‘Succession’ creator decided to end the show despite HBO being hungry for more

“Harry Potter” TV series reboot with author J.K. Rowling attached to executive produce, HBO CEO Casey Bloys said the author’s insights will be “incredibly helpful,” meanwhile sidestepping the controversy surrounding Rowling’s string of anti-trans comments.“She will be involved; she’s an executive producer on the show and I think her insights are going to be incredibly helpful on that,” Bloys told press during the Q&A portion of Warner Bros.

HBO is giving “Game of Thrones” fans another reason to celebrate, announcing the pay-cable channel has given a straight-to-series order to a new prequel series, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight”.

a new “Harry Potter” TV series served as the climax of Warner Bros. Discovery’s presentation to press and investors on April 12 to tout the combination of HBO Max and Discovery+ into a new service dubbed simply Max. During a Q&A with press after the presentation, however, executives were less forthcoming about the involvement of the franchise’s creator, J.K. Rowling. The author, who will be an executive producer on the series, has become an increasingly controversial figure for repeatedly sharing views that trans women are not women, and trans men are not men. HBO and Max content chief Casey Bloys declined to comment on Rowling’s views when asked how they may affect the ability to find talent for the series.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter A “Harry Potter” TV series is officially moving forward at HBO Max. The announcement was made during Warner Bros. Discovery’s presentation to press and investors on April 12, during which it was announced that HBO Max and Discovery+ are officially being combined into a new service dubbed simply Max. News of a show based on the megahit J.K. Rowling book series first leaked on April 3, but details have now been confirmed. Each season of the show will be based on one of the books in the franchise, with Warner Bros. Discovery describing the show as a “decade-long series.” It will feature an entirely new cast from the films.

Ready to sympathize with “The Sympathizer,” the miniseries adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen starring Hoa Xuande and Robert Downey, Jr.? Well, the first trailer for the series from Park Chan-wook and A24 is here. And it’s a doozy. Watch it above.HBO described the series as “an espionage thriller and cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese Communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his resulting exile in the United States.” The show also stars Fred Nguyen, Toan Le, Duy Nguyễn, Vy Le and Alan Trong, with Sandra Oh, Kieu Chinh, Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen and Robert Downey, Jr.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery finally revealed the plans (and confirmed the long-rumored name) for its new streaming service, Max, which will combine offerings from HBO Max and Discovery+ into one product, during a splashy press presentation on the Warner Bros. Studio lot Wednesday. The event kicked off at 10 a.m. at the iconic Burbank location, presided over by WBD CEO David Zaslav, president and CEO of global streaming and games JB Perrette, HBO and HBO Max CEO and chairman Casey Bloys (who now also has oversight of Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Network), and U.S. networks group chairman and chief content officer Kathleen Finch. Variety is on the scene, ready to fill you in on all the details about the new streamer, Warner Bros. Discovery’s direct-to-consumer strategy, the future of HBO and the standalone version of Discovery+.

Sticking the landing. Succession viewers were shocked to see Logan Roy (Brian Cox) killed off three episodes into season 4 — but the HBO show’s cast showed their support for the twist.

Note: Spoilers for “Succession” Season 4 Episode 3 follow below.“Succession” viewers were shocked on Sunday night when, in the third episode of the final season, Brian Cox’s Logan Roy died. It was a twist no one saw coming, and the emotional fallout that occurred in the Roy family resulted in some series-best performances from Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin and Alan Ruck.Killing off the family patriarch and central force in the series so early in the final season was certainly unexpected, but creator and showrunner Jesse Armstrong said that was partly the point.“Shooting the episode honestly was quite exciting because it felt high risk,” Armstrong said in the show’s behind-the-scenes featurette for the episode.

Harry Potter is back!

Brian Cox joked he's too busy to cry over the end of Succession like some of his co-stars.

The minor heroes of Waystar Royco. Succession is known for a stellar ensemble cast that includes Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong, but the HBO drama has featured a ton of impressive guest stars over the years.

Succession creator and show runner Jesse Armstrong has revealed his thoughts on his initial pitch to end the show with season four.Speaking to Variety at the Succession premiere earlier this month, Armstrong shared that he had secretly hoped he would be talked out of ending the show so soon while maintaining that the hit HBO series has come to a “natural” end.“The word that comes to mind for me is ‘natural.’ I hope people, when they see this season, will feel that it has a natural shape to it. That’s how I pitched it to my writers’ room, kind of hoping I’d get argued out of it so we’d see a way to do more seasons, because I love working with these people.

The following interview contains spoilers from tonight’s season four premiere episode of HBO’s Succession, “The Munsters”

Jesse Armstrong is getting candid about Succession.

Mike White has pitched the idea for The White Lotus season 3 to HBO bosses – and it’s a hit with them already.

Casey Bloys left the decision about when to end its award juggernaut “Succession” to creator Jesse Armstrong, but the HBO and HBO Max chairman and CEO would have loved to see more seasons of the drama about the Logan family media empire.Speaking at the Series Mania festival in Lille, France on Thursday, the HBO and HBO Max chairman and CEO said of the series ending after four years: “He is choosing to end his story when and how he wants. But if he said ‘I have two more seasons in me,’ I would have said yes.”He added, “I would have taken more, but generally speaking, that is the kind of thing you want to leave to a creator.

When will production begin on “The White Lotus” Season 3? That’s inconclusive, but HBO is high on Mike White‘s surprise hit, so expect them to pull out all the stops for the upcoming season. And Variety reports that HBO’s Casey Bloys says White’s pitch for the new season was a big hit with the bosses.

Casey Bloys wants Kate Winslet to be venerated in the States.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International “The White Lotus” creator Mike White’s idea for Season 3 of the hit show has already gone done well with HBO bosses, confirmed Casey Bloys at Series Mania. The executive revealed at the French drama festival on Thursday that White has “just pitched us the idea and it’s great. It’s a really fun idea and he’s shown it’s possible.” Speaking to entertainment journalist Edith Bowman, Bloys added that White is “casting people you know” in the show, but writing their characters in a way that “allows you to rediscover them or see them in a new light” — an obvious nod to now Golden Globe-winning actor Jennifer Coolidge.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International “The White Lotus” creator Mike White has his idea for Season 3 of the hit show, and it’s already gone done well with HBO bosses, confirmed Casey Bloys at Series Mania. The executive revealed that White has “just pitched us the idea and it’s great. It’s a really fun idea and he’s shown it’s possible.” Bloys, who was speaking to entertainment journalist Edith Bowman, added that White is “casting people you know” in the show, but writing their characters in a way that “allows you to rediscover them or see them in a new light.” The HBO exec also noted that he “would have taken more” seasons of “Succession” but respected showrunner Jesse Armstrong’s decision to end the hit drama with Season 4.