Succession Season 3: 8 Quick Things We Know About The HBO Series

Brian Cox on Succession

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It has been nearly two years since we last crossed paths with the dysfunctional, ultra-wealthy Roy family and the individual members' seemingly endless fight for control of the WayStar RoyCo media conglomerate, but at long last Succession Season 3 is finally almost here. At some point in the final months of 2021, the Emmy Award-winning HBO drama will return to pick up where things left off at the consequential Season 2 finale and start the next chapter in the familial civil war.

Below is a breakdown of everything we know about Succession Season 3 including its release window, the returning cast members plus some special new additions, and what you can expect from the critically acclaimed drama following the intertwined personal and professional lives of one of television’s most dastardly and blood-thirsty families.

Kieran Culkin and Jeremy Strong on Succession

Succession Season 3 Will Premiere Fall 2021 On HBO

The Roy family and Succession will return to HBO at some point in Fall 2021, but the network has not yet disclosed exactly when the next chapter in the bitter fight for control of the family business will premiere. The first two seasons of the critically acclaimed drama debuted in June and August of their respective years, but it’s hard to say exactly when the story will continue, besides that it will happen in the final months of the year. This also gives you plenty of time to catch up with the first two seasons while you wait.

Stream Succession on HBO Max.

The Succession cast

Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook And Kieran Culkin Will All Return To Headline The Succession Season 3 Cast

When Succession Season 3 premieres later on near the end of 2021, it will see the return the series regulars who have made the show must-watch TV these past few years. Brian Cox will return as Logan Roy, the billionaire founder of WayStar RoyCo and patriarch of the highly dysfunctional family. Joining him will be Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy, Sarah Snook as Siobhan “Shiv” Roy, Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy, and the rest of the extended Roy family. HBO has also announced that Alan Ruck, Nicholas Braun, Matthew MacFadyen, Peter Friedman, J. Smith Cameron, Dagmara Dominczyk, and more are also slated to return.

Adrien Brody in The Pianist, Alexander Skarsgard on Big Little Lies, Sanaa Lathan on Succession

The Succession Season 3 Cast Will Also Feature Adrien Brody, Alexander Skarsgård And Sanaa Lathan

In addition to all the returning actors, the Succession Season 3 cast will also feature quite a few notable additions who will be stepping in for guest roles throughout the next chapter of the corporate drama.

First on that list is Adrien Brody, who, according to Deadline, will be taking on the role of Josh Aaronson, a billionaire activist investor who plays an important role in the Roy family’s battle for ownership of WayStar. Brody will be joined by Alexander Skarsgård, who, according to Variety, will be portraying Lukas Matsson, a successful, confrontational tech founder and CEO. Sanaa Lathan will join the Succession Season 3 cast as Lisa Arthur, a high-profile and well-connected lawyer based in New York, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Other guest stars include Linda Edmond (Law and Order: SVU), K-Pop star Jihae Kim, Hope Davis (Captain America: Civil War), and Dasha Nekrasova (Mr. Robot).

Jeremy Strong on Succession

Succession Season 3 Will Show The Roy Family On The Brink Of A Bitter Civil War

By the way the Succession Season 3 logline makes it sound, the show will be dealing with the immediate fallout of Kendall Roy’s decision to not take the fall for the WayStar cruise misconduct scandal (and instead blame his father) in the plot that closed out the show’s second season in 2019. When the series picks back up, it will see Logan Roy in a perilous position as he scrambles to secure familial, political, and financial alliances to to weather the storm and bitter corporate battle that could quickly turn into an all-out family civil war.

Brian Cox on Succession

Cathy Yan And Lorene Scafaria Directed An Episode Apiece In Succession Season 3

Succession Season 3 will feature the work of Cathy Yan and Lorene Scafaria, who have been brought in to direct an episode apiece. In February 2021, IndieWire reported that Yan, who made her feature directorial debut with Dead Pigs before making the splashy DC Extended Universe movie Birds of Prey in 2020, had joined the production team to tackle one of the installments in the latest chapter of the Roy family drama. Then in April, Vulture reported that Scafaria, who directed the 2019 crime thriller Hustlers, had joined on to direct an episode of her own.

Jeremy Strong and Sarah Snook on Succession

Succession Season 3 Was Filmed In New York, Virginia, And Italy

Like most shows and movies that originally planned on starting production in spring 2020, Succession and the production if its third season was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and had to delay the start of principal photography. Cameras finally starting rolling in late 2020, per Deadline, with parts of the season being filmed in New York and Virginia, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Production then shifted to Italy in June 2021, though it isn’t clear how many episodes will take place in the European location, per Newsweek.

Brian Cox on Succession

Succession Season 3 Could Be Anywhere From Eight To 10 Episodes

The first two seasons of Succession were 10 episodes each, but it hasn’t been revealed if HBO will go that route this time around or have a shorter season due to the delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. During a July 2020 interview with the New York Times, Brian Cox said Season 3 could be eight or nine episodes though he didn’t know for sure at the time. More information on this should be made available before Succession returns in fall 2021.

Sarah Snook on Succession

The Succession Season 3 Trailer Gives A Taste Of The Familial Drama To Come

If you want to get a feel for the tone of Succession Season 3, you can go ahead and check out the first look trailer released by HBO in July 2021. And, although the teaser comes in at a little more than 80 seconds in length, it does a tremendous job of pulling you back in following a two-year break between seasons and serves as a reminder as to why the show was so great in the first place.

That catches you up with everything we know about Succession Season 3. Make sure to check back for further updates as we get closer to the show’s return. In the meantime, check out all the other new and returning shows coming your way on the 2021 fall TV schedule.

Philip Sledge
Content Writer

Philip grew up in Louisiana (not New Orleans) before moving to St. Louis after graduating from Louisiana State University-Shreveport. When he's not writing about movies or television, Philip can be found being chased by his three kids, telling his dogs to stop barking at the mailman, or chatting about professional wrestling to his wife. Writing gigs with school newspapers, multiple daily newspapers, and other varied job experiences led him to this point where he actually gets to write about movies, shows, wrestling, and documentaries (which is a huge win in his eyes). If the stars properly align, he will talk about For Love Of The Game being the best baseball movie of all time.