Succession Creator Jesse Armstrong Is Considering A Spinoff With 'Some Of The Same Characters'
There was bittersweet news for those of us who like watching horrible, wealthy people back-stab one another in their efforts to win control of the family company and, more importantly, get a kiss from daddy. "Succession," the hit HBO series from creator Jesse Armstrong, is coming to an end with season 4. The news is bitter, because we'll miss the devious politics and plots of the Roy family, but sweet because their story ending is an opportunity for things to really go off the rails.
In a new interview with the New Yorker, Armstrong seemed mostly confident that "Succession" season 4 wraps things up, saying, "I do think that this succession story that we were telling is complete." However, he also admitted to feeling "deeply conflicted" as he faces a future without the show, explaining that he tried to put off the final decision to end it for as long as possible and that he's nervous about publicly declaring that season 4 will be the last.
"The decision to end solidified through the writing and even when we started filming," Armstrong recalled. "I said to the cast, 'I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think this is it.'"
But will this really be the last time we visit the world of "Succession"? As a wise man once said: "If it is to be said, so it be, so it is."
'An allied world'
The big question going into "Succession" season 4 is the same one set up at the start of the series: Who will actually succeed Logan Roy (Brian Cox) as CEO of Waystar Royco? As far as Logan is concerned, none of his children are worthy, and they'll have to pry the company from his cold, dead hands. That's one obvious way to end the story, but given Logan's resilience, it wouldn't be surprising if he ended up outliving all his children (perhaps taking a page out of Saturn's book).
After the future of Waystar Royco is decided, though, Jesse Armstrong might not be done with this world. He told the New Yorker he felt sad to have parted ways with the "Succession" cast and his creative collaborators, joking, "I'll probably be calling you up in about six months asking if people are ready for a reboot." On a more serious note, he also said that he's left the door open for potential spinoffs:
"This is the muscular season to exhaust all our reserves of interest, and I think there's some pain in all these characters that's really strong. But the feeling that there could be something else in an allied world, or allied characters, or some of the same characters — that's also strong in me. I have caveated the end of the show, when I've talked to some of my collaborators, like: Maybe there's another part of this world we could come back to, if there was an appetite? Maybe there's something else that could be done, that harnessed what's been good about the way we've worked on this."
A couple of pitches to help nourish that feeling: how about turning "Boar on the Floor" into a fun game show? Or perhaps spinning Tom and Cousin Greg off into their own version of "Mad Men"? There are no bad ideas in brainstorming.
"Succession" season 4 premieres Sunday, March 26, on HBO and HBO Max.