Making ‘Succession’ Season 4 the Final Season ‘Was a Debate’ Jesse Armstrong Says
Just a month before Succession Season 4 premiered, creator Jesse Armstrong announced that it was the final season. The New Yorker was the first to have the news in an interview with Armstrong. Now that the show is airing, Armstrong clarified that he didn’t just decide himself. Armstrong welcomed debate about whether or not to wrap up Succession.
Armstrong was on the Succession podcast on March 26 to discuss the season premiere. He explained the discussions that went into deciding Succession Season 4 was the final season.
Debating whether to end ‘Succession’ in season 4
Armstrong created Succession but he has a whole staff. Indeed, producer Frank Rich was also a guest on the same podcast with Armstrong. So, the final season of Succession was a group decision.
“So it wasn’t a declaration,” Armstrong said on the Succession podcast. “The way we operate is I’ll go in with a proposition, and talk to my fellow writers about it. So it was always offered as I think this is it. What do you think? So it was a joint decision. It was my suspicion and my pitch that this should be it, but it wasn’t like this is it, we’re all getting the hell out of Dodge. It was a debate and we all had different feelings.”
Had ‘Succession’ Season 4 followed different stories, there might be ‘Succession’ Season 5
Without spoiling upcoming episodes of Succession Season 4, Armstrong indicated that different creative decisions would have made the series finale less definitive.
“Even I remember late on, looking at some shapes of the season on the wall and someone saying huh, there could be this whole other shape where we did this and just having a wobble on the last day,” Armstrong said. “But I think we all feel really satisfied by the shape of the season. So sad, but I think it’s the right thing to do.”
Getting out while the getting is good
Four seasons of Succession may feel too short to fans, or even cast members like Sarah Snook. Armstrong looked at shows that went on too long and didn’t want to risk Succession approaching that point.
“Yeah, worried about going on too long,” Armstrong said. “Not like in a way of a theoretical sense. I don’t think there is a perfect number of seasons for a show. It’s bespoke, right? It’s weird, this show has a bunch of things that I think the dynamics could just go on and on and we’d enjoy writing them.”
With the corporate world Succession depicts, Armstrong didn’t find it feasible to drag out the Waystar Royco drama much longer.
“But there is a business cultural political heart to it,” Armstrong said. “Although it’s not necessarily everyone’s favorite element of the show, it is the sort of heartbeat of it. But if we try to extend the Succession business stuff beyond its natural length, I think people would start feeling that we were a bit of a zombie. The body lived on but the heart had gone.”
