User:ReWYRE/sandbox4

The fourth and final season of the American satirical comedy-drama television series Succession aired on HBO beginning on March 26, 2023 and ran until May 29, 2023. It stars Brian Cox, Kieran Culkin, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Nicholas Braun and Matthew Macfayden.

Premise
Six months after the events in Tuscany, Kendall, Roman and Shiv Roy work together to prevent their father Logan going ahead with GoJo's acquisition of Waystar-RoyCo. Prepared to resign from the company, the Roy siblings meet with investors in Los Angeles for their proposed new media competitor "The Hundred".

Starring

 * Hiam Abbass as Marcia Roy: Logan Roy's third and current wife. Born and raised in Beirut, she is often at odds with Logan's mistrustful children. She has a son, Amir, from her first marriage and a daughter from a previous relationship.
 * Nicholas Braun as Greg Hirsch: The bumbling yet opportunistic grandson of Logan's brother Ewan. Greg is unfamiliar with the rough terrain he must navigate to win Logan over, and finds himself indentured to Tom Wambsgans in his quest for a place at Waystar and with the family.
 * Brian Cox as Logan Roy: The Dundee-born self-made billionaire, founder of media and entertainment conglomerate Waystar RoyCo. He is a brash leader whose primary focus is his company, rather than his four children: Connor, from his first marriage, and Kendall, Roman and Siobhan, from his second marriage. He is married to Marcia, his third wife.
 * Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy: Half-brother to Connor and the middle child from Logan's second marriage. Roman is immature, does not take responsibilities seriously and often finds himself lacking the common sense his father requires of him. This is likely because, as evidenced in many episodes, his father's abuse targeted him. He is frequently at odds with his older brother Kendall and sometimes his sister Shiv, with whom he often vies for power and their father's attention.
 * Dagmara Domińczyk as Karolina Novotney: The head of public relations for Waystar RoyCo and a member of the company's legal team.
 * Peter Friedman as Frank Vernon: COO and later vice-chairman of Waystar RoyCo, and longtime confidant of Logan. Frank is a member of Logan's old guard, on whom Kendall frequently relies to help win back Logan's favor. He is Kendall's mentor and godfather, and is disliked by Roman.
 * Justine Lupe as Willa Ferreyra: Connor's younger girlfriend, and later wife, who is a former call girl and an aspiring playwright.
 * Matthew Macfadyen as Tom Wambsgans: Shiv's husband. Tom is a Waystar executive who is promoted from head of the amusement park and cruise division to running ATN, the company's global news outlet. He enjoys his proximity to the Roy family's power, but is frequently dismissed by the family's inner circle. He ingratiates himself with those more powerful than he, but torments his hapless subordinate Greg.
 * Arian Moayed as Stewy Hosseini: Kendall's friend from the Buckley School and Harvard who is now a private-equity investor with a seat on Waystar's board. He is covertly in partnership with Logan's rival Sandy Furness.
 * David Rasche as Karl Muller: Waystar RoyCo's CFO and member of the company's legal team.
 * Alan Ruck as Connor Roy: The only child from Logan's first marriage. Mostly removed from corporate affairs, he defers to his half-siblings on most firm-related matters and resides at a ranch in New Mexico with his younger girlfriend Willa. He is prone to delusions of grandeur and "had an interest in politics from a young age." Similar to his half-siblings, Connor does not have the best recollections of his childhood, as he mentioned that he went three years without seeing Logan when he was a child.
 * Alexander Skarsgård as Lukas Matsson: The CEO of streaming media giant GoJo who is looking to buy Waystar RoyCo.
 * J. Smith-Cameron as Gerri Kellman: The general counsel to Waystar RoyCo, who is also godmother to Shiv. She becomes a mentor figure to Roman, with whom she also shares a secret sexual connection.
 * Sarah Snook as Siobhan "Shiv" Roy: Logan's youngest child and only daughter. A left-leaning political fixer, she worked for a time for presidential candidate Gil Eavis, whose political views clash with Waystar. She eventually leaves politics to focus on building a future at Waystar. She is engaged to and then marries Tom, but their relationship is undermined by Shiv's infidelity.
 * Fisher Stevens as Hugo Baker: A senior communications executive for Parks and Cruises in charge of managing a scandal involving Brightstar cruise lines.
 * Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy: Half-brother to Connor and the eldest child from Logan's second marriage. As Logan's heir apparent, Kendall struggles to prove his worth to his father after battling substance abuse and bungling major deals. He toils to maintain a relationship with his siblings, ex-wife Rava, and their children.

