Succession creator breaks down decision to end the show this season

O to the M G! Succession is coming to an end. 

The Emmy-winning HBO drama's upcoming fourth season will be its last, creator Jesse Armstrong revealed in an interview with The New Yorker. 

"You know, there's a promise in the title of Succession," he said. "I've never thought this could go on forever. The end has always been kind of present in my mind. From Season 2, I've been trying to think: Is it the next one, or the one after that, or is it the one after that?" 

Armstrong described himself as a "bit tortured" about this "difficult" decision, noting he went into the writing room on the fourth season thinking it would be the last but keeping his options open as long as possible. But he observed that if the show continued trying to mine the "intensity of emotion" that it has been, "eventually you're going to deplete it," and he wanted to make sure to go out "strong" rather than "go on for ages and turn the show into something rather different." Armstrong also noted the "succession story that we were telling is complete" this season, and "it's pretty definitively the end."

Succession's fourth season had not been announced as the last prior to this New Yorker interview. The show, which follows the corporate infighting in the Murdoch-esque Roy family, premiered in 2018 and won the Emmy for best drama series for its second and third seasons. 

Speaking to The New Yorker, Armstrong explained he started to know where the show should end around season 2. He added that he feels "conflicted" about wrapping up this year, though he hinted that there could be "another part of this world we could come back to" in the future, joking, "I'll probably be calling you up in about six months asking if people are ready for a reboot." 

Succession's final season premieres on HBO on March 26.