On Thursday, Greg-heads and Tom-girls everywhere snapped to attention with the news that Succession, HBO’s wildly popular drama about the dueling, mewling, ultra-rich Roy clan, will return on March 26 with the premiere of Season 4. The TV show’s Twitter account has dropped a teaser trailer, and there’s much to unpack.
As you’ll recall, in the final episodes of Season 3, second-eldest failson Kendall Roy was crushed when yet another one of his attempts to unseat his tyrant father Logan—this time, with the support of his wretched siblings Shiv and Roman—was thwarted by the ingenious CEO of Waystar Royco, the family’s juggernaut media conglomerate.
How did patriarch Logan manage to survive yet again? Who tipped him off so he could head off his children’s power play? If the show’s implications are to be believed, the role of Brutus was assumed by none other than Tom Wambsgans, Shiv’s long-suffering simp of a husband.
The brief Season 4 teaser opens with Logan’s dark-banged secretary on a cell phone call with the deliciously slimy Roman, played to a T by Kieran Culkin. Roman, accompanied by Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Kendall (Jeremy Strong), is approaching a PJ (a private jet, in rich people speak), and the secretary wants to know if the kids will consider giving their old dad a call.
In a smash cut, Logan (Brian Cox; terrifying) can be seen wandering Central Park at dusk, looking melancholy.
“Is he apologizing?” Shiv asks, looking incredulous. Seems doubtful.
The teaser next pivots to Wambsgans, who’s now fully in cahoots with Shiv’s father and looking to leverage that relationship ruthlessly.
“I’m sure we’ll iron it all out, but what would happen…?” Tom asks Logan. “If you and Shiv were to bust up,” the elder Roy says, finishing his sentence.
It’s a bold move to stab your wife in the back with her dad’s aid: Logan and Shiv might be at odds at the moment, but isn’t it safer to assume that a father would ultimately side with his daughter over her sneak of a partner, no matter how strained their relationship might be? Good luck, Tom.
What’s clear is that Kendall, Roman, and Shiv (and perhaps Connor too, but who ever knows with that guy) are nowhere near finished trying to bring down their corrupt father—a “500-foot reputational drop” and “tightrope walking on a straight razor” are both mentioned.
The clip ends with a conversation between the highly shipped, ambiguously platonic, erotically charged sort-of-couple Tom and Greg. “This is like Israel-Palestine, Greg, but harder,” Tom lectures to Logan’s consistently underestimated great-nephew. “And much more important.”
Succession, baby.
