedding, with Logan skipping out to make a deal with Lukas Matsson.
When Shiv and Kendall realized that Logan was plotting to sell the family company to Gojo, they turned to Kendall for help. Still reeling from what Logan said to him and his near-fatal situation in the pool, Kendall finally confessed what happened with the waiter to Shiv and Roman. Instead of tormenting him with this information, Shiv and Roman help Kendall from being swallowed by his despair.
Shiv, Roman, and Kendall decided to ban together to take down their father. They went to confront Logan, believing that they could stop the buyout by preventing a supermajority. Shiv called Tom to let her know about their plan. When they arrived, Logan already knew what they were going to do, so he called Caroline to change the terms of their divorce agreement. Caroline and Logan’s new deal ensured that the three kids wouldn’t be able to stop the sale to Gojo.
The final moments of the season 3 finale featured Roman finally standing up to his father, only to get knocked down. Following a pat on the back by Logan, Shiv realized that Tom was the one who told Logan about what the Roy trio was going to do. Shiv’s face in the last seconds of the finale showed she’s going to be out for blood in season 4.
Season 4 Cast
Succession season 4 will feature the returns of Brian Cox as Logan Roy, Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy, Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy, Sarah Snook as Shiv Roy, Matthew Macfadyen as Tom Wambsgans, Nicholas Braun as Greg Hirsch, Alan Ruck as Connor Roy, and J. Smith-Cameron as Gerri Kellman. Additional cast like Peter Friedman, Dagmara Dominczyk, Justine Lupe, David Rasche, Fisher Stevens, Hiam Abbass, Scott Nicholson, Jeannie Berlin, and Zoë Winters are also coming back.
Since the season ended with Logan planning to sell Waystar to Gojo, Alexander Skarsgård will return as Lukas Matsson. He will play a major role in season 4.
What Will Happen In Succession Season 4?
Succession season 4 will consist of 10 episodes, giving us an additional episode after the 9-episode season 3. The official logline for season 4 reads: “The sale of media conglomerate Waystar Royco to tech visionary Lukas Matsson moves ever closer. The prospect of this seismic sale provokes existential angst and familial division among the Roys as they anticipate what their lives will look like once the deal is completed. A power struggle ensues as the family weighs up a future where their cultural and political weight is severely curtailed.”
It’s a sure bet that we’ll see the fallout of Kendall, Roman, and Shiv breaking away from their father once and for all. Shiv and Tom will both have to deal with the consequences of Tom’s betrayal. It could be the end of Tom and Shiv’s marriage as we know it.
Sarah Snook teased to Town & Country that the Roy family “gets tested more than it ever has been” and discovers “what the meaning of family is.” Creator Jesse Armstrong added, “It’s a bumpy ride” and there’s a “lot of hard rendering and conflict.”
“It’s pretty terrifying,” J. Smith-Cameron told ET about the finale and what may be next. “The gloves are off now. Like, this is full-on world war.” After a lonely season, Kendall is now “in alliance” with his siblings. “The drawbridge that has been up for so long separating Kendall from everyone is lowered. Again, he’s able to at the depths of his loneliness and pain, in a way, come back to life,” Jeremy Strong said to ET.
Brian knew the trajectory of season 3 before anyone else. When asked if he knew anything about season 4, he told Deadline, “Absolutely not and I don’t particularly want [to]. I’ve got a life to lead before then.”
As for the creator, Jesse Armstrong discussed the future of the series, but he’s not putting out a definitive answer about how long the show will run. “I have a pitch for where and how I think we end,” he said in an interview with Deadline. “It’s not immutable in respect to my colleagues, we’ll chat about it and how many seasons that plays out over. Similarly, I have a pitch, I don’t want to say in public as it will take away a little bit of the fun and I want to check in with all the important people around the show to see if we all feel the same.”