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Succession: Brian Cox Doesn't Want HBO Series Ending Up Like Billions

Published Tue, 13 Sep 2022 11:14:12 -0500

After an impressive Emmy haul on Sunday night and buzz building for its upcoming fourth season, discussions about when series creator Jesse Armstrong's award-winning, Emmy-nominated Succession will wrap up its run is probably the last thing HBO (and Warner Bros. Discovery) wants to talk about right now. Or any time soon, for that matter. But it's a topic series star Brian Cox (Logan Roy) addressed during an interview with The Times, revealing an update on where things stand with the cast's contracts and how he views Showtime's Paul Giamatti & Corey Stoll-starring Billions as a cautionary tale on not staying around too long. "I don't know [if there will be a fifth season]. No one's had their contracts renewed," Cox revealed. "Who knows how long it will go on? We don't want it to overstay its welcome, like 'Billions'; that's past its sell-by date. That will not happen with our show."

succession — SUCCESSION/BILLIONS (Image: HBO/Showtime)

In the ten-episode season four, the sale of media conglomerate Waystar Royco to tech visionary Lukas Matsson moves ever closer. The prospect of this seismic sale provokes existential angst and familial division among the Roys as they anticipate what their lives will look like once the deal is completed. A power struggle ensues as the family weighs up a future where their cultural and political weight is severely curtailed.

The fourth season cast includes Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, Alan Ruck, Matthew Macfadyen, Nicholas Braun, J. Smith-Cameron, Peter Friedman, David Rasche, Fisher Stevens, Hiam Abbass, Justine Lupe, Scott Nicholson, Zoë Winters, and Jeannie Berlin. In late August, we learned that Dagmara Domińczyk (Karolina Novotney) was set to return. Joining Domińczyk in returning recurring roles are Alexander Skarsgård (Lukas Mattson), Arian Moayed (Stewy Hosseini), Juliana Canfield (Jess Jordan), Annabelle Dexter-Jones (Naomi Pierce), Hope Davis (Sandi Furness), and Cherry Jones (Nan Pierce). In addition, Justin Kirk's Congressman Jeryd Mencken and Stephen Root's Future Freedom Summit Organizer Ron Petkus are also set to return. Created by showrunner Jesse Armstrong, the series is executive produced by Armstrong, Adam McKay, Frank Rich, Kevin Messick, Jane Tranter, Mark Mylod, Tony Roche, Scott Ferguson, Jon Brown, Lucy Prebble, Will Tracy, and Will Ferrell.