Succession's J. Smith Cameron Believes The Show Could Go On Much Longer
This post contains spoilers for "Succession."
When Jesse Armstrong announced in a 2023 New Yorker interview that his hit HBO show "Succession" was coming to an end with its upcoming fourth season, fans were shocked. The show had reached not just a dramatic peak in its third season, in which elderly media mogul Logan Roy (Brian Cox) made the first steps to sell his Waystar Royco empire and cut his children out, but a peak in popularity and impact as well, having earned its highest ratings yet during the season 3 finale. For a tragic media satire with such seemingly specific appeal, its fanbase skews broad, sparking both analysis of its thematic richness and shipping videos set to Taylor Swift.
Still, as Armstrong told the New Yorker, "There's a promise in the title of 'Succession.'" With a show designed around the broad idea of a King Lear-type ceding control of his media empire to his thankless children, Lear's death is a necessity. And who of his children, never groomed to competence, will take over, if any of them? If the show is concluding that central thread and wrapping up its family story, then it has effectively wrapped up. With Logan's death in season 4's third (and possibly best) episode, we're already halfway there. Now, we're watching to see how the children handle the debris.
Theoretically, though, the nature of the drama could go on forever. "Succession" deals with subjects both immortal (loyalty, family, the ways expectations and childhood trauma can wreck you in adulthood) and timely (the ways in which mass media can launder reactionary, even racist ideas with billions of dollars behind them). To J. Smith Cameron, who plays General Counsel and eventual interim CEO Gerri Kellman, those ideas are worth exploring even if the family drama is exhausted.
A story of succession
Per Town and Country, "Succession" creator Jesse Armstrong drew from the real-life facts of any number of elderly moguls and billionaires for the central story, whether it was Rupert Murdoch, Robert Durst, William Randolph Hearst, or Sumner Redstone. James B. Stewart's "Disney War" also served as an inspiration, giving Armstrong and the show's writers the necessary vocabulary for the characters' high-speed business jargon. Drawing from those true stories gives "Succession" a sense of verisimilitude, but it's clearly secondary to the show's real creative anchor: the story of Logan Roy and his various children's struggle for control.
Because of that, part of the joy of watching the show comes down to its "Game of Thrones"-esque cascade of alliances and the clash between the old guard and the new guard. Even if you don't know about market valuations or "bear hugs" or proxy battles, you can get invested on the strength of the vivid characters. Beyond Logan's children, whose superficial aloofness masks deep dysfunction, there's the Waystar Royco C-suite, made up of hilarious, scene-stealing old hands like Frank (Peter Friedman), Karl (David Rasche), and, of course, Gerri (J. Smith Cameron).
The misogynistic culture of Waystar Royco means that Gerri, no matter her historic loyalty to the company, is left out to dry the second it becomes convenient. When Logan discovers her decidedly messed-up sexual relationship with his son Roman (Kieran Culkin) during a boardroom scene, we quickly see moves being made to cast her out. But the show is almost always stolen by Gerri, even after her character has been effectively pushed to the sidelines. To do what J. Smith Cameron can do with just a couple lines, most actors would need a whole episode.
The Roys versus the C-suite
As much as the show focuses on Logan Roy's stunted adult children, there's practically a whole other show happening on the margins with characters like Gerri. Beyond what characters hint about their tumultuous backstory during Logan's rise (for example, Frank's memorable reference to "seeing more of the Balkans"), they are competent and effective and totally beyond the erratic and emotional delusions displayed by Logan's kids.
Those "kids" are often portrayed as children in cycles of abuse who continue to indulge in their most fatal flaws, even if they lack the charisma and killer instinct of their father. The vacuum left by his death has catalyzed their worst impulses, setting up the show for a tragic conclusion that comes at the exact right time.
Even though showrunner Jesse Armstrong made a concerted effort to end the story of the Roys with the show's fourth season, the world of "Succession" and the high levels of Waystar Royco is tantalizing enough to make viewers hope for more. As J. Smith Cameron told Collider, that's not necessarily unique to the viewers. Even the cast feels like the show could go on for a significantly longer time, to the point of Cameron saying, "I'm not sure I agree that it needs to go out on season 4."
"In terms of the world of 'Succession,'" Cameron added, "I feel like it could go on and on," beyond the specifics of the family tragedy.
Beyond season four
While J. Smith Cameron admitted to Collider that she had nothing but respect for "Succession" creator Jesse Armstrong's judgment, and that the fourth season successfully concludes the story of the Roy children, she also suggested that it's still hard not to want more:
"It's so topical, the things they're doing, with the influence of the super rich and powerful, and how they abuse their power. The threat of that is all over the globe. [...] It's a tonic to have a show that addresses it with glittery, cold perspective, but that can also make humor out of it."
The show's sense of the influence on wealth and media on contemporary political issues is another of its greatest features, with the surprising and relevant darkness of its long-running Presidential election storyline as just one example. It's a funny show as always, balancing the grim nature of its protagonists' instincts for self-destruction with hysterical dark humor. While they set their course for an inevitable tragic outcome, the show's specific social commentary is implicitly, necessarily critical of the real-life Roy figures who've got their hands on the wheel of society.
As Armstrong explained to the New Yorker, the writers discussed how the show could go longer and "turn into something rather different, and be a more rangy, freewheeling kind of fun show" without the tightly drawn, tragic downturn promised by the show's latest developments. Most viewers would probably agree with Cameron that the show could go on longer, but the finality of the series' ending has given Armstrong and the show's writers latitude to take its characters to their darkest point.
Should the world of "Succession" and Waystar Royco ever be revisited, one can only hope that Gerri gets the spotlight she deserves.