Now that Succession has finally lived up to its writers’ most-loved phrase and decided to “fuck off” at the end of its fourth season, it leaves a big question for the TV world. It’s one befitting a show hinged on who was qualified to take over the Roy family business. So, who, or what, will succeed the biggest drama on TV?
For the past two and a half decades – the much-heralded prestige TV era – it has always seemed there is one series that reigns supreme at any given moment. There is no discernible science to the idea but whoever could gather the winning combination (or at least some components) of critical acclaim, big ratings, award show sweeps and, latterly, social media buzz, fits the bill. It’s those shows for which you dodge online spoilers, that you passionately recommend to anyone who will listen, whose characters loom large from billboards at the train station, and whose Emmy and Bafta wins feel like a lap of honour. They’re the shows you binge seven seasons of in a fortnight and instantly become an evangelist for. You’d call it water-cooler television if anyone worked in the office any more.
These series are etched into TV-lovers’ hearts and minds – giants such as The Wire and The Sopranos through to Mad Men, Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. It’s not just an American phenomenon, either – Line of Duty and Happy Valley have proved equally bingeworthy in recent times. But, while Succession feels like it’s wearing the crown now, looking out across the landscape, there is a dearth of obvious heirs. All of the above shows have now finished permanently – although Line of Duty’s future remains as clear as the motives of a bent copper. Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul wrapped things up in 2022, and Peaky Blinders, Ozark and Atlanta followed soon after. This year, viewers have waved goodbye to Barry and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, with Stranger Things currently in production for its final outing. The Crown, too, is wrapping things up (its sixth season will hit Netflix later this year).
Traditionally, there has always been a smooth handover, but now it’s more as if the baton is being tossed in the air for whoever happens to catch it. Mad Men was into its sixth season when Breaking Bad ended and was the obvious next-in-line. Then, when Mad Men ended in 2015, Game of Thrones’s blend of dragons and gore had already been up and running for five seasons. In 2023, however, these long runs are practically unheard of – Succession ran for four series, Happy Valley for three, then there’s the huge rise in premature series cancellations. So how did we end up here? And where does TV drama go next?
To be clear, this is not to say there is nothing good on television now. If anything, there is simply far too much. Every new series that launches feels like an extra item added to my never-ending watchlist. Recent hits such as Severance, The Bear and Bad Sisters could well build on impressive first seasons and confirm their greatness down the line. Industry already has. Succession began its second season in 2019, the year that Game of Thrones ended, so there is a precedent. But, creating a great second season is easier said than done, and the current Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike is likely to have a seismic effect on the short term future of television production.
The onslaught of content brought in by the streaming era is undeniably key to understanding the issue. In a recent article for Slate, Sam Adams described the current era of television as “Trough TV”, the polar opposite to that which preceded it. He pointed to the tech giants’ newfound habit of brutal and regular cancellations – sometimes before a series has even made it to air – as creating a landscape in which algorithms and lazy IP usage trumps novelistic quality and long-term audience building. Speaking from his home in New York, Adams explains the shift in outlook to a more “dollars and cents evaluation of what is making people subscribe”. He points to the early days of Succession when far more people were watching HBO’s Ballers, a series in which The Rock donned an ill-fitting suit to play an NFL player turned financial manager. A ruthless business-minded executive wouldn’t blink to cancel Jesse Armstrong’s series in those circumstances. To this day, Succession remains a ratings minnow, but HBO’s brand is built on the credibility it brings. What if the new era of TV is one in which credibility is no longer such a highly sought after commodity? “Prestige TV fans want something to gather around and we will always make something occupy that space,” says Adams. “Whether it’s as good as what preceded it, however, remains to be seen.”
Alongside the trend for shows taken from us too soon (The OA fans, you won’t be forgotten) has been the thrilling emergence of the miniseries. This Is Going to Hurt, It’s a Sin, Mare of Easttown … the list, unlike the number of episodes, goes on and on. Chris Aird is a creative producer at Element, who have triumphed in this space with the Sally Rooney adaptations Normal People and Conversations With Friends. Despite this, he doesn’t think the miniseries boom marks the death of series built to run and run. “There’s an exciting moment going on in the industry where everybody is talking about shows that are rooted in character,” he says. “Shows where you can combine a sophisticated approach to plot while also thinking about characters who the audience want to keep coming back to. That, I think, is the purest form of television.”
Aird previously worked on Call the Midwife and Death in Paradise, less fashionable shows, perhaps, but hugely popular ones that prove the long-running drama is not an entirely antiquated idea. “Call the Midwife does a huge amount for the British TV industry and has just been commissioned to its 14th series,” he says. “I’m not worried about the end of peak television at all.”
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Jamie Morris, director of programmes for the UK at Sky Atlantic, is similarly bullish about the future. “I’m very excited about what’s coming next,” he says. “HBO have had this end of an era conversation in the past. This is the network that brought us Sex and the City, The Sopranos and Game of Thrones. There is always a degree of trepidation when one of these things comes to an end but what they have demonstrated is incredible creative renewal.” He points to the in-built world expansion of the Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon as a series that “had real pressure on its shoulders but really delivered. You can say the same thing for The Last of Us, too. These series are built on IP but are chewy and grown-up with it.”
In speaking to these experts you hear a confident sense of momentum from those who make television for a living and an uncertain shrug from those who watch it. Both are agreed, however, that 2023 certainly seems to mark, if not the death of, then at least a significant shift in the TV drama landscape. Like all good plot twists, what comes next will be entirely unexpected and, hopefully, utterly thrilling.
