The fourth and final season of the American satiricalcomedy-drama television series Succession premiered on HBO on March 26, 2023. Series creator Jesse Armstrong serves as the showrunner for the season. The series centers on the Roy family, the owners of global media and entertainment conglomerate Waystar RoyCo, and their fight for control of the company amidst uncertainty about the health of the family's patriarch.
In October 2021, HBO renewed Succession for a fourth season, which was confirmed by Armstrong to be the final season in February 2023. Filming for the season began in June 2022, in New York City. Production later moved to Norway, Los Angeles and Barbados, and ended in early 2023. The season consists of ten episodes, an increase from the previous season, which had nine.
Caitlin FitzGerald, who portrays Tabitha Hayes, appeared in the promotional trailer for the season, and was slated to appear in the sixth episode, however ultimately made no appearance in the season.
Six months after the events in Tuscany and 48 hours before the GoJo acquisition, Logan celebrates his birthday in New York while Kendall, Shiv, and Roman are in Los Angeles to propose a new media startup to investors. The siblings learn Logan is attempting to purchase PGM again and decide to launch a rival bid. They meet with Nan and Naomi at the Pierces' California estate; Nan is indecisive about the competing offers from Waystar and the siblings, which in turn sparks a bidding war between the factions. The siblings ultimately sway Nan with a $10 billion offer, which Logan is forced to concede. Shiv returns to New York and finds Tom at the apartment they no longer share due to a trial separation. While Tom wants to discuss the breakdown of their marriage, Shiv tells him she wants to divorce him as painlessly as possible.
Logan, who gets to keep control of ATN per the terms of the GoJo sale, visits the newsroom to announce his plans to radically revamp its vision. Stewy and Sandi tell the siblings they want to veto the GoJo acquisition at Waystar's upcoming board meeting to negotiate a price increase. All but Shiv dismiss their proposal and go to spend time with Connor, but Matsson privately calls Kendall to say he will call off the acquisition if pushed on price; Kendall suddenly becomes interested in Stewy and Sandi's offer. Logan meets with his children at a karaoke bar to convince them to allow the GoJo sale to go through, but Kendall and Shiv refuse to make peace with their father. Roman, growing weary of his siblings' desire to spite Logan, visits him at his home, where Logan asks his help in negotiating with Matsson, and offers him a position as head of ATN.
On the day of Connor and Willa's wedding in New York, Logan departs for Sweden with Tom and the rest of his senior cadre (except Gerri and Hugo) to negotiate with Matsson. He decides to fire Gerri for her perceived mishandling of the fallout from the cruises scandal, and tasks a reluctant Roman with delivering her the news at the wedding. However, the siblings soon receive word from Tom that Logan collapsed onboard the plane and is unresponsive. It gradually becomes clear that Logan will not survive; his plane is turned around and he is pronounced dead upon landing. The devastated siblings are forced to coordinate a response alongside the rest of Waystar's executives. Connor and Willa go through with their wedding in a small ceremony, while Kendall, Shiv and Roman travel to Teterboro Airport to receive their father's body and issue a statement announcing his death to the press.
Shiv is revealed to be pregnant. Logan's family and close associates gather at his apartment for his wake. Hugo approaches Kendall and informs him of a potential insider trading scandal involving his daughter. Frank finds an undated document in Logan's safe naming Kendall as his successor upon his death. Kendall is taken aback by the news while the others debate the document's legitimacy. Since the company's succession plan formally dictated that leadership be passed on to the COO – a title Roman currently holds – Kendall and Roman decide to run the company as co-CEOs. The brothers promise to involve Shiv in all operational decisions, but she feels dejected regardless. Given Kendall's past controversies, Hugo and Karolina propose a PR campaign questioning Logan's judgment leading up to his death, which Roman shuts down. Kendall, however, privately leverages Hugo to go through with the strategy.
With Kendall and Roman now running the company, the Roys fly to Norway for GoJo's annual retreat, where they are hoping to finalize the sale to Matsson with a floor of $144 per share. Matsson, however, wishes to absorb ATN into the acquisition as well, which the brothers oppose. Matsson also privately confides to Shiv that he is trying to avoid a potential harassment scandal involving his head of PR, with whom he was romantically linked. Kendall and Roman eventually decide to torpedo the sale by indirectly convincing Matsson to call it off himself. However, Roman lashes out at Matsson during their next meeting for not giving them time to grieve their father, and openly calls off the deal. Matsson then bypasses the brothers and makes an offer directly to Waystar's senior management for $192 per share, which they pass on to the board, though all the senior management except Gerri, Karolina, and Tom are to be fired.
The Roys return to Los Angeles for Waystar's Investor Day, where they plan to launch "Living+", a luxury assisted living community that Logan had proposed prior to his death. Matsson dislikes the idea and unsuccessfully tries to convince Shiv to call it off, telling her about his hostile negotiation with Kendall and Roman in Norway. Shiv confronts her brothers, who admit they dislike the GoJo deal. Roman impulsively fires the head of Waystar's film studio in light of their latest film's troubled production, and later fires Gerri as well when she reprimands him for it. Shiv and Tom begin to reconnect romantically. Kendall prepares an outlandish presentation for the Living+ product launch, hoping to attract enough investment interest to render the GoJo acquisition untenable. Despite Shiv and Roman's concerns (and Matsson's attempts to sabotage him), he delivers his speech successfully, giving Waystar stock a major boost.
