Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are known for their comedy, but they want you to get serious for a moment. Or at least for a season when it comes to its latest series Succession, which just earned a 10-episode first season on HBO.
The duo’s production shingle, Gary Sanchez Productions, is best known for other series like HBO’s Eastbound & Down as well as Comedy Central’s Drunk History. But Succession will be much different from that, according to The Hollywood Reporter, starring Emmy winner Brian Cox as the head of a family-owned media empire that might be taking some inspiration from the drama surrounding Viacom – with a touch of Rupert Murdoch.
The premise has echoes of the Murdoch clan, with the central Roy family being described as “rich and powerful, but also powerfully dysfunctional.” The drama tackles family loyalty, international business, and the perils of 21st century power.
Cox will be joined by a cast that includes Kieran Culkin, Alan Ruck, Sarah Snook and Jeremy Strong as his main character’s children. It also will star Hiam Abbass, Nicholas Braun, Peter Friedman, Matthew Macfadyen, Parker Sawyers and Rob Yang.
Succession was developed by Jesse Armstrong, who shared an Oscar nomination in 2010 for the comedy In the Loop that starred Tom Hollander, Peter Capaldi and James Gandolfini. His credits also include the Babylon mini-series and Peep Show, both for Britain’s Channel 4.
Cox earned an Emmy for the television movie Nuremberg in 2000, and picked up an additional nomination the next year for Frasier.
He currently appears in the Netflix series Medici: Masters of Florence, and will play Winston Churchill in the film Churchill, which comes out at the end of April. He’s also set to reprise his role as Capt. O’Hagan in Super Troopers 2, which is expected to make its way to theaters later this year.
HBO hasn’t set a premiere date for Succession, but with a pilot episode already in the can, it could begin filming as early as this spring, and possibly be ready for a fall or winter roll-out.
