What happens when you make a blood sacrifice? Well, for Succession, one side effect is the elevation of three cast members. HBO announced on Dec. 9 that three actors, Justine Lupe, David Rasche, and Fisher Stevens, had been promoted to series regulars, and these Succession cast promotions could provide some big clues for Season 3.
To recap, when we last saw the Roy family dynasty in Season 2, they had just imploded. Kendall turned on his father in an epic display of courage and awesome revenge, leaving Logan and Waystar Royco in, to put it plainly, some pretty deep shit.
It was a pretty big cliffhanger, and while it's truly impossible to know what the Roy family will do next (honestly, they are the most volatile rich people on TV since Gossip Girl), these new cast bumps might give us some clues. Let's investigate.
Justine Lupe — Willa Ferreyra
Willa has been intwined with the Roy family since Season 1 thanks to her relationship with Connor. She has dreams of being the next great American playwright and had a failed go at it when Connor funded for her first play, Sands. She might seem like she's comfortably outside of the Roy family drama, but now that her career is tied to the Roy money, it seems she'll be playing a bigger role. Plus, Lupe's promotion to series regular could also mean more storylines for Connor. Whether that's good or bad news for him remains to be seen.
Fisher Stevens — Hugo Baker
As Hugo, Stevens has only appeared in five episodes of Succession just far, so his upgrade to series regular is definitely a major clue. A VP of Communications at Waystar Royco, Hugo appeared in Season 2 as someone who has enough power in the company to be a kind of confidant for Logan; he was even involved in discussions of the blood sacrifice. All of this is to say that him being a series regular means that fans should be prepared to dive deep into the Waystar Royco controversies, namely Brightstar cruises. It looks like whatever consequences Logan and the company are facing from Kendall's press conference, they're serious enough to take more than a couple episodes to resolve.
David Rasche — Karl Muller
Karl, Waystar RoyCo's CFO, has appeared sporadically throughout Seasons 1 and 2. And, like Hugo, he is completely embroiled in the Brightstar scandal. In Season 2, he attempted to help Logan pay off a potential whistleblower, so he's well aware of all the, uh, less than legal dealings at the company. His increased role no doubt aligns with Hugo's, suggesting that, as the cruise scandal unfolds, Logan might not be the only one in danger.
Succession Season 3 is expected to premiere sometime in 2021 and is still currently filming, so these three might not be the only recurring cast members getting a much-deserved promotion this year. But, if these are the only ones, it paints a pretty vivid picture of what fans can expect: more Waystar RoyCo scandal fallout, and Willa potentially being invited into the fold.
Image: Peter Kramer/HBO