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Succession is set to end with season 4. Ahead of the Emmy-winning HBO show's fourth and final chapter releasing on March 26, creator Jesse Armstrong admitted that "the end has always been present in my mind", and explained why it was time to make good on the promise of its title.
In an interview with New Yorker, the showrunner revealed that he's been thinking up the eventual conclusion since season 2. "I've never thought this could go on forever," Armstrong noted. "I got together with a few of my fellow writers before we started the writing of season four, in about November, December, 2021, and I sort of said, 'Look, I think this maybe should be it. But what do you think?' We played out various scenarios: We could do a couple of short seasons, or two more seasons?"
"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," Armstrong went on. "Or we could do something a bit more muscular and complete, and go out sort of strong? That was definitely always my preference."
Starring the likes of Matthew Macfadyen, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, Jeremy Strong, and Brian Cox, Succession centers on the Roys, the adult children of a wealthy business tycoon, as they fight to be named his replacement at WayCo, the family's media company. Judging by the trailer, season 4 sees the siblings – Connor, Kendall, Shiv, and Roman – finally band together to force their reluctant pops, Logan, from his "throne" once and for all.
"I quite liked the period where me and my close collaborators knew that this was probably it, or this was it, but hadn't had to face up to it in the world," Armstrong confessed. "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. I feel like I've done the best work I can do, working with them. HBO has been generous and would probably have done more seasons, and they have been nice about saying, 'It's your decision.' That's nice, but it's also a responsibility in the end – it feels quite perverse to stop doing it."
Succession season 4 releases on HBO in the US on March 26, and Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK on March 27. In the meantime, check out our list of the most exciting new TV shows coming our way throughout the rest of 2023 and beyond.
