Development In June 2021, executive producer
Georgia Pritchett commented that the series would not go beyond five seasons, and possibly would end after the fourth season. On October 26, 2021,
HBO renewed the series for a fourth season. 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". was promoted to the main cast for the season. In January 2023, it was announced that
Adam Godley,
Annabeth Gish,
Eili Harboe and
Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson had been cast in the fourth season in a recurring capacity.
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.
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. Mylod then directed three more of the ten episodes, with the others being directed by
Becky Martin,
Lorene Scafaria,
Andrij Parekh, Lorene Scafaria, and directing team
Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini. 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. 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. "Honeymoon States" was filmed entirely in one location at Logan Roy's apartment at the
American Irish Historical Society on
Fifth Avenue which had been used since season one. In October 2022, for the episode "
Kill List", filming moved to
Møre og Romsdal county and around the town of
Åndalsnes in
Norway. Locations included the
Atlantic Ocean Road, Romsdalen Gondola, Eggen Restaurant, and Juvet Landscape Hotel, as part of a storyline involving Skarsgård's character. Sixth episode "
Living+" filmed in Los Angeles where the
Warner Bros. Studios complex in
Burbank stood in for Waystar's studio lot, which Roman visits; Warner Bros. is a subsidiary of
Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of HBO. Most of "
Tailgate Party" was filmed over the course of a week at a penthouse suite known as the "Issroff Residence" in
Tower 270 in
Tribeca, which has been used as Shiv and Tom's apartment since the series' second season. The siblings' lunch at the start of the episode was filmed on location at
Jean-Georges, located inside the
Trump International Hotel and Tower. On January 16, 2023, during an interview with
Entertainment Weekly, star
Matthew Macfadyen stated: "We've got another month or so" left of filming. The final episode "
With Open Eyes" was filmed on location in
Barbados. The final scene in the episode with Kendall Roy was filmed in
Battery Park. == Release ==