Succession creator hints at spin-offs – but HBO boss has doubts

"There’s a promise in the title of Succession," he said. "I’ve never thought this could go on forever. The end has always been kind of present in my mind.

"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?”

Armstrong said he sat down with the other writers at the start of the creative process for season 4 and played out a number of different potential 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," he said.

Read more:

• Succession confirms season 4 release date with high-stakes trailer
• Succession unveils first look at Roy siblings in season 4

But is it really the end for the stories of the Roys and those around them, sucked into the whirlwind of their familial drama and battles for succession, love, respect or all of the above?

"The feeling there could be something else in an allied world, or allied characters, or some of the same characters – that’s also strong in me," Armstrong told the publication, hinting at the possibility of spin-offs in the future. "Maybe there’s another part of this world we could come back to, if there was an appetite?"

While Succession's creator might think that's a possibility, however, it sounds like HBO chief Casey Bloys disagrees.

According to Variety, Bloys isn't considering a Succession spin-off once the show takes its final bow.

"I don’t think so," he of the idea, though he wouldn't rule it out point blank. "I always say 'never say never.' When we started talking about doing a [Game of] Thrones prequel that was something that HBO had historically never done. I had some people internally saying, ‘This is crazy. What are you doing?’ That said, I think that there’s something about the universe that George [RR Martin] created that lent itself to [spin-offs]. There’s a huge history, a lot of different families, a lot of different wars and battles.

"It doesn’t seem to me that there’s something in Succession where you would go, 'Let’s follow just this kid' or whatever. It doesn’t seem like a natural thing to me. But if [creator Jesse Armstrong] said, 'I want to do this,' then I would follow Jesse’s lead."

Succession season 4 is coming to Sky and NOW on Monday 27th March 2023. Find out more about how to sign up for Sky TV.

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