HBO Content Chief Casey Bloys’ Heartfelt ‘Succession’ Sendoff, A Series That Weathered A Few Real-Life Corporate Mergers

The first premiere of Succession was in 2018 at the NYC complex formerly known as the Time Warner Center. “A lot has happened in those five years. We’ve had a couple of corporate mergers, a global pandemic, a few Emmys,” said Casey Bloys, chairman-CEO of HBO and HBO Max Content at the premiere of the series fourth and final season.

HBO parent Warner Media was sold to AT&T in a deal that closed that year. The telecom giant then sold it to Discovery in 2022. At the Season 3 premiere in October of 2021 the deal to create Warner Bros. Discovery had been announced but not yet closed. “It’s been a wild ride. But we are so proud to be the home of Succession,” Bloys said taking the stage at the event at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Succession happens to be a show where tortured M&A attempts and boardroom infighting by a charismatic ensemble led by Brian Cox as media mogul-patriarch Logan Roy are integral to the action.

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“It’s been a joy from day one,“ Bloys said introducing creator Jesse Armstrong. “I am a little reserved and waspy, and my friend Jesse is a Brit, so that is my way of saying there will be no tears tonight.”

“I am going to try not to cry. [But] I rehearsed it earlier with my wife, and it was a sh-tshow,” said Armstrong, offering heartfelt thanks to all involved in the production.

“We’ve been such a happy gang. I like to think we made something good. And we’ve had lot of bumps and disagreements. But we stayed honest and careful with each other, and that’s one of the reasons it’s hard to say goodbye. But it is a goodbye, as well as a hello to the season,” he said. “I feel like it could have so easily slipped away without anyone noticing it.”

Composer Nicholas Britell played the ensemble cast onto the stage with the Succession theme song and a preview of episode one.

The ten-episode arc premieres this Sunday on HBO and HBO Max. No spoilers allowed. But the latest trailer shows Logan Roy (Brian Cox) again waging battle with his children Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) after inking a deal with tech CEO Lukas Mattson (Alexander Skarsgård). Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), Greg (Nicholas Braun) and Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron) are in Logan’s corner.

Alan Ruck, Peter Friedman, David Rasche, Fisher Stevens, Hiam Abbass, Justine Lupe, Dagmara Domińczyk, Arian Moayed, Scott Nicholson, Zoë Winters, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Juliana Canfield and Jeannie Berlin also star.

Additional cast includes Cherry Jones, Hope Davis, Justin Kirk and Stephen Root.

Newcomers in Season 4 include Annabeth Gish, Adam Godley, Eili Harboe and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson.

Armstrong executive produces and serves as showrunner. Adam McKay, Frank Rich, Kevin Messick, Jane Tranter, Mark Mylod, Tony Roche, Scott Ferguson, Jon Brown, Lucy Prebble, Will Tracy and Will Ferrell also executive produce.

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