With seven wins at the Emmy Awards, including the prize for outstanding drama series, HBO’s Succession has been officially crowned the television industry’s premier prestige drama. Now, for fans, comes the long wait for season three, which was delayed indefinitely because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Fortunately, an update was provided on Sunday: During a visit to the event’s virtual press room, best actor winner Jeremy Strong said season three of the series could potentially start production by the end of this year. “I think that we are hoping to start sometime this fall or winter, as soon as things are safe and I know that there are plans in the works,” Strong, who plays sad boy Kendall Roy on the HBO series, said. “I am certainly ready to get back to it.”
Those words echo what Emmy-winning showrunner and creator Jesse Armstrong said last month, when he told Variety there were tentative plans to bring the starry cast back together by Christmas. “Who knows if that’ll come about, but that’s the plan at the moment,” Armstrong said in early August.
More recently, star Brian Cox also suggested the show could return to the set before the end of 2020. “It’s a sort of open book. But we’re all ready to do it, we’re all ready to go, we’re all standing by here to go—we’ve got excellent producers—but we’ll go with a maximum of safety.”
The third season of Succession might have been airing already were it not for the coronavirus pandemic. Production on the show was supposed to start in April before the global health crisis forced the entertainment industry to shut down. The delay affects not just the loyal Succession hive online, but HBO’s awards industrial complex as well. Because of the shift, even if the show is able to start filming once more by December, it may not qualify for next year’s Emmy Awards.
In 2020, the eligibility window for contenders closed on May 31. If that timeline remains somewhat stable for next year, Succession season three would likely have to premiere before the end of May 2021 to have a chance to defend its well-deserved title. That doesn’t mean Succession season three has to finish airing by then—per an Emmys rule, “hanging episodes” scheduled for air after the deadline can be considered in the current-year eligibility provided the episodes are completed and posted to a member-accessible platform—but it makes the calendar a little bit of an enemy.
But perhaps that wouldn’t be so bad, with the immediate future so uncertain—and a potential return to pre-coronavirus normalcy perhaps unlikely until the end of 2021. While accepting the Outstanding Drama Series award on Sunday night, Armstrong struck a bittersweet tone. “This is such a very nice moment and it’s very sad not to be with the cast and some of the crew to share it all with you tonight,” he said, referencing the isolation of the virtual Emmy Awards. By 2022, maybe the cast and crew can play “boar on the floor” together to celebrate.
Reporting by Julie Miller
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