Everything to Know About Season 3 of HBO’s ‘Succession’: Premiere Date, New Stars and More

Credit: Graeme Hunter/HBO

Everything to Know About Season 3 of HBO's 'Succession': Premiere Date, New Stars and More

Welcome back to Waystar Royco! After a long hiatus brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, Succession fans can expect to see their favorite messy family back on the small screen soon enough. The HBO series debuted in June 2018, starring Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin and Alan Ruck as the Roy family, the wealthy owners of a global media and entertainment conglomerate. Cox's Logan Roy craftily manipulates his children, all of whom are fighting to gain more power within the company. The extended Roy family tree also includes Nicholas Braun as Cousin Greg and Matthew Macfadyen as Logan's son-in-law, Tom Wambsgans. Season 2 came to an end in October 2019 and continued to keep viewers guessing about who will eventually secure the spot as Logan's right-hand man. "I have no idea who would be the final successor," Snook told Entertainment Weekly at the time. "But I imagine that, whoever is, probably wouldn't hold on to it for very long." The series became an instant hit among both fans and critics, with Cox earning the 2020 Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series Drama and Strong winning Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series at the 2020 Emmy Awards. In 2019, show creator Jesse Armstrong took home the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. Before going back to the drawing board for season 3, Armstrong told Vulture, "I have a bunch of research and a bunch of thoughts about what should happen" as the family feud heats up. While plenty of the show's story lines feel eerily similar to what's happening in the real world, he said the writers aren't aiming to imitate major events. "We're in the culture just like everyone else is, and it's a show that has a relationship to the real world," Armstrong said in October 2019. "All the writers and myself have feelings and thoughts about what's happening in the U.S. and the wider world. We're not ripping stuff straight from the headlines and throwing it into the show. We're taking what feels like it's around and fitting it to the characters we have. Then we're in a good place to accidentally hit on themes in reality. They are lucky hits." Production for season 3 was put on pause amid the coronavirus pandemic, but the cast returned to the streets of New York City in late 2020 and early 2021. As for what's next, Cox previously told Deadline there's "a lot of fireworks" in the upcoming episodes, hinting that viewers should expect the unexpected. Scroll down to learn more about Succession season 3, including the premiere date, new characters and more: [podcast_block]

Credit: Graeme Hunter/HBO

Everything to Know About Season 3 of HBO's 'Succession': Premiere Date, New Stars and More

Welcome back to Waystar Royco! After a long hiatus brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, Succession fans can expect to see their favorite messy family back on the small screen soon enough. The HBO series debuted in June 2018, starring Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin and Alan Ruck as the Roy family, the wealthy owners of a global media and entertainment conglomerate. Cox's Logan Roy craftily manipulates his children, all of whom are fighting to gain more power within the company. The extended Roy family tree also includes Nicholas Braun as Cousin Greg and Matthew Macfadyen as Logan's son-in-law, Tom Wambsgans. Season 2 came to an end in October 2019 and continued to keep viewers guessing about who will eventually secure the spot as Logan's right-hand man. "I have no idea who would be the final successor," Snook told Entertainment Weekly at the time. "But I imagine that, whoever is, probably wouldn't hold on to it for very long." The series became an instant hit among both fans and critics, with Cox earning the 2020 Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series Drama and Strong winning Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series at the 2020 Emmy Awards. In 2019, show creator Jesse Armstrong took home the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. Before going back to the drawing board for season 3, Armstrong told Vulture, "I have a bunch of research and a bunch of thoughts about what should happen" as the family feud heats up. While plenty of the show's story lines feel eerily similar to what's happening in the real world, he said the writers aren't aiming to imitate major events. "We're in the culture just like everyone else is, and it's a show that has a relationship to the real world," Armstrong said in October 2019. "All the writers and myself have feelings and thoughts about what's happening in the U.S. and the wider world. We're not ripping stuff straight from the headlines and throwing it into the show. We're taking what feels like it's around and fitting it to the characters we have. Then we're in a good place to accidentally hit on themes in reality. They are lucky hits." Production for season 3 was put on pause amid the coronavirus pandemic, but the cast returned to the streets of New York City in late 2020 and early 2021. As for what's next, Cox previously told Deadline there's "a lot of fireworks" in the upcoming episodes, hinting that viewers should expect the unexpected. Scroll down to learn more about Succession season 3, including the premiere date, new characters and more: [podcast_block]

Credit: Peter Kramer/HBO

When It Airs

The HBO drama is set to return on October 17, 2021.

