Succession season 3 will be short on the usual number of episodes and the premiere of the new season could be pushed back due to the coronavirus production shutdown.
According to TV Guide, the HBO bosses are not keen to restart filming Succession season 3 unless it’s safe and healthy for the cast and crew. Cast member Matthew MacFayden, however, believes that they will be back to work in the fall.
MacFayden said in an interview with Digital Spy that the cast and crew were originally set to kick off production in April. However, the schedules kept changing week after week as the government restrictions also changed.
Changes and surprises up ahead
But it’s not just the production schedule that’s changing in the upcoming installment. According to star Brian Cox, Succession season 3 might be one or two episodes fewer than the first two seasons.
It’s unclear if cutting the episode count is the direct result of the coronavirus shutdown. But while the episodes may be fewer, Succession season 3 will expand for its third year in terms of location and budget. After all, the Roy family owns a giant media conglomerate, and it would be realistic to see them have more international business dealings.
Cox said that his character, Logan Roy, will continue to feud with his son, Kendal Roy (Jeremy Strong), bringing more fireworks for the third season. But viewers should also be on the lookout for Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin), Logan’s other son, because he’ll also have a few tricks up his sleeve.
Stunning 18 Emmy nominations
Incidentally, Succession received a total of 18 nominations at the Emmy Awards. No one, however, is more surprised than Nicholas Braun (cousin Greg), who earned his very first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series along with co-stars Culkin and McFadyen.
Speaking with E! Braun said that he kept saying, “You’re kidding me!” when his publicist informed him of the nomination. He said he never expected “award stuff” to happen in his career. People were congratulating him, but he thought it was because of the show’s numerous nominations. Braun didn’t realize that his name was on the Supporting Actor category until his publicist’s call.
Also nominated are Cox and Strong for Lead Actors and Sarah Snook (Shiv Roy) for Supporting Actress. Succession is also up for Best Drama series, but Cox said the best episodes are yet to come.
“It’s jolly exciting, that’s all I can say and it’s very, very surprising what’s going to happen,” the actor said.
Image use courtesy of HBO/YouTube