While it’s completely understandable why HBO’s Succession is favouring quality over quantity with its truncated four-season run, the fans can’t help but feel they’re losing something with the impending conclusion of the award-winning black comedy. Brian Cox, on the other hand, seems rather relieved about the prospect of Succession ending.
“He’s very disciplined in that way, and also he’s very British in that way,” Brian Cox, who portrays billionaire media mogul and acerbic family patriarch Logan Roy, said in praise of series creator Jesse Armstrong (via Variety).
“The American inclination is to milk it for all it’s worth… I’ll miss the cast, I’ll miss the atmosphere, I’ll miss the bonhomie. Logan, probably, I’ll miss a bit. But upward and onwards.”
On a previous occasion, prior to the confirmation that Succession would wrap things up with a fourth and final season, the Scottish-born actor has expressed similar sentiments while (hilariously) taking a swipe at another popular drama series.
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“Who knows how long it will go on? We don’t want it to overstay its welcome, like [Showtime’s] Billions; that’s past its sell-by date. That will not happen with our show.”
Brian Cox, The Times
Incidentally, it was recently revealed that Australia’s own Sarah Snook (AKA Siobhan Roy) didn’t even learn season 4 would mark the finale until the table read. Speaking to The Los Angeles Times, Snook said:
“I was very upset. I felt a huge sense of loss, disappointment, and sadness. 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.”
After three seasons of backstabbing, backflips, and a whole lot of emotional violence, the internal power struggle within the Roy clan has culminated in this very moment. In season 4, the sale of media conglomerate Waystar Royco to tech visionary Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) inches closer by the day.
Naturally, the prospect of this seismic acquisition provokes the usual bouts of existential angst and further familial division between the Roy kids – mainly Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Siobhan, and Roman (Kieran Culkin); Connor’s (Alan Ruck) doing his own thing as usual – and Brian Cox’s Logan.
“You know, there’s a promise in the title of Succession. I’ve never thought this could go on forever,” Jesse Armstrong told The New Yorker.
“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?”
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“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.”
Armstrong added: “The decision to end solidified through the writing and even when we started filming: I said to the cast, ‘I’m not 100% sure, but I think this is it.’ Because I didn’t want to bullshit them, either.”
Succession season 4, has set a release date: March 27th, 2023 (Australia) – check out the trailer below.