Guest starring

 * Cherry Jones as Nan Pierce: the de facto head of the Pierce family and majority owner of PGM. A liberal, she is hesitant to sell to the Roys because of their politics.
 * Hope Davis as Sandi Furness: Sandy's daughter, who is aligned with Stewy in the proxy battle for Waystar's ownership. She largely negotiates on behalf of her ailing father.
 * Jeannie Berlin as Cyd Peach: the head of ATN. She butts heads with Tom after his promotion. Logan made plans to fire her prior to his death.
 * Zoë Winters as Kerry Castellabate: Logan's secretary with whom he has a sexual relationship.
 * Annabelle Dexter-Jones as Naomi Pierce: Nan's cousin and member of the Pierce family. She suffers from substance abuse and becomes romantically involved with Kendall.
 * Juliana Canfield as Jess Jordan: Kendall's assistant.
 * Patch Darragh as Ray Kennedy: a Waystar executive in charge of the Parks & Cruises division.
 * Scott Nicholson as Colin Stiles: Logan's body man.
 * Justin Kirk as Jeryd Mencken: a controversial far-right Congressman from Virginia whom the Roys support for the presidential nomination.
 * Swayam Bhatia as Sophie Roy: Kendall Roy's daughter.
 * Quentin Morales as Iverson Roy: Kendall Roy's son.
 * Kevin Changaris as Tellis: a financial advisor working for Kendall, Roman and Shiv.
 * Francesca Root-Dodson as Bridget: Greg's dimwitted date at Logan's birthday party.
 * Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Oskar Guðjohnsen: a GoJo senior executive and Matsson's trusted confidante.

Co-starring

 * Natalie Gold as Rava Roy: Kendall's former wife and mother of his two children.
 * Robert David Grant as Bun Pierce
 * Schuyler Girion as Celia
 * Sydney Lemmon as Jennifer: an actress in Willa's play who is briefly involved with Kendall.
 * Elliot Villar as Daniel Jimenez: the Governor of New York and Democratic nominee for the presidential race, running against Mencken.
 * Adam Godley as Darwin Perry: a respected ATN poll analyst who tries to caution Tom and Roman about rushing to call the presidential election in Mencken's favor.

Development
In October 2021, less than two weeks after the premiere of season 3, HBO announced that Succession would return for a fourth season. Armstrong confirmed in a February 2023 interview with The New Yorker that season 4 would be the last season of Succession.

In December 2021, after season 3 had been completed and aired, Succession creator Jesse Armstrong met with executive producers and writers to discuss what shape future seasons would take. Armstrong contemplated splitting the story of season 4 into two separate seasons of six to eight episodes each. Instead, he opted to do "one last full-fat season rather than stretch it out". HBO was "generous" according to Armstrong in being open to more seasons of Succession if he were to take that route but Armstrong wanted to "do something a bit more muscular and complete, and go out sort of strong". Armstrong had been conscious of how the show might end since the development process on season 2 as "there's a promise in the title of Succession" that must be fulfilled in who will succeed Logan Roy at Waystar RoyCo. He "never thought this could go on forever".

Writing
The writing for major story events for the final season of Succession such as the death of Logan Roy were being contemplated during the pre-production on season 3. Logan Roy actor Brian Cox was informed of his character's death by Armstrong prior to the start of production on the fourth season. While Cox was pleased to hear of the decision to kill off Logan and end the show after four seasons, he felt that Logan's death came "too early" in the season and felt "a little bit rejected". Writer Jesse Armstrong decided that Logan Roy should die early in the season rather than in the season finale as it would subvert audience expectations and the inconvenience of it happening during Connor's wedding celebrations adds to the tragedy. Armstrong wanted to show a sudden death in the modern age over a phone call rather than a tragic Shakespearean death. Mark Mylod, director of the episode "Connor's Wedding", highlighted the irony of members of a media empire who have to face the "frustration of trying to get the information" on what is happening with their father.

Casting
For season 4, Hiam Abbass as Marcia Roy and Alexander Skarsgård as Lukas Matsson are promoted to series regular roles after both had recurring guest roles in season 3. Abbass previously had a series regular role in seasons 1 and 2.

Caitlin FitzGerald was set to return from season 2 as Tabitha Hayes. She was shown in season 4's promotional trailer but her planned appearance in episode 6 was cut in post-production editing.

