The trailer for Succession’s keenly-anticipated fourth season has finally dropped, showing the Roy siblings banding together against their media magnate father.
The critically-acclaimed drama finished its third season with patriarch Logan Roy’s shock decision to sell his company, Waystar Royco, obliterating in one fell swoop all of his children’s hopes and dreams of being his eventual successor.
The teaser trailer, released on Friday morning (Australian time), shows the typically-divided Roy siblings Shiv (Australia’s Sarah Snook), Roman (Kieran Culkin), Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Connor (Alan Ruck) somewhat united against their ruthless father.
“This is not the end. We are killing the opposition,” Logan says in the trailer.
“I’m gonna build something better, faster, keener, wilder. I love it here. I f—ing love it!”
Whether his children will remain united is anyone’s guess.
“We wanted to do something together,” Shiv says.
“This is not about getting back at dad. But if it hurts him, it doesn’t bother me.”
The trailer also confirmed that the season will drop on March 26, taking over HBO’s prime-time Sunday night slot from video game adaption series The Last of Us.
As seen in the trailer, Tom (Matthew McFayden) is no longer the blundering bystander after his earth-shattering betrayal in the third season.
His wife, Shiv, and her brothers had been drawing up a plan to exploit a clause in their parents’ divorce settlement, which would grant them veto power over decisions on Waystar Royco.
The plan was blown to pieces when Tom shared the inside intel with Logan, leading the patriarch to sell his media conglomerate to tech entrepreneur Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgard).
Now, Tom has fully positioned himself as a player in the game – and he’s prepared to go ahead with or without Shiv.
“I’m sure we’ll iron it all out, but what would happen?” he asks Logan in the trailer.
“If you and Shiv were to bust up?” Logan asks.
“We’ll always be good, right?” says Tom.
“If we’re good, we’re good,” Logan assures.
Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) remains attached to Tom by the hip. But whether Greg is Tom’s confidante or his pawn remains unclear as ever.
“This is a chessboard, and every move is crucial,” Tom tells Greg in the trailer.
“Like Israel-Palestine, Greg, but harder. And much more important.”
Is this the end?
HBO has confirmed much of the core cast from past seasons will return, including Hiam Abbass (Marcia Roy), J. Smith-Cameron (Gerri) and Peter Friedman (Frank).
One question that remains unanswered, however, is if this season of Succession will be its last.
Variety spoke to Succession creator Jesse Armstrong before the third season aired. Armstrong was unspecific about plans for future series.
He said previously that there would be a “very definite moment” when the story ended, but when that will be is still unclear.
“I don’t have a good definitive answer to that. All I know is there’s a promise in the Succession title, and it can’t go on forever,” said Armstrong.
As for what season four holds, the stars of the series have been glowing about the storyline.
Nicholas Braun described it as an “absolute banger” and “fire season”, while Alexander Skarsgard said – somewhat curiously – that it was “manicured”.
The first three seasons of Succession have garnered 48 Emmy Nominations and 13 wins, including a win for outstanding drama series for its second and third seasons.
Snook, who was born and raised in Adelaide, has scored two Emmy nominations for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series for her portrayal of Shiv Roy.
