‘Succession’ reviews: Season 3 merits perfect score at Rotten Tomatoes

Almost two years to the day that “Succession” wrapped its Emmy-winning second season, the acclaimed HBO drama series returns for Roy family civil war in season three. The nine-episode third installment picks up in the immediate aftermath of Kendall Roy’s (Emmy winner Jeremy Strong) public betrayal of his father Logan (Emmy nominee Brian Cox), which threatens the family business and leaves its supporting players angling for advantage.

The third season is earning series-best notices ahead of its October 17 premiere. It currently has a Metacritic score of 95 based on 18 reviews as of this writing, which indicates “universal acclaim.” This score tops its past seasons’ scores of 89 (season two) and 71 (season one), but those previous numbers do reflect a higher number of critics’ opinions. The third season also has a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which says the show is in “crackling form” based on 23 reviews. Its perfect score surpasses its previous seasons’ scores, too.

SEE 6 things you have to know about ‘Succession’ Season 3

All of the reviews praise the series for its tightrope balance of brutal drama and absurdist comedy. The new season feels both “unrelentingly tense” and “unbelievably fun,” an “exquisite agony to behold.” The writing – which has won two Emmys for Jesse Armstrong – remains “immaculate,” and the performances “unimpeachable.” Its enviable ensemble boasts Emmy nominees Nicholas Braun, Kieran Culkin, Matthew Macfadyen, and Sarah Snook, returning Emmy-nominated guest stars Harriet Walter and James Cromwell, plus the newly recruited Oscar winner Adrien Brody as a billionaire investor, Emmy winner Alexander Skarsgård as a tech founder, as well as Sanaa Lathan, Emmy nominee Hope Davis, and others. 

“Succession” has won nine Emmys out of 23 nominations over its first two seasons. It took home Best Drama Series, writing, directing, and two acting trophies (Strong, Cherry Jones) for its last outing. Given its explosion in popularity and its stellar reviews for its upcoming season, we are predicting a huge showing at the upcoming Screen Actors Guild Awards, where it has shockingly not yet earned a single bid. Our current combined odds show the series out front to win prizes for drama ensemble and drama actor for Strong, with additional nominations for Cox and Snook. Double-digit Emmy nominations in 2022 will likely follow.

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See excerpts from some of the critics’ reviews below, and join the discussion on “Succession” and more with your fellow TV fans and industry insiders in our forums.

Ben Travers (IndieWire): “Season three delivers by maintaining an incredible intensity throughout the first seven episodes. While viewers may feel the need to take a breather after each hour is up, the writers and editors know just when to let the air out of the Manhattan penthouse, using preposterous situational comedy and soul-shattering insults to keep everyone hooked.”

Lucy Mangan (Guardian): “It’s a fast-moving, exhilarating return for the Roys. There is no shortage of the corporate maneuverings, jockeying for position, eyes on chances and arses being covered that we have come to expect from America’s most monstrous family company […] Jesse Armstrong has lost none of his mastery of the Roys and their world.”

Jen Chaney (Vulture): “‘Succession’ has always been an acidly observant, ferociously acted study of the ruthless world occupied by a privileged, self-important group of siblings whose power has been sculpted out of nepotism. This season, though, the writing drips with more poison, and the cast seems to relish more than ever the opportunity to disseminate its toxins.”

Alan Sepinwall (Rolling Stone) – once a self-declared “Succession” skeptic – now writes: “With Logan and Kendall going head to head in an all-out Roy family war, the show goes bigger, badder, and bloodthirstier than ever […] This adds a slightly more propulsive quality to what was already one of the most relentlessly-paced shows on television, even as creator Jesse Armstrong wisely sticks with the crisis-of-the-week episodic structure that has served him so well to this point.”

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