Brace yourself for the end of Logan’s run.
After five award-winning years, HBO’s hit show “Succession” will come to a close with season 4, writer and creator Jesse Armstrong has said.
In an interview published Thursday, Armstrong told The New Yorker: “There’s a promise in the title of ‘Succession.’ I’ve never thought this could go on forever.”
“The end has always been kind of present in my mind,” he added. “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?”
With its satirical portrayal of the uber-rich Roy family grappling for control of a media empire as its patriarch ages, “Succession” has garnered critical acclaim during its run, including 13 Emmy wins, and inspired countless memes.
And Armstrong admitted that he felt “deeply conflicted” about ending the show after four seasons, a decision that HBO allowed him to make.
HBO and CNN share parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.
“It’s been a difficult decision,” he said, “because the collaborations – with the cast, with my fellow-writers, with (composer) Nick Britell and Mark Mylod and the other directors – they’ve just been so good.”
As the writers’ room gathered in late 2021 to map out the latest season and even as filming began, Armstrong was still not set on ending the show after four seasons, he told the New Yorker.
“I sort of said, ‘Look, I think this maybe should be it. But what do you think?’ And we played out various scenarios,” he recalled.
“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.”
“When we started filming: I said to the cast, ‘I’m not a hundred per cent sure, but I think this is it,’” he added.
Although he ultimately decided to end “Succession,” Armstrong didn’t rule out returning to “another part of this world,” with “allied characters, or some of the same characters,” if there were demand.
“Maybe there’s something else that could be done, that harnessed what’s been good about the way we’ve worked on this,” he said. “So that is another true feeling.”
The show returns to HBO and HBO Max for its fourth, and final, season on March 26.