The second season of the American satirical comedy-drama television series Succession premiered on HBO on August 11, 2019. Series creator Jesse Armstrong serves as the showrunner for the season. The series centers on the Roy family, the owners of global media and entertainment conglomerate Waystar RoyCo, and their fight for control of the company amidst uncertainty about the health of the family's patriarch.
The season features an ensemble cast of Hiam Abbass, Nicholas Braun, Brian Cox, Kieran Culkin, Peter Friedman, Matthew Macfadyen, Alan Ruck, Sarah Snook, Jeremy Strong and Rob Yang, who all return from the previous season. Dagmara Domińczyk, Arian Moayed and J. Smith-Cameron were promoted to the main cast for the season after featuring in recurring roles in the previous season.
In June 2018, HBO renewed Succession for a second season, which began filming in 2019. The season consists of ten episodes, and received critical acclaim. It was nominated for 18 Primetime Emmy Awards, and received seven wins, including Outstanding Drama Series, as well as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Strong, Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for Cherry Jones, Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for Armstrong, and Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for Andrij Parekh.
On June 11, 2018, following the premiere of the first season, HBO renewed Succession for a ten-episode second season. The season was announced with series creator Jesse Armstrong to set to continue as showrunner.
All main cast members return from the previous season, excluding Natalie Gold. Dagmara Domińczyk, Arian Moayed and J. Smith-Cameron, who previously starred in recurring roles, were promoted to the main cast for the season. On May 21, 2019, Holly Hunter joined the cast in a recurring role in the second season.
The second season saw a significant increase in location shifts. The opening scenes of the season premiere were shot on location in Iceland, while Henry Ford II's 1960 estate in the Hamptons was used as the Roys' summer home. Oheka Castle in Huntington, New York, stood in for the Roys' hunting lodge in Hungary for the episode "Hunting". Filming also took place on Long Island, with a mansion once belonging to Junius Spencer Morgan featuring prominently in the episode "Tern Haven". The estate is one of several in the area used as filming locations for the second season. From April through May 2019, the production recruited extras for filming in Lake Placid, and Lake George, New York, where the episode "Argestes" was shot. Production moved to Dundee for the eighth episode, with additional filming taking place in Glasgow and Ayr for the preceding episode (which takes place in England). Starting from July 17, 2019, the crew filmed in Korčula, Croatia, for the second-season finale episode "This Is Not for Tears", including extensive scenes on a yacht.
The season premiered on HBO on August 11, 2019, with episodes releasing weekly until the finale on October 13, 2019.
HBO released the second season on DVD on September 15, 2020.
The season finale drew 1.1 million viewers across all viewing platforms.
The second season received widespread critical acclaim. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the season holds a 97% rating with an average rating of 8.9/10, based on 238 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Succession returns in darkly funny form, with sharp writing, exceptional performances, and a surprising new level of sympathy for some of television's least likable characters." On Metacritic, the season has a weighted average score of 89 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
The second season received 18 nominations with 7 wins at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards; including Outstanding Drama Series, Jeremy Strong for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Cherry Jones for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, Jesse Armstrong for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (for the episode "This Is Not for Tears") and Andrij Parekh for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (for the episode "Hunting"). Brian Cox, Matthew Macfadyen, Kieran Culkin, Nicholas Braun, Sarah Snook, James Cromwell, and Harriet Walter all received acting nominations.
- ^ "Safe Room" was first made available on August 30, 2019, through HBO's digital platform.
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