HBO’s ‘Succession’ coming to a close after the fourth season

Creator and showrunner Jesse Armstrong revealed that the upcoming fourth season of ‘Succession’ will be its final run. Armstrong revealed in an interview on Thursday that he has decided the storyline will conclude with this upcoming season.

Season four, which is set to air on March 26, 2023, will have 10 episodes total and will conclude sometime at the end of May or early June of this year. Soon after, HBO is expected to debut The Weeknd’s new series ‘The Idol.’

A highly predictable conclusion

It’s no surprise that the storyline of ‘Succession’ will come to a close, as Armstrong and his cast have previously expressed they only see the series running for four or five seasons. In an interview with The New Yorker, Armstrong explains how strategizing the story ending has been in the works since as early as season two.

“I got together with a few of my fellow writers before we started the writing of Season 4, in about November, December 2021, and I sort of said, ‘Look, I think this maybe should be it,’” Armstrong said. December 2021 would have been around the time the finale of season 3 aired.

Going out strong

He continued, “And we played out various scenarios: 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 explained.

A writer and showrunner’s gut feeling

As bittersweet as it is for avid fans of the show, Armstrong explains how the idea of concluding the show with four seasons was more than a likely possibility during the writing process.

Armstrong goes on to say, “I went into the writing room for Season 4 sort of saying, ‘I think this is what we’re doing, but let’s also keep it open’…And the decision to end solidified through the writing and even when we started filming.”

Succession returns on March 26 with the season four premiere. The episode’s premise is somewhat of a full circle moment for the show, as it opens with Logan Roy’s birthday, just as the pilot of the series did.