Prior to the premiere on Sunday night, early reviews began cropping up online earlier in the month.
In the wake of press previews of the show, which is set for release on October 18, four and five star accolades confirm the battle of the Roys, which left us on a chilling cliffhanger helmed by Kendall, will be as explosive as ever.
In the UK, The Times dished out five stars and insisted the comeback is ‘thrilling’ following last season’s ‘electrifying climax’, while in the US, Rolling Stone gave four stars and stated the show is ‘bigger, badder and bloodthirstier than ever’.
Terror: Succession is finally set to return to screens, following a slew of pandemic-based delays – and according to early reviews, Season Three is well worth the wait
Succession is one of the most greatly-anticipated television shows to return to screens amid the pandemic, after several delays – including stars Brian Cox (Logan Roy) and Alan Ruck (Logan’s eldest son Connor Roy) being stricken by covid.
Season Two concluded in 2019 on a cliffhanger, first tying up the mystery surrounding who would be the ‘blood sacrifice’ offered to the shareholders.
After being tipped to be the sacrifice, Logan’s son Kendall, played by Jeremy Strong, was then seen explosively outing his father for the dirty dealings within his company Waystar RoyCo and fans have been waiting to see the subsequent fallout.
In the nail-biting episode, Kendall steps out to speak at a press conference, in which he spills the details of the cruise scandal among other Waystar Royco secrets.
Writing for The Times, Carol Midgley penned: ‘I can assure you that Succession easily leaps to its own very high bar. Succession’s biggest weapon has always been its whip-cracking dialogue and the writer Jesse Armstrong has raised his game…
‘The show sets viewer expectations sky high and it meets them by trebling down on its strengths. Succession is back and it is thrilling.’
Succession is BACK! In the wake of press previews of the show, which is set for release on October 18, four and five star accolades confirm the battle of the Roys, which left us on a chilling cliffhanger helmed by Kendall, will be as explosive as ever
Drama: In the UK, The Times dished out five stars and insisted the comeback is ‘thrilling’ following last season’s ‘electrifying climax’, while in the US, Rolling Stone gave four stars and stated the show is ‘bigger, badder and bloodthirstier than ever’
The publication accompanied the dazzling review with a five star accolade.
Alan Steppinwall for Rolling Stone meanwhile dished out four stars. He wrote: ‘With Logan and Kendall going head to head in an all-out Roy family war, the show goes bigger, badder, and bloodthirstier than ever’.
Also returning for series three are cast members Kieran Culkin, Alan Ruck, Nicholas Braun, Peter Friedman, J. Smith Cameron, and James Cromwell.
Additional cast this season include Alexander Skarsgård, Sanaa Lathan, Linda Emond, Jihae, Adrien Brody and Hope Davis. S
Angry call: Matthew Macfadyen is back as the long-suffering and somewhat spineless Tom Wambsgans, as he is heard saying over the phone, ‘You better find an animal’s corpse to crawl into, and hide’
Succession is created by Jesse Armstrong; executive produced by Jesse Armstrong, Adam McKay, Frank Rich, Kevin Messick, Jane Tranter, Mark Mylod, Tony Roche, Scott Ferguson, Jon Brown and Will Ferrell.
While some TV shows have referenced Covid-19 in storylines, creator Jesse wrote the latest season before lockdown, and has decided not to change the scripts to reflect the current climate.
In a profile for Vulture, Sarah Snook – who plays Shiv Roy – gave context regarding the decision, saying: ‘These are really wealthy people. And unfortunately, none of the world’s really wealthy people were going to be affected by the pandemic.’
Here comes trouble: Kieran Culkin is back as bad boy Roman Roy ready to stir up the tension within the family
However, the cast of the family drama certainly were affected by the pandemic. Actor Mark Blum, who played the cruise-division exec Bill Lockhart in the show, died of complications from Covid-19 in March last year.
The feature notes how the pandemic shifted the production to having Zoom table reads and Zoom production meetings.
Some shooting took place in Italy for the third season, and there were back-up locations in place if travelling wasn’t allowed – including the U.K., Massachusetts, and Northern California.
The third season of Succession is available to stream with a NOW Entertainment Membership from the 18th October.
Family summit: Kendall talks to his siblings about their father, and suggests that Logan would happily put them all in jail