These Succession Season 3 Posters Have Derailed My Entire Life

It's almost time for a Roy family reunion. Because of production delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, Succession fans have had to wait quite some time for the dynastic drama's third season to finally air. But now the HBO hit is getting back on track with a premiere slated for the second half of 2021. Here's everything fans should know about Succession Season 3, from the brand-new teaser trailer to info on where the story will go.

In its first two seasons, Succession saw media magnate Logan Roy lord over his children, pitting them against one another for his seat of power. At first, the choice for successor seemed clear, with the business-savvy Kendall being next in line, but a series of betrayals, trauma, and a severe depressive episode had Logan rethinking his decision. There's also the competent but conflicted Shiv, the foolhardy Roman, the oblivious Connor, Shiv's people-pleasing husband Tom, and the family's in-over-his-head Cousin Greg, all of whom are also candidates to take Logan's place.

The first two seasons of the show, which aired in 2018 and 2019, respectively, had the typical one-year break between them, but fans have had to wait a bit longer for Season 3. The coronavirus pandemic prevented the cast and crew from shooting the third season at the beginning of 2020 as planned, upending the schedule. By the time the Roy family returns, they will have been off the air for two years, but the drama promises to be worth the wait.

Succession Season 3 Trailer

After weeks of anticipation, the teaser for Succession Season 3 finally arrived on July 6, 2021. This first footage from the long-awaited season didn’t disappoint. After the conclusion of Season 2 saw eldest son and heir Kendall Roy “go rogue” against his father, using Cousin Greg’s evidence of his misdeeds, the war over who controls the levers of power at Waystar Royco is on, and everyone is out to win.

The second trailer arrived in mid-September, with a deeper dive into the aftermath of Kendall’s bomb drop. He’s officially trending ahead of tater tots. That’s good, right?

Succession Season 3 Posters

As September drew to a close and Succession Season 3 anticipation began reaching a fever pitch, HBO dropped four new posters like blood in the water for hungry sharks. These character posters are as fascinating for who they pair up as who they don’t. Kendall and Logan are obviously together, while Shiv and her husband Tom are not.

The poor woman is instead paired with Connor, who is perhaps the only person more hapless than Tom.

Greg, meanwhile, continues to be saddled with Tom at every turn.

But for the Roman stans in the crowd, the pairing of him and Gerri and their unspoken will-they-or-they-probably-never-will was just the right amount of perfect tease.

Succession Season 3 Cast

In Season 3, fans can expect to be reunited with the Roy family and all the other characters they've grown to love (or love to hate) from the first two seasons. That includes Brian Cox as patriarch Logan Roy, Hiam Abbass as his third wife Marcia, Alan Ruck as his eldest, Connor, Jeremy Strong as his second son and heir-apparent, Kendall, Kieran Culkin as youngest son Roman, and Sarah Snook as his youngest child and only daughter, Shiv. Matthew Macfadyen is Shiv's husband Tom, Nicholas Braun is the family cousin, Greg, Justine Lupe is Connor's wife, Willa, and J. Smith-Cameron is Gerri. (The latter is not actually dating Roman but should be.) Kendall's wife, Rava, played by Natalie Gold, has not been seen since Season 1, and it's not clear if she'll return for Season 3.

Outside of the family, there are also the Waystar employees, including Peter Friedman as Frank Vernon the COO, David Rasche as Karl, the company CFO, and Dagmara Domińczyk as Karolina, head of PR. Rob Yang plays Lawrence, director of the digital company Waystar bought out and then folded, Arian Moayed as Stewy, Kendall's friend on the Waystar board, and Fisher Stevens as Hugo, the head of Brightstar Cruise lines, the center of the current Roy family scandal.

But there are also a few new faces joining the cast as well. On Jan. 14, 2021, HBO revealed three new faces coming aboard: Sanaa Lathan, Linda Emond, and Jihae. Lahan will play well-connected New York lawyer Lisa Arthur and Jihae will play high-profile PR consultant Berry Schneider. One assumes the Roys hire them for the coming lawsuits. Meanwhile, Emond will play a senior White House aide named Michelle-Anne Vanderhoven, which suggests the Roy family’s scandal is going to have repercussions all the way to the top.

Then in February, it was revealed Hope Davis had been cast as Sandy Furness' daughter, Sandi, and that she will be a recurring role in the new season.

But the most significant addition is one of HBO's go-to actors, Alexander Skarsgård. Skarsgård has been in HBO hits such as Big Little Lies, True Blood, and Generation Kill. Now, according to Variety, he'll add Succession to his credits as Lukas Matsson, a "successful, confrontational tech founder and CEO."

Also added to the lineup: Oscar winner Adrien Brody. According to Variety, which confirmed his casting after the actor was spotted on set, he'll be in a guest star role as a mega-rich activist investor named Josh Aaronson.

Succession Season 3 Plot Details

While the cast and writers have been tight-lipped about what Season 3 has in store, it will almost definitely pick up right after that bombshell cliffhanger at the end of Season 2.

In the most recent finale, Logan forced Kendall to take the fall for the family by owning up to the the cruise ships fiasco, but in an unexpected change of heart, Kendall instead sold out his old man, publicly exposing the fact Logan knew about the scandal and actively covered it up. The betrayal was basically a declaration of war, so Season 3 will see Kendall squaring off against his father more intensely than ever.

One thing the season won’t concern itself with: the coronavirus pandemic. Although the Hollywood shutdown starting in March 2020 delayed production on the new season for well over a year, the writers had already finished the season’s scripts before it happened. While some series decided to scrap what they had and start over to incorporate our new normal (looking at you, Apple TV+’s The Morning Show), Succession’s team stuck to the original plan when filming finally started up. Considering Waystar RoyCo’s ATN would almost certainly deny the pandemic existed in the first place, this is probably for the best.

Moreover, although it’s an uncomfortable reality, the fact is, the Roys probably wouldn’t bother to mask up even if COVID-19 had been incorporated into the storyline. As actor Sarah Snook, who plays Shiv Roy, noted in an interview with Vulture, “These are really wealthy people. And unfortunately, none of the world’s really wealthy people were going to be affected by the pandemic.”

Succession Season 3 Premiere Date

On Aug. 23, HBO announced Season 3 of Succession will arrive in October 2021. Succession Seasons 1 and 2 both premiered on Sundays in HBO’s headliner 9 p.m. ET slot, so despite HBO now premiering major titles on Mondays, fans assumed Season 3 would continue to dominate the traditional Sunday night lineup.

But it wasn’t until Sept. 13 that HBO finally revealed which Sunday fans can expect the Roys to return. Season 3 will arrive smack dab mid-month: Oct. 17, at 9 p.m. ET. Moreover, as the season’s newly released poster reveals, Succession will also start streaming the same day on HBO Max.

With Halloween just around the corner, the horror show of a family eating its own seems to be aimed directly to be a significant part of the spooky season landscape.

Succession Seasons 1 and 2 are streaming on HBO Max.