Logan Roy did it again. The media baron’s checkmate vs. his kids had fans buzzing following Sunday night’s Season 3 finale, and it paid off in initial viewing. According to HBO, the episode, “All the Bells Say,” delivered 1.7 million viewers across all platforms in same-day viewing.
That’s a new series high for the show, which has averaged a linear rating of around 543,000 this season. HBO had previously touted the Season 3 opener of the family-dynasty drama as its most watched, averaging over 1.4 million viewers across all platforms.
For the finale, HBO reported that total viewing increased 47% versus the Season 2 finale, 21% from the Season 3 premiere and 8% from last week’s penultimate episode, “Chiantishire.”
When including delayed viewing, HBO reports an average of 6.1 million viewers to-date for Season 3, which it reports is up 56% from season 2 after a similar period of time. HBO said the Season 3 premiere episode, which returned on Oct. 17, is now close to 7 million viewers. According to WarnerMedia, episodes of “Succession” Season 2 went on to average nearly 5 million viewers across all platforms.
“Succession” just landed five Golden Globe nominations, the most of any series this uear; the show also led this year’s Critics Choice Awards noms with a total of eight; additionally, it was named as one of AFI’s Top 10 TV shows of the year. The series stars Brian Cox as family patriarch Logan Roy, as well as Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin and Alan Ruck.
“Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong recently spoke to Variety about the show’s twisty Season 3 finale, including the move by Tom (Matthew Mcfadyen) to double cross his wife (Snook), and how the three kids Kendall (Strong), Shiv (Snook) and Roman (Culkin) were played by their father. Read that interview here. Armstrong tells Variety’s Kate Aurthur that the season ender switches up the show’s entire premise — that it was heading toward finding Roy’s successor: “It changes it. I’d be bullshitting you if I told you I knew exactly what was going to happen. We’ll follow the truth, and the business of that. I think succession in one form or another is very much still on the table.”
Also, read Variety TV critic Caroline Framke’s take on the two sudden power players behind Sunday night’s turn of events, Tom and Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun), here.