Filming
https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/succession-season-4-locations

Principal photography for season 4 began in New York City on June 27, 2022. Patrick Capone served as cinematographer on 6 episodes and Katelin Arizmendi on 4 episodes. Los Angeles and New York City were the most prominent filming locations in addition to international locations.

Filming for "The Munsters" took place in Los Angeles. The San Onofre Estate in Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica was used as Kendall, Shiv and Roman's base of operations. The $83 million hilltop property has 20,000 square feet of living space. The Peabody Estate in Montecito, which was purchased by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt in 2020, was used as the Pierce family's California home.

Third episode "Connor's Wedding" was filmed on a docked yacht in New York Harbor and took place over the course of 13 days. The centerpiece of the episode is a yacht long take sequence that ran for 27-minutes where the Roy siblings learn over the phone of their father's death. As Succession is captured on 35mm film, the camera would only last 10 minutes before running out of film. To combat this, director Mark Mylod had the crew hide replacement camera magazines around the yacht, so as the camera moved during the scene, the camera could be hastily reloaded without interrupting filming. The actors were given little stage direction to inform their performance. For the scene where Kendall must look for Shiv on the yacht, Jeremy Strong was not told prior to filming where to find his co-star Sarah Snook, and Strong had to remain in character while genuinely searching for her amidst the crowd of extras. A stunt double was used as a stand-in for Brian Cox as there needed to be someone who could handle having their chest compressed for long periods of filming. One shot that visibly showed Logan Roy lying on the floor during chest compressions was created in post-production through compositing Brian Cox's head onto a body double.

In August, Roman Roy actor Kieran Culkin appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert after coming straight from the set of Succession still in costume. Culkin revealed that he had finished filming episodes 2 and 3 by that time and the cast had received early draft scripts for episode 4.

That October, for the episode "Kill List", filming moved to Møre og Romsdal county and around the town of Åndalsnes in Norway.

In December 2022, HBO put out a casting call in New York City for extras and background performers for a large event scene in Manhattan with filming taking from between January 9 and January 24. In January 2023, cast members were seen fiilming scenes in New York City.

The final episode "With Open Eyes" was filmed in Barbados.

Soundtrack
Succession: Season 4 (HBO Original Series Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the fourth and final season of the television series, released on May 29, 2023, by Lake George Music Group.

Release
The premiere for the fourth season of Succession took place on March 20, 2023 at the Lincoln Center in New York City. At the premiere, Sarah Snook revealed that she was 32 weeks pregnant with her first child.

Succession season 4 was broadcast by HBO in the United States on Sunday evenings at 9pm ET, airing on a weekly basis beginning on March 26, 2023 and ending on May 28. In the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, the season was broadcast weekly by Sky Atlantic on Mondays at 2am UK time, the same time as the U.S. broadcast, and episodes became available on the NOW streaming app.

Home media
The initial broadcast and HBO Max streaming release of the season was in 1080p resolution. The revamped Max streaming service launched on May 23, 2023 with greater focus on providing 4K HDR content. The first three seasons of Succession became available in 4K HDR with Dolby Atmos sound upon Max's launch while season 4 remained available up to 1080p. Warner Bros. Discovery, HBO's parent company, said that season 4 would become available on Max in 4K HDR on June 30.

The complete fourth season of Succession and the complete Succession series boxset of all four seasons were both released on DVD by Warner Bros. Discovery on September 12, 2023.

Critical reception
Like with previous seasons, Succession's fourth season received critical acclaim.

A review from Evening Standard rated the series finale four out of five stars.

GQ praised Matthew Macfadyen's performance as Tom Wambsgans in the season, noting how Macfadyen focusses on his delivery of dialogue over improvisation including raising anad lowering the pitch of his voice depending on who else is in the scene.

Audience reception
The series finale "With Open Eyes" set a viewership record on HBO for an episode of Succession at 2.928 million. This was a 68% increase in viewership over season 3's final episode but its viewership did not reach the numbers seen with episodes of The Last of Us on HBO.

Awards and accolades
At the 75th Emmy Awards, Succession season 4 made Emmy Awards history when Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin were all simultaneously nominated for the category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in July 2023. Succession also received a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for the episode "Connor's Wedding", and 3 nominations for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series with the episodes "Connor's Wedding", "Living+", and "America Decides". Nicholas Braun, Matthew Macfayden, Alexander Skarsgård and Alan Ruck received nominations in the Outstanding Supporting Actor category while J. Smith-Cameron was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress and Sarah Snook for Outstanding Lead Actress.