The night before the presidential election, the Roys host their traditional party for political insiders at Shiv and Tom's apartment. Kendall and Roman hope to build an antitrust case against the GoJo acquisition, but Shiv – who wants to preserve the deal – invites Matsson to the party in hopes of thwarting her brothers. However, the siblings later learn that Matsson has grossly inflated GoJo's subscriber numbers in India, which could create a fatal scandal for the company. Roman unsuccessfully attempts to convince Connor to drop out of the presidential race after his polling numbers draw support away from Mencken. Gerri refuses Roman's request to return to Waystar, having negotiated a hefty severance agreement. Tom is incensed by rumors of his firing circulating at the party, leading to a vicious argument with Shiv about their marriage. Kendall proposes to Frank that Waystar buy GoJo with him as sole CEO.
On election night, the siblings are torn over the candidates: Roman supports Mencken as he will advance Waystar's agenda – including blocking the GoJo deal – while Kendall is uncomfortable with Mencken due to blowback from his extreme politics affecting his daughter Sophie. Shiv, meanwhile, remains aligned with Matsson. Shiv finally tells Tom she is pregnant with his child, but Tom reacts skeptically. A vote center in Milwaukee is firebombed, destroying thousands of ballots that would have likely gone to Democratic candidate Daniel Jiménez; Roman uses the situation to pressure Tom into having ATN prematurely call Wisconsin for Mencken, while Connor concedes to Mencken as well. Kendall ponders backing Jiménez for his family's sake, but learns from Greg that Shiv is working with Matsson; hurt by his sister's betrayal, he throws in his support for Mencken. After Mencken wins Arizona, ATN calls the election in his favor.
The Roys arrive at Logan's funeral amidst street protests that have broken out following the announcement of Mencken's win. Shiv advises Matsson to publicize his bogus subscriber counts in India while the news cycle is occupied with the election, and tells her brothers about her pregnancy. Ewan gives a charged eulogy lending insight into Logan's troubled childhood while condemning his brother's corrupt influence. Roman is unable to deliver his speech and breaks down crying, prompting Kendall to give one in his place. Shiv brokers a deal between Matsson and Mencken to allow the GoJo deal to go through in exchange for naming an American CEO, which she hopes will be her. Upon learning this, Kendall enlists Roman and Hugo to join him against Shiv at the final board vote on the acquisition. Roman, overwhelmed with the funeral and ashamed at letting his deal with Mencken backfire, walks into a crowd of rioters and gets assaulted.
Kendall scrambles to secure board votes to block the GoJo deal. He and Shiv visit Caroline's estate in Barbados, where Roman is recovering from his wounds. Matsson interviews Tom and offers him the CEO position, believing he will be more obedient than Shiv; Greg tips off the siblings that Shiv will not be Matsson's CEO. The siblings then agree to let Kendall take over, forming a voting bloc. Upon their return to New York, Shiv learns Tom has been chosen as CEO; the siblings race to sway the board. The board comes to a 6–6 tie over selling to GoJo, with only Shiv's vote left; Shiv, however, has second thoughts about Kendall's competence, and votes in favor of the deal despite Kendall's protests. Tom is appointed CEO with Shiv by his side; Roman accepts that he and his siblings were never worthy successors; a devastated Kendall contemplates his future.
Production
Development
In June 2021, executive producer Georgia Pritchett commented that the series would not go beyond five seasons, and possibly would end after the fourth season.[11] On October 26, 2021, HBO renewed the series for a fourth season. The season consists of ten episodes, an increase from the previous season.[12] In an interview with The New Yorker on February 23, 2023, Armstrong confirmed that the series would conclude with the fourth season. He stated that while the season was not initially pitched as the series' last, "the decision to end solidified through the writing and even when we started filming: I said to the cast, 'I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think this is it.'"[13]
All main cast members return from the previous season, with Hiam Abbass and Arian Moayed, who only appeared in a recurring capacity in the third season after being credited with main cast in the second season, are credited with the main cast in the episodes they appear in. Alexander Skarsgård, who previously starred in a recurring role, was promoted to the main cast for the season. In January 2023, it was announced that Adam Godley, Annabeth Gish, Eili Harboe and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson had been cast in the fourth season in a recurring capacity.[14]
Filming
Production on the ten-episode fourth season began in New York City on June 27, 2022, with Mark Mylod directing the first episode.[15] Mylod then directed three more of the ten episodes, with the others being directed by Becky Martin, Lorene Scafaria, Andrij Parekh, Lorene Scafaria, and directing team Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini. In October 2022, it was confirmed that filming occurred in western Norway, including locations such as the Atlantic Ocean Road, Romsdalen Gondola, Eggen Restaurant, and Juvet Landscape Hotel, as part of a storyline involving Skarsgård's character.[16]Los Angeles and Barbados also served as filming locations for the fourth season.[17][18] On January 16, 2023, during an interview with Entertainment Weekly, star Matthew Macfadyen stated: “We've got another month or so” left of filming.[19]
Release
The season premiered on HBO on March 26, 2023, with episodes releasing weekly until the finale on May 28, 2023.[20]
Home media
HBO released the fourth season on DVD on September 12, 2023.[21][22]
Reception
Audience viewership
The final episode of the season, the series finale, drew 2.9 million viewers, making it the highest watched episode of the series. This was a 68% increase from the 1.7 million viewers for the third-season finale,[23] which was a record high for the series.[24][25]
Critical response
The fourth and final season has been met with widespread critical acclaim. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the season holds an approval rating of 97% with an average rating of 9.2/10, based on 324 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "As compulsively watchable as ever, Succession's final season concludes the saga of the backbiting Roy family on a typically brilliant – and colorfully profane – high note."[26] On Metacritic, the season has received a weighted average score of 92 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[27]
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