Logan Roy f—ing wins and so does “Succession.” The HBO hit has won Best Drama Series at the Emmys the last two times it was eligible and is the runaway favorite in the odds to snag a third trophy for its fourth and final season. Should that happen, “Succession” will join a quickly expanding list of shows to win the series honor for its last season.
Prior to 2000, only five shows that ran for multiple seasons managed to take home the top prize with its final outing: “Playhouse 90” (drama series, 1960), “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (comedy series, 1966), “Upstairs, Downstairs” (drama series, 1977), “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (comedy series, 1977) and “Barney Miller” (comedy series, 1982). It’d be 23 years before another farewell coronation occurred. “Everybody Loves Raymond” won comedy series in 2005, its second total, for its ninth and final season. Two years later, “The Sopranos” cut to black with its second drama series statuette for the second part of its sixth and final installment. In 2014, “Breaking Bad” joined the club after prevailing in drama series for the second consecutive year with the second part of its fifth and final season.
In the last four years, three shows have bid adieu with Emmy gold. 2019 saw “Game of Thrones” and “Fleabag” triumph with totally opposite series runs. Armed with a record-breaking 32 bids, the former was the biggest show there was and nabbed its record-tying fourth drama series Emmy. At eight seasons, “Game of Thrones” tied “Barney Miller” as the oldest shows to win for their final seasons. On the other hand, “Fleabag” is the youngest show to do so, going out after just two seasons. Even more impressive, it got zero bids for its first season, but its second one was a phenomenon, earning 11 nominations and six wins, including comedy series and actress for creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who denied Julia Louis-Dreyfus a perfect seven-for-seven sweep for “Veep.” The following year, “Schitt’s Creek,” which signed off after six seasons, gave new meaning to “going out on top” by doing an unprecedented clean sweep of all seven above-the-line comedy categories.
SEE Emmy Experts Typing: How big will ‘Succession’s’ final season be?
“Succession” first contended for drama series in 2019, losing to none other than “Game of Thrones,” but it’s been unbeatable since, winning in 2020 for its sophomore outing and 2022 for its third installment. While the tragicomedy was never built to run forever, news last month that the fourth season, which premiered on Sunday, will be its last hit like a freight train as many assumed it would top out at five, mostly because creator Jesse Armstrong had previously said it would not run more than five. But as Armstrong told The New Yorker, while they could do a fifth season, he didn’t want to overstay his welcome.
“We could do a couple of short seasons, or two more seasons. Or we could go on for ages and turn the show into something rather different, and be a more rangy, freewheeling kind of fun show, where there would be good weeks and bad weeks,” he said. “Or we could do something a bit more muscular and complete, and go out sort of strong. And that was definitely always my preference.”
“Succession” had already been the frontrunner — leading a field that includes “The White Lotus,” “Better Call Saul” (also competing for its final season), “The Last of Us,” “The Crown,” “House of the Dragon,” “Yellowjackets” and “The Mandalorian” — but that last-season bombshell arguably made it even more of a lock as most (all?) fans, including voters, don’t want the Roys to go just yet. And it’s not like a win would be undeserved. Season 4 is as critically acclaimed as ever and the show has not lost a step between its lacerating burns, toxic power struggle, LOL gags and devastating gut punches (give Emmys to Sarah Snook and Matthew Macfadyen for that final scene in the season premiere alone).
If “Succession” wins, it’ll also uphold one of two common trajectories for series champs at the Emmys. Series winners typically either come out of the gate hot and win the top award for their inaugural season before gradually falling out of favor (see: “Frasier,” “The West Wing,” “30 Rock,” “Mad Men,” “Modern Family”) or they’re slow burns and build momentum to wins later in their runs, and sometimes that coincides with their final seasons. With the exception of “Upstairs, Downstairs,” none of the aforementioned shows that prevailed for their last seasons won for their first seasons. Granted, four seasons is not a particularly long lifespan for a show, but “Succession” was under the radar its first season (it got no acting nominations then versus a record-breaking 14 for Season 3) before Season 2 blew up. It’s only gotten bigger since, and while we may not be ready to say goodbye yet, it looks more than ready to “f— off” on top with one more drama series statuette.
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