A new trailer for season four of HBO’s Succession dropped Thursday morning, leaving us with excitement and a lot of questions.
Near the end of the trailer, Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) tells his sidekick Greg Hirsch (Nicholas Braun, aka Greg the Egg), “This is a chessboard. And every move is crucial. Like, Israel-Palestine, Greg, but harder. And much more important.”
So, it sounds like we’re due for some fireworks within the Roy family for season four, which is to be expected considering how things were left at the end of season three, with – spoiler alert – Tom backstabbing his wife Siobhan (Sarah Snook) to earn some points with daddy-in-law Logan (Brian Cox).
This is a chessboard, and every move is crucial. Season 4 of #Succession premieres March 26 on @hbomax. pic.twitter.com/6kxlxvMrNH
— Succession (@succession) January 26, 2023
Succession has won four Golden Globes and eight Emmys. It’s also an incredibly memeable show that has spawned mashups like this, with the New York Knicks.
Here are three burning questions we have ahead of the season four premiere on March 26.
If you haven’t seen season three yet, spoilers are below.
1
Is Logan extending an olive branch? Will the kids accept it?
The trailer opens with Logan’s assistant Kerry (Zoe Winters) talking on the phone with Roman (Kieran Culkin), who is flanked by his brother Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and sister Shiv. Kerry asks Roman, “Would you consider giving your father a call?”
If you’ll remember, season three ended with the Roys essentially splitting into two factions. Roman, Shiv and Kendall sought to exercise their veto power when they discovered that Logan aimed to sell the company. But Tom tipped Logan off to the kids’ plans, and so he reworked his divorce settlement to totally screw them and deprive them of their power.
In the trailer, it seems like – despite their past differences – Roman, Shiv and Kendall are sticking together in the fight against their dad. Shiv says later in the trailer, “We wanted to do something together… This is not about getting back at dad, but if it hurts him, it doesn’t bother me.”
It doesn’t seem like things are going to be resolved amicably between Logan and his children though. Gerri Kellman (J. Smith-Cameron) tells one of the kids later in the trailer, “You are not going to win. Your dad will wash you away.”
2
Which side is Connor on?
It’s unclear where the fourth Roy kid falls in the infighting in the family. Connor Roy (Alan Ruck) has been the black sheep of the Roys since this show’s inception, but he’s always been hesitant to stand firmly in one camp or the other when the family has been in a fight. He wasn’t in the room for the final scene in season three when Logan revealed the ace up his sleeve to Connor’s siblings.
Gerri, Tom and the other three kids have picked their sides in this particular battle, but what about Connor? And does it even matter?
In the trailer, Connor is seen sitting at a table talking to his siblings and he mimes the motion of throwing a grenade. It seems like Kendall, Roman and Shiv are making an effort to bring Connor into their fold, but it’s unclear if he’ll agree to join them.
But Connor, as we know, has other interests and aspirations aside from the pissing contest inside the family over the line of succession. He’s previously talked about running for president and seems to have finally tied the knot with Willa, as we see later in the trailer, which means we’ll get another extravagant Roy wedding episode this season.
— no context succession (@nocontextroyco) December 21, 2022
3
Where is Lukas Matsson in all of this?
Near the end of season three, Logan and Roman are negotiating with Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård), the CEO of content company GoJo, about a merger. The talks between the Roys and Mattson eventually turns to an outright acquisition, which Logan seems to agree to. That then starts the war for power between him and his children, because selling the company jeopardizes the kids’ prospects of succession.
It’s unclear in the trailer if the deal between Matsson and the Roys ever actually got done. Matsson only appears briefly in this trailer, wearing a hoodie and standing along a trail in the mountains. He’s talking to Kendall and asks him, “Are you tanking the deal?”
Matsson could be important moving forward and might have an impact on who wins the fight between Logan and his kids.
