After the success of Succession, here’s its successor.
Creator/showrunner Jesse Armstrong on how he made a success of Succession
JESSE ARMSTRONG, co-creator of British comedies Peep Show and Fresh Meat, is on the phone from Glasgow where he’s deep in production on that difficult second season of his astonishing, Bafta-winning HBO drama of media, politics and power centred on a global business run by patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) and his four dysfunctional offspring. It’s due to air this summer, but Armstrong sounds relaxed, perhaps grateful for the opportunity to pause and reflect on his role running a huge, critically lauded US TV series. Here’s how he did it…
WENT TO HBO
I pitched it as a big drama series to all the companies you’d go to but I always secretly hoped that HBO might say, ’yes’, because I did have projects in development with them before. They are the dream broadcaster for a writer. They had the resources we needed for the scale of it, for 10 episodes a season, to have a proper writing room and gather an ensemble cast of really strong actors.
SET THE TONE
I always felt comedy had to be a big part of the flavour of the series because If you’ve got characters similar to Sumner Redstone, Rupert Murdoch or Conrad Black you have to make sure they aren’t just tablethumping, Scotch-drinking tough-guy Bond villains. You want to see the part of them that is ridiculous and makes mistakes. It’s also a show about a family, like Six Feet Under and The Sopranos, some of my favourites, where you have family members being quite vicious with one another, in a way that both hurts more and less when you’re family, and I love writing about that.
GOT ADAM MCKAY
I had Adam Mckay directing the pilot and not only is he a very nice man but he’s a great director. He was like my co-collaborator to set up the show. He helped create the distinctive visual style, and because he has a comedy background, we both have that same desire to make people laugh and entertain but also reflect what’s happening in the world.
NO TIME JUMP
We considered all the ways of picking up the story from Season 1, but we’re not the kind of show which tends to withhold big developments, and I was curious to know what happens next in the story, so we go straight in.