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When Emmy-winning drama Succession returns to Australian screens on Monday, scorned media heir Kendall Roy has just torpedoed his CEO father in a live televised press conference with accusations of corporate cover-ups of wrongdoing at the family's global news and entertainment empire.
The third season of the hit HBO show, which creator Jesse Armstrong says grew out of an unproduced script about Rupert Murdoch and his family, premieres at the same time as the US on October 18 at 12 noon on Foxtel, Fox Showcase and Binge.
Actor Jeremy Strong, who plays Kendall, says the nine new episodes to drop weekly from Monday will explore whether his character has made a bold move to save the family business, Waystar RoyCo, or acted recklessly and killed his own career.
Kendall is one of four Roy siblings angling to take control of the vast media conglomerate as their aging, raging, foul-mouthed father Logan battles to retain control in the biting TV series set in a world of fabulous wealth, deception and incompetence.
At the start of the season, "we see sort of an airborne Kendall" who feels "he's finally wrested himself free from the chains that have been binding him," Strong told US television critics this week.
After his initial euphoria from speaking out, Kendall veers between "supreme confidence and cavernous doubt," Strong said.
"Is this person a visionary or a madman? Is this clarity, or is this delusion? Or is this person free, or are they lost?"
Amid the corporate chaos, youngest sibling Roman Roy, played by Kieran Culkin, is trying to prove himself as a worthy leader.
"I do think Roman has always had the tools and nobody really sees him coming," Culkin said. "Because he jokes a lot, and occasionally likes to shoot himself in the foot. I think he's a lot smarter than people think."
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Asked about the show's appeal, veteran Alan Ruck, who plays the elder Roy sibling Connor, said: "It's fun to watch billionaires self-destruct. They are sort of the authors of their own demise. So let them go, let them do it."
Whatever viewers think, they may not see what is coming as the battle for control plays out, Cox, who portrays patriarch Logan Roy, said.
"The thing I love about playing the role is I'm always surprised," Cox said. "It seems to be on one trajectory, but actually it's ... on several trajectories."
"It's very much a reflection of who we are as human beings, of how we shift."
The cast of Succession took to the red carpet in New York this week to celebrate the premiere of the third season.
Jeremy Strong said he felt lucky "to be part of something that is such a sort of cultural lightning rod and part of people's lives and at the center of the culture in a meaningful way".
Culkin, the younger brother of Home Alone actor Macaulay, said one scene in the season premiere featuring a row between Roman and his sister Shiv - played by Australian actress Sarah Snook - reminded him of his sister, Dakota, who died aged 29 in 2008 after being hit by a car in Southern California.
When Snook's character pulled a funny face, Culkin was reminded of a trick Dakota, who was also known as Cody, used to play.
"That's just Cody's move," Culkin told the Hollywood Reporter. "You could never get one up on her .... Cody is pretty Roman-y. It's as if Roman were portrayed by Darlene from Roseanne. Darlene Connor as Roman Roy."
Culkin described the death of his sister as "the worst thing that's ever happened, and there's no sugar-coating that one".
"I still weep about it out of nowhere," the 39-year-old said. "Something funny she did will pop in the head and make me laugh, and then I'm weeping. Sometimes it's knowing that she's not going to meet my kids and they don't get to have her, and it's hard to describe what she was like."
Succession adds Adrien Brody, Alexander Skarsgard and Hope Davis to the cast for its new season.
Brody guest stars as billionaire activist investor Josh Aaronson, while Skarsgard is Lukas Matsson, a successful and confrontational tech company founder.
Both characters become involved in the battle for control over Waystar RoyCo, a global media and entertainment conglomerate.
Davis plays Sandi Furness, the daughter of Logan's long-time rival, who the trailer for the third season shows meeting with Kendall to discuss their options for taking down his father without losing control among the shareholders at Waystar RoyCo.
Reuters/PA/AAP
