Succession creator Jesse Armstrong has spoken in the past about his decision to end the series at season four. However, it was recently revealed that he knew how this series was going to end for a while now.
Armstrong stated previously that during his time in the writers’ room for season four, he hoped that he would have been “argued out of” ending the show. During Sucession‘s season four red carpet premiere back in late March 2020, the showrunner spoke to Variety and revealed the Succession‘s ending was based on the first draft that he wrote.
“I had the last scene pretty early. We talked about how the show would end a lot, and I never wavered from that. I wavered on what were the best lines, the best way to express it — but that ending from the first draft is the one you’ll see when the episode comes out.”
Armstrong revealed that he enjoyed the series finales for shows like Six Feet Under and The Sopranos, which showed a unique way of telling a finale’s story and how it “felt right.” However, these two programs didn’t inspire the HBO drama’s upcoming ending, only how it was executed.
“Each show is different. Six Feet Under, Sopranos, some of the shows I most admire have radically different ways of concluding. It’s got to feel right for that story. I’m inspired by those shows, but the ending of Succession had to be bespoke, obviously.”
Armstrong hopes that people would enjoy Succession‘s finale and that the show’s ending would feel “natural,” just like what was in his mind when writing the episode.
“The word that comes to mind for me is ‘natural.’ I hope people, when they see this season, will feel that it has a natural shape to it,”
Season four of Succession will be the show’s last and there are currently no plans for a spin-off show that would feature the show’s other characters. Armstrong shared that the reason why he wanted this show to end is because he wanted people to just be focused on the series and not worry about its pending end.
If you want to catch the final episode of Succession, it is now airing on HBO and Max.
