(CNN) The last season of “Succession” will start on Sunday.
The series, centered on the Roy family and the family’s complex dynamics of wealth and power, will reach a fever pitch based on exploding trailer for the HBO show. (HBO, like CNN, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.)
It stars Brian Cox as Logan Roy, the patriarch of the multi-billion-dollar Roy family, which owns the media conglomerate Waystar Royco. Her children (played by Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, and Alan Ruck) vie not only for control of the company but, perhaps, her love and admiration as well.
CNN caught up with the stars at this past week’s premiere in New York City, where they answered our questions about the new season — sort of.
Are Tom and Shiv over?
Matthew Macfadyen, who plays Tom Wambsgans, discussed his character’s decision to inform Logan about his children’s rebellion.
“I sort of not really defect,” Macfadyen defended. “I just sort of made a calculating decision to side with my father-in-law, the scariest of the lot, I suppose. I’ve taken a lot of, you know, round from everybody, so it was sort of betrayal by a thousand times.”
He played coy about Tom and Shiv’s future, saying the couple is “in a bit of a bit of a dark (place)…it’s sad.”
What will Greg do?
Nicholas Braun, who plays Greg Hirsch, the outsider within the series, ended last season finally learning the rules of the Roy family game. But what does this mean for his future?
“You’re gonna upset some people,” Braun teased. “Greg would like to upset no one ever, but he plays the wrong side sometimes and hello? I think at the end of season three, I think he’s gonna land on the right side of things. I already know the answer, but I’ I’m not telling you.”
Braun added that “the dynamics have changed” and he believes Greg is “in a good position” at the start of the season, as is his ally Tom.
“You know, things have changed with (Tom) and Shiv, and he’s a little more free. He’s bringing me along; we’re on this good side now where it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re never going to lose,'” he said . “And to be aligned with Logan is a winning game, you know? I think we’re all feeling pretty good and, of course, that’ll go to sh*t.”
A reconciliation for Logan Roy and his children?
The man at the center of the on-screen drama, Cox, said that while it appears that Logan has total contempt for his children, that is not the case.
“He won’t drive them into the ground. You know, he’s beyond that,” he said. “There was a point where he might have done that. I think he’s very sad because he’s lost them in a way and they’re his kids and he’s always loved them. That’s the point.”
Cox said early in the show’s run, she asked creator Jesse Armstrong if he thought Logan loved his children.
“He said, ‘Oh, yes, he is. He loves his children very much.’ So that’s always been a good thing for me,” he said. “But it’s also the Achilles heel of Logan. The fact that his children love him in a way that he can’t get out of… Love is complicated.”
The future of Lukas Matsson and Waystar Royco?
Alexander Skarsgård, the controversial tech CEO, is back for more. The end of Season 3 left a merger on the table between his company, GoJo, and Waystar Royco, but then Matsson offered to buy the company.
“I’m going to make sure I do the impossible,” Skarsgård said of his character. “I think it’s like a personal challenge to see if (he) can do it — beyond getting another company and more wealth … it’s like, ‘This must be impossible for a little coder from Stockholm, Sweden to do this.’ And that’s why he wants to.”
Spinoffs in the works?
Those hoping for more from the world of “Succession” after the end of the series, get ready to make those dreams come true.
Asked about a potential new series populated by familiar “Succession” faces, Armstrong said, “I don’t think there will be a spinoff.”
“I guess what I’m interested in is something that could occupy the same tone of show that I’ve found very amenable to me and the way I like to write it,” he said. “So maybe there’s something connected with the same tone of the world … I’m gonna take a bit of time off and it’s been a big beast to wrestle. So I’m gonna take some time.”
“Succession” begins its fourth and final season on March 26 at 9pm ET on HBO.
