Succession was always headed for a white-knuckle ending. And while many fans would be happy to watch the Roys and their associates vie for corporate supremacy (and daddy’s love) well into the future, creator Jesse Armstrong recently told The New Yorker that he decided to end the series after its upcoming fourth season. Most shows, especially prestige dramas, tend to announce the end of a series when the latest renewal is announced. But Armstrong and his writers didn’t fully commit to concluding the show until they were midway through production on this season—and didn’t confirm their plan to the actors until the table read of the final episode. And the cast has been rather candid about their reactions to the news.
Sarah Snook, who plays Siobhan Roy, said that it was a painful realization for many of the cast members who “weren’t necessarily ready to be done with the show because we love each other so much.”
“I felt a huge sense of loss, disappointment and sadness,” she told The Los Angeles Times. “It would have been nice to know at the beginning of the season, but I also understand not being told until the end because there was still a potential that maybe this wasn’t going to be the end.”
Still, she applauded the team’s decision to conclude the show on their own terms and not allow it to “become a parody of itself.”
Co-executive producer Frank Rich told Vanity Fair that there was a notion that the fourth season could be the conclusion, but reiterated what Snook said about Armstrong not confirming the news until a table read of the series finale. He also said that the final episode, originally written as a season finale, did not need to be altered to work as capper to the series capper.
Jeremy Strong, known for his especially intense method-influenced attachment to his character, told GQ’s Gabriella Paiella in a February cover story that having to say goodbye to Kendall Roy “will feel like a death, in a way.”
Brian Cox told Variety that he’ll miss “the cast” and “the bonhomie,” as well as Logan Roy, the character he’s turned into a misanthropic icon. But he also praised Armstrong’s discipline in concluding the series now.
“He’s very disciplined in that way, and also he’s very British in that way,” Cox explained. “The American inclination is to milk it for all it’s worth.”
(Though Cox is bidding adieu to Logan Roy, Deadline reported that he did have a bit of an L-to-the-OG moment during the March 19 New York City premiere, where he was howling at the photographers so loudly that it interrupted an interview with cast member Fisher Stevens.)
Other key cast members have weighed in, too. Nicholas Braun, who plays fan favorite Cousin Greg, revealed to Entertainment Tonight that the cast is “pretty bummed” about Succession ending, but promised that its conclusion “is fire.” And last year, Kieran Culkin told Deadline that he hoped the show wouldn’t end with its fourth season because of how much he enjoyed working with the cast and crew.
The fourth season, premiering March 26 on HBO, will focus on the fallout from the third season’s finale, which saw Kendall, Shiv, and Roman attempt to wrest power from Logan, only for their plan to be shockingly thwarted by Shiv’s husband, Tom Wambsgans.