Silke Jasso
Sorry Succession fans, the end is near! In a recent interview with The New Yorker, creator and showrunner Jesse Armstrong announced that the Emmy-winning family drama on HBO, which depicts the Roys’ power struggle for their father’s media conglomerate, will come to an end after its fourth season, consisting of 10 episodes. This sad information was also confirmed by HBO.
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“There’s a promise in the title of ‘Succession’. I’ve never thought this could go on forever,” Armstrong said of the end. “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?”
According to Armstrong, the choice to end the Roys’ story was the result of several conversations and deliberations with the show’s writers. He initially proposed the concept in November or December of 2021, suggesting that the fourth season could provide a fitting conclusion to the narrative.
“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,” he said admitting that his preference was for the latter option.
“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,” Armstrong stated.
During the interview, Armstrong revealed that in the early stages of season 4, he refrained from stating with certainty that it would be the final season due to past instances where new plot and character elements emerged unexpectedly. This led him to avoid completely ruling out the possibility of continuing the story in this season until it became apparent that it was necessary to do so. “It got weird to not say ‘OK, I think this really is it,'” Armstrong admitted.
Asked how he felt about seeing the show end, Armstrong says he felt “deeply conflicted” about ending a show that is at its peak.
“I quite enjoy this period when we’re editing — where the whole season is there — but we haven’t put it out yet,” he noted. “And I also 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.”
“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. And I feel like I’ve done the best work I can do, working with them,” he added. “And 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.”
“So I do feel conflicted about that. And I feel sad, and I have the-circus-has-left-town feeling that everyone gets who works on a production that’s good, and this one particularly so. I imagine I’ll be a little bit lonely, and wandering the streets of London in a funk, and wondering, What the f**k did I do? I’ll probably be calling you up in about six months asking if people are ready for a reboot.”
