Succession 4: expect “a lot of bad stuff” in the last season

Fasten your seatbelts: second J. Smith-Cameron, the last season of Succession it is «troubled, surprising and juicy. And a lot of bad things happen.” Along with cast mates like Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook And Kieran Culkin, besides the creator Jesse Armstrong, Smith-Cameron was on hand to celebrate the series at the lavish Season 4 premiere in New York on Monday night.

The season begins with the characters divided into two factions: ruthless patriarch Logan Roy (Cox) has sided with Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), cousin Greg (Nicholas Brown) and Connor (Alan Ruck), while Kendall (Strong), Shiv (Snook) and Roman (Culkin) are trying to set up a new company in Los Angeles. Tom and Shiv, in particular, “are in a rather grim situation at the beginning of season four,” says Macfadyen. “Tom sort of cheated on her and it’s been a few months, but they’ve never really talked about it. They’re not very good at talking about their feelings.”

“I would say there are many strong feelings on both sides,” agrees Emmy nominee Smith-Cameron. “Gerri is trying to keep her balance. This is the scariest terrain she has ever tackled. At the end of Season 3, she is at loggerheads with both Logan and Roman. It’s a pretty scary time for Gerri.”

At the end of season three, Logan was preparing to sell his media conglomerate to technology visionary Lukas Matsson, played by Alexander Skarsgard. But this season, alliances could change again, and things between Roman and Lukas could get particularly murky.

“It’s a relationship of love Hatesays Skarsgård of the Lukas-Roman relationship. «I think that for Lukas it is a question of making a strategy, of finding and building an alliance. It could be with Roman or someone else, but he has to find a solution to make this acquisition, to close it. So maybe, sometimes, it’s about fighting each other a little bit, or figuring out how to move to get what he wants ».

While Kendall, Shiv and Roman fight for their stake in Waystar Royco, their eldest son Connor is engaged in a failed election campaign for president against Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk) and is preparing to marry Willa (Justin Lupe), who was his escort before becoming his girlfriend. Ruck, who owes much of the show’s comedic interludes, is satisfied that his character hasn’t changed much from the pilot episode to the series finale. “It’s been a really wonderful trip,” Ruck said on the red carpet. “This guy was a fun mystery to solve, and I’m very pleased with how it all turned out.”

In line with the previous ones, also the last season of Succession is full of vicious insults and swear words, often from the mouth of Zoe Winters, who plays Kerry, Logan’s no-nonsense assistant. “It’s so fun that they gave me room to play, that my character has a strong point of view and has bite,” says Winters. “You’re in a situation where maybe people think you wouldn’t talk out of your teeth, but you’re not going to play that game. I wanted her to express a point of view. I’m delighted I did.”

As Succession will conclude the story remains a mystery. The cast declined to give details about the plot, but each actor heard all of the final season’s script during a first-person first-person script reading. “I was very curious about who and when would be nominated, what would happen and how others would take it,” Smith-Cameron said. “And then it’s very long. So I didn’t know what was going to be cut. They always have very full episodes.

“I’ll never forget it,” Skarsgård added of the last read-through. “She was incredibly emotional and overwhelming, and I’m just…well, not even for a full season, so I can only imagine what it’s like for the others who have been here since day one. Even though I only did a couple of episodes last season and this one, it’s a show that meant a lot to me. Mine is a character that I’ve grown to love and have had a blast playing. When the last lines were read it was a very emotional moment».

And which character should succeed Logan Roy, taking over his media empire? «Nobody! They are terrible. The truth is this,” Ruck said. «They are all sick of self-centeredness. They are all sociopaths. They’d cut your throat for a dollar. Really, if it was convenient for them, they wouldn’t think twice about trampling on you!».