Credit: Peter Kramer/HBO

Who's Returning?

The first trailer for season 3, which dropped in July 2021, showed many of fans' favorite Waystar Royco employees coming back for more, including Cox (Logan Roy), Strong (Kendall Roy), Snook (Shiv Roy), Culkin (Roman Roy), Ruck (Connor Roy), Braun (Cousin Greg), Macfadyen (Tom Wambsgans) and J. Smith-Cameron (Gerri Kellman).

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New Additions

In May 2021, Alexander Skarsgard was confirmed to be joining the series as tech founder and CEO Lukas Matsson. Adrien Brody was later cast as billionaire activist Josh Aaronson, with Sanaa Lathan nabbing the role of high-power attorney Lisa Arthur.

Other notable guest stars include Swiss actress Ella Rumpf and Tony nominee Hope Davis.

Credit: Colin Hutton/HBO

Will COVID Be Addressed?

While production took place in New York City in the fall of 2020, Snook noted that the team "want[ed] to be delicate" about mentioning the coronavirus pandemic. "I think it's a thing that everybody's aware of, and audiences are really intuitive these days," she told Variety. "Even just seeing a mask in the background of something or hand sanitizer, those things that have become part of our daily lives. ... We want to see the Roys doing the thing that they've been doing that we love, not pivoting towards a pandemic story." 

Credit: Peter Kramer/HBO

Big Surprises

Cox, who plays cunning patriarch Logan Roy, hinted during an August 2020 episode of SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle Show that he was the only cast member who knew what season 3 had in store. "I nearly fell off my chair because he never tells you about the next series. We never knew from episode to episode what was going to happen," he explained. "But then [Armstrong] told me. And it's jolly thrilling. That's all I can say."

Credit: Colin Hutton/HBO

Will There Be a Season 4?

While fans are eager to follow the Roys' juicy family drama, Armstrong previously admitted Succession is "not the sort of show which should go on forever." In a May 2019 interview with Entertainment Weekly, he clarified, "I wouldn't say that it should go on forever, but we certainly haven't run out of ideas when we've met in the writers' room so far."

Credit: Courtesy of HBO

The Plan

In a bombshell teaser released in September 2021, the Roy siblings are at odds as Logan claims his family has "disappeared" on him. "I need to know where everyone is and what everyone's thinking," the patriarch exclaims. Kendall later concocts a scheme to "take down" his dad "without implicating" himself in the company's misdeeds.

The trailer also gave fans their first look at Skarsgard and Brody's characters as the family feud heats up.

Credit: David M. Russell/HBO

Kendall’s Revolution

In a sneak peek from the season 3 premiere, released by HBO on October 7, Kendall encourages Waystar Royco employee Karolina (Dagmara Domińczyk) to join his  "f--king revolution” and help him blow up his dad’s business.

“This is a fork in your life, Karolina,” he says. “This is the righteous vehicle."

Credit: HBO/Warner Media

Connor Roy's Loyalty Is Up in the Air

Ruck explained that Connor's need for money means his allegiances might go to the highest bidder.

"At this point Connor is stock rich and land rich but cash poor," Ruck told Entertainment Weekly in October ahead of the season premiere. "So he's a little worried about his finances and at this point it's really sort of, whichever way the wind blows. It's like, what's my best deal? And so I don't think we know where his allegiances lie at the very beginning of the season. His father was quite brusque with him and belittled him but then Kendall is crazy, so I mean it's a rock and a hard place.