Logan Roy and his rotten cabal will be back for more drama after HBO renewed Succession for a fourth season.
The network has picked up the Jesse Armstrong-created show for a fourth run only two episodes into its third season.
The move is unsurprising given the fact that the family saga drew more than 1.4M viewers across all platforms on its premiere, marking the best launch night performance of any original series since HBO Max launched.
The nine-episode season, which stars Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin, returned with a 13% increase in viewership since its season two premiere and it has been a constant presence on newspaper and magazine covers.
The Emmy-winning drama picks up with Waystar/Royco media mogul and patriarch Logan Roy, played by Cox, in a perilous position after being ambushed by his rebellious son Kendall, played by Strong at the end of last season. He scrambles to secure alliances with daughter Shiv, played by Snook and younger son Roman, played by Culkin in an escalating and bitter Roy family civil war.
Returning cast members also include Alan Ruck, Nicholas Braun, Matthew Macfadyen, Peter Friedman, J. Smith-Cameron, Dagmara Dominczyk, Justine Lupe, David Rasche, Fisher Stevens, Hiam Abbass, Arian Moayed, Harriet Walter, James Cromwell, Natalie Gold, Juliana Canfield, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Zoë Winters and Jeannie Berlin.
Additional cast this season includes Alexander Skarsgård, Sanaa Lathan, Linda Emond, Jihae, Adrien Brody, Hope Davis and Dasha Nekrasova.
Succession is exec produced by Jesse Armstrong, Adam McKay, Frank Rich, Kevin Messick, Jane Tranter, Mark Mylod, Tony Roche, Scott Ferguson, Jon Brown, Lucy Prebble, Will Tracy and Will Ferrell. Jesse Armstrong serves as showrunner.
The big question is whether season four will be its last. Writer Georgia Pritchett told The Sunday Times that the writers are already plotting season four out now. “I think the maximum would be five seasons, but possibly more like four,” she told the newspaper. “At this point [Armstrong] is saying only one more [season]. But that happens every time. We’ve got a good end in sight.”
“With each season of Succession, Jesse Armstrong has continued to surpass our wildest expectations, pulling us deeper into the Roy family’s inner sanctum with indelible wit, humanity, and precision,” said Francesca Orsi, Executive Vice President, HBO Programming. “This season is undoubtedly no exception, and we couldn’t be more excited for all that’s in store in this next season ahead.”