So, What's the Update on Succession Season 3?

Before you Google it: no, a trailer has not yet been released for season three of HBO’s satirical wealth-horror tragicomedy, Succession. Filming, which suffered massive delays due to the pandemic, hasn’t even begun! And yet, Succession is a show that has, since I watched both seasons in August (and subsequently re-watched them each twice since then), refused to let go of my attention. The script for it is written, and Jeremy Strong (Kendall Roy) confirmed recently on The Late Late Show with James Corden that he and his castmates are slated to return to work “in a few weeks”. And because I’m as obsessed with the image of Strong walking around Brooklyn listening to Jay-Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail to get back into character as I am with the show itself, I find myself in the position of not wanting to write about anything else for this week’s article other than Succession season 3. Fair warning: spoilers ahead.

What do we know for sure about the season? Well, really only two things: 1) that it will in some way address the pandemic, with Sarah Snook (Shiv Roy) saying that showrunner Jesse Armstrong wants to address COVID-19 and its ramifications for the Roy family and Waystar Royco (yet another reason not to go on those cruises…) delicately, and that even if the pandemic’s not addressed directly, “Even just seeing a mask in the background of something or hand sanitizer, those things that have become part of our daily lives, those things maybe, but nothing that is so overt that is going to really tackle it head on, because that’s not the show.” And 2) Kendall will play tennis at some point, as Strong has been practicing for some scenes in the upcoming season. And that’s about it. So, with that in mind, where do we leave off with our main cast of characters?

I’ve spent a lot of time considering what the next installment of the series should be, what the logical progression of these characters’ stories should entail. However, this is Succession, and nothing that should reasonably happen if these characters were good and rational people happens, and this makes it very difficult to predict. Shiv and Tom should reasonably divorce, as their marriage isn’t so much on the brink of collapse as it has been doomed from the start; but because this is Succession, they’ll likely stay together, and that will be in equal parts agonizing and hilarious to watch. Kendall should reasonably have nothing to fear now that, because of his press conference, he has nothing to lose; but because this is Succession, he’ll hopefully remain the cringeworthy character we all know and get horrible secondhand embarrassment from. This disparity between what should reasonably happen and what does happen with the Roy family even extends to the world they inhabit: Logan should reasonably get jail time for his now-proven role in cover-up of the cruise scandal, but given his otherworldly wealth and old age, it’s a toss-up. At least I’ll sleep well at night knowing that Sandy Furness and Stewy Hosseini will almost definitely win the proxy battle. 

I’ll end by saying that I feel the questions most essential to keep in mind in speculating this season’s plot are as follows: If this season is to be a battle between Team Logan and Team Kendall, to which side will Roman go? This is probably going to be his season (the story of each season and opening credits are geared toward whichever child is heir apparent: Kendall for season 1, Shiv for season 2, and assumedly Roman for season 3), and he’s both the child most loyal to Logan and the sibling closest to Kendall; Will Logan leak the vehicular manslaughter bombshell to the press? Will Marcia or Amir?; Will Giv Eavis win the presidency? And if so, what ramifications will his administration have for Waystar Royco?; And most importantly of all: will there be a Christmas episode at Caroline’s? The people need answers, and I doubt those answers will come in any way we could have predicted.