The Roy family are back on our screens soon, with Succession season 3 just on the horizon. After numerous delays due to Covid-19, the HBO TV series created by Jesse Armstrong has managed to film the entire next season, with the premiere now slightly earlier than expected. Finally, we’ll get to see what happens next after that season 2 cliffhanger.
Without getting into spoilers (yet), the last time we saw the Roy family, competition to become heir to Logan Roy’s (Brian Cox) throne as the owner of WayStar RoyCo had become more intense than ever. Kendall (Jeremy Strong) has struck out on his own, but what Siobhan (Sarah Snook), Connor (Alan Ruck), and Roman (Kieran Culkin) do in reaction is anyone’s guess. Not that each doesn’t have their own particular mess to worry about, either.
And then there’s Tom (Matthew Macfayden) and Greg (Nicholas Braun), the hapless duo who’re trying to find a place within WayStar without direct family ties. Two seasons in and it’s still all to play for, but tactics are getting more hostile and outlandish. Here’s everything you need to know about when you can enjoy the family mess again.
When is the Succession season 3 release date?
HBO has revealed that Succession season 3 will start airing and streaming on October 17. This comes via an Instagram post that shared a new poster for the upcoming season.
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Previously, in August, HBO announced that Succession season 3 would start airing in October 2021. It was previously thought that December 2021 would be the start date, if not later, due to ever-changing schedules, thanks to the pandemic.
Succession is set to premiere as part of the London Film Festival. The first two episodes screen on Friday, October 15 – expect them to reach Sky and Now TV in the UK and HBO in the US very soon after that.
What happened at the end of Succession season 2?
Here’s a brief rundown of the climax of the show’s second season – warning, spoilers ahead. Bad press surrounding trouble on WayStar RoyCo’s yachts had bubbled up to the point where it was clear someone had to take the fall. During a private family meeting in the Mediterranean, each child makes their case to Logan to not let them, or their significant other, be the one who has to jump on the grenade.
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Logan eventually settles on Kendall, who he says isn’t a “killer”. Emboldened by this, and seeing a chance to finally strike at his father after some previous failed attempts, Kendall goes out to the press conference and publicly condemns his father, saying Logan knew about everything and did nothing. Logan smiles on while everyone else stares in shock.
What is the Succession season 3 plot?
The production has been tight-lipped about what specifically is going to happen this season, but knowing the above, we can infer some details. The fallout of Kendall’s challenge against Logan is going to be the overarching narrative, with some lengthy legal battles and PR jousting between father and son.
Elsewhere, Siobhan and Tom have now gone on a break, but Tom’s still within the company, and she still cares for him. Roman and Gerri have their, shall we say, strange relationship on the go, and Connor continues to float around looking for more of his father’s money.
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We still don’t know the identity of the WayStar RoyCo whistleblower, Greg still has those documents he kept instead of burning them. Likelihood is Greg will stand in Kendall’s corner, but what that ultimately amounts to is anyone’s guess.
On a more immediate front, something that has been publicly commented on is whether Succession would include Covid-19 in its storylines. The setting is contemporary and loosely real-time, so the pandemic is something that’s bound to come up. However, these are also very rich people who live in another universe to the rest of us, and lockdowns and all the rest of it just don’t matter to them like they do to us.
“These are really wealthy people,” Sarah Snook, who plays Siobhan ‘Shiv’ Roy, told Vulture. “And unfortunately, none of the world’s really wealthy people were going to be affected by the pandemic.”
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Production has been touched by Covid-19, with several cast and crew contracting the virus. One actor, Mark Blum, who portrayed WayStar executive Bill Lockhart, passed away from complications surrounding a case of it in March 2020.
Other than this, HBO has provided the following short synopsis: “Ambushed by his rebellious son Kendall at the end of season 2, Logan Roy begins season 3 in a perilous position, scrambling to secure familial, political, and financial alliances. Tensions rise as a bitter corporate battle threatens to turn into a family civil war.”
Is there a Succession season 3 trailer?
Yes! In September, HBO released a full trailer that focuses on the whirling family conflict. In it, we see lines being drawn in the sand, some of the mind games Logan and Kendall play with each other, and Adrien Brody makes his first appearance.
Another, minute-long trailer was released in July, teasing the Game of Thrones-style conflict that’s about to really test every family member. Everyone’s allegiances are questioned as Logan and Kendall get into a dirty legal battle over the future of WayStar.
Who’ll succeed? Who knows, but in the game of Succession, you either win or you’re hopelessly humiliated by Roman. A fate worse than death, to be honest.
Who is in the Succession season 3 cast?
The main cast remains intact going forward, and several major names are joining them. Adrien Brody, of Peaky Blinders and The Grand Budapest Hotel, is playing billionaire investor Josh Aaronson, and Aleksander Skarsgård is portraying tech mogul Lukas Matsson. Sanaa Lathan will be New York-based lawyer Lisa Arthur, and Jihae Kim, a Korean pop-star, is slated to appear as PR consultant Berry Schneider.
Hope Davis, Dasha Nekrasova, and Ella Rumpf, star of horror movie Raw, are all confirmed to pop up at some point. The full confirmed main cast is as follows:
- Jeremy Strong (as Kendall Roy)
- Brian Cox (as Logan Roy)
- Keiran Culkin (as Roman Roy)
- Sarah Snook (as Siobhan ‘Shiv’ Roy)
- Alan Ruck (as Connor Roy)
- Matthew Macfayden (as Tom Wambsgans)
- Nicholas Braun (as Greg Hirsch)
- J. Smith-Cameron (as Gerri Kellman)
- Peter Friedman (as Frank Vernon)
- Dagmara Domińczyk (as Karolina Novotney)
- David Rasche (as Karl Muller)
- Arian Moayed (as Stewy Hosseini)
That’s everything we have on the next chapter of the Roy family saga so far. Do keep checking back, though, for more of WayStar’s dodgy dealings and the fallout thereafter. While you’re here, check out our list of all Succession episodes ranked.