Spinoffs, prequels, and sequels are all the rage on TV right now. We’ve seen the success of “Yellowstone” over at Paramount lead to a ton of announced spinoff series, with each one released being a huge success so far. This has led to a recent announcement by Showtime that the network is planning on greatly expanding the “Billions” and “Dexter” franchises with multiple spinoffs each. HBO, on the other hand, isn’t interested in turning successful series into expansive franchises, even in the case of one of its most acclaimed series ever, “Succession.”
In an interview with Variety, HBO boss, Casey Bloys, talked about the potential of “Succession” spinoffs coming to be after the main series comes to an end, which could be as soon as this year’s Season 4. And by potential, really it’s just the executive saying that there is no potential for spinoffs of “Succession” because it just wouldn’t feel “natural.”
“I don’t think so,” Bloys said about the possibility of a “Succession” spinoff. “I always say ‘never say never.’ When we started talking about doing a ‘Thrones’ prequel that was something that HBO had historically never done. I had some people internally saying, ‘This is crazy. What are you doing?’ That said, I think that there’s something about the universe that George created that lent itself to [spinoffs]. There’s a huge history, a lot of different families, a lot of different wars and battles.”
He continued, “It doesn’t seem to me that there’s something in ‘Succession’ where you would go, ‘Let’s follow just this kid’ or whatever. It doesn’t seem like a natural thing to me. But if [creator Jesse Armstrong] said I want to do this, then I would follow Jesse’s lead.”
Typically, in years past, this wouldn’t really be news. A popular TV series would have a beginning, middle, and (hopefully) a successful ending. Then, it would just go away. TV spinoffs, outside of something like “Law & Order” or “NCIS” wasn’t really a common thing. But now, we live in an era where studios have streaming libraries that need to attract subscribers. And what better way to do that than to make more content based on hit shows? Do you like “Dexter” and “Billions?” Well, here are five other shows in those universes, for example.
However, over at HBO, things seem to be a bit different. Sure, “Game of Thrones” has already been spun off once, but the network is super cautious about doing too much. And for things like “Succession,” where a spinoff just doesn’t really make sense, HBO just isn’t interested. That’s actually a bit refreshing.
Season 4 (which is rumored to be the last) of “Succession” debuts on March 26.