Succession: Season Two: The Complete Scripts

by Jesse Armstrong

The complete, authorised scripts of the multiple award-winning Succession .

** Winner of thirteen Emmys, five Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and a Grammy. **

I wonder if the sad I'd be from being without you might be less than the sad I get from being with you?


Kendall Roy is dealing with fallout from his hostile takeover attempt of Waystar Royco and the heavy guilt from a fatal accident. Shiv stands poised to make her way into the upper-echelons of the company, which is causing complications for Tom, which is causing complications for Greg. Meanwhile, Roman is reacquainting himself with the business by starting at the bottom, as Connor prepares to launch an unlikely bid for president.


Collected here for the first time, the complete scripts of Succession: Season Two feature unseen extra material, including deleted scenes, alternative dialogue and character directions. They reveal a unique insight into the writing, creation and development of a TV sensation and a screen-writing masterpiece.

'Just about the best thing I've ever seen on television.' New Statesman

Genres: Fiction, Film, Tv

784 pages, Paperback

Published July 25, 2023

Reviews

[emma hledam adu · Rating 5 out of 5]

not only would i take a bullet for kendall roy but i would also take a bullet for jesse armstrong because this is some of the most genius writing in anything ever. homer and shakespeare would fall to their knees sorry

[Kirsti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun read after watching the entire series. Now I can tell what's foreshadowing and what isn't. It's also interesting to read the deleted or repurposed scenes and find out how the actors shaped the characters. For example, many scenes in Succession show or allude to characters taking drugs. This was supposed to include Roman Roy, but Kieran Culkin repeatedly said that he didn't see his character as a drug user.

[Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

it’s so insane that Kendall was initially even more of a loser. not noticing your son is drowning cuz ur checking twitter, gotta love him!

[Tam · Rating 5 out of 5]

season two the romangerri season that you are!!!! i’m so obsessed with this show ahhh!!!!!

[Caitlin Knowles · Rating 5 out of 5]

actual INSANITY that jeremy strong managed to pull off l to the og AND my father is a domineering presence, a bully and a liar in the space of two episodes

jesse armstrong the man you ARE

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Succession created by Jesse Armstrong - Winner of nineteen Emmys, nine Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and a Grammy, and that may be just for the first season… it was called 'The most thrilling and beautifully obscene TV there is…' by the Guardian, and since they air it again on HBO here, I am looking at some of it, nevertheless, if you want to read more notes on films, there are more than five thousand posts on features from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists, along with reviews of magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time and other web pages on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... maybe you have some comments



8 out of 10

I was reading about the dispute between Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong, although perhaps the word is not the most accurate- Brian Cox has the role of the patriarch in Succession, a sort of Rupert Murdoch, quite unpleasant, to use a euphemism, only now I refer to the off-set polemic, to try another description of what went on
Logan Roy was creepy – the scene wherein he urinates in the office of his elder son, Kendall Roy aka Jermeny Strong, comes to mind, and the dispute they have in the aftermath – but Brian Cox is a tough customer as well

He was Agammemnon, if I remember well https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... in Troy, alas, a quite formidable flop at the box office and a failure with the critics, despite that unbelievable cast with Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector, Diane Kruger as Helen and so many more
Brian Cox attacked Method acting, he had the misfortune to be with Jeremy Strong in the same series and the latter is an adept, targeted by the former, who used Daniel Day Lewis as an example, a ‘bad example’ if you will, as in he was burned out at about fifty, so that is what this immersion does to you, something like that

Daniel Day Lewis https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... is the only thespian to have won three Oscars for leading roles, there are others, Jack Nicholson for instance, but he (Jack) had also won for supporting performances, so we have a winner, but also an issue here…
Except…Daniel Day Lewsi returned this year in Anemone, directed by his son, and not one of the best motion pictures unfortunately – Quentin Tarantino had something to say these days, he talked about the best movies of this century and There Will Be Blood is in the top ten, I think it was five, but could have been number one

Daniel Day Lewis is so good that he can do it alone, he can deal with a weak hand, and he had the ‘limpest dick’ in Paul Dano – something like that – and I was surprised to see my opinion confirmed by Quentin Tarantino https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... one of the legends
We could go back a few centuries and read what Denis Diderot had to say about acting, he offered two alternatives, the thespian who uses his mind and the one who goes with the heart, I am simplifying it, and you are better off looking for the original essay, and he takes a look at what would be best, the mind or the heart

Denis Diderot https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... explains why actors need to work with the mind – not in Jacques le Fataliste though, I just used this chance to advertise another review of mine – the friends we see telling a story with passion can be pathetic
Perhaps the Golden Mean as offered by Aristotle https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... would be best in this case as well, use method acting, but without exaggeration…

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se

There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

[nooran · Rating 5 out of 5]

when you’re the it girl of television

[shamsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

i miss romangerri.

[Cooper Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greatest show of all time part 2

[ruby ❀ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars simply bc of L to the OG

[mo]

ROMAN:
Alright, you asked for it.
(He pulls the trigger.)
Bang. You’re dead.
KENDALL:
Yup.
(Kendall walks off.)

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great battle did NOT begin

[. · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I said in my review of S1, it's truly the show of all time. While it was easy to understand what they were going for while watching, it is cool to get the little notes and asides to add further depth. Especially wrt Logan/Marcia in the second season. Closer to the backhalf certain scenes that were in the finale were moved to S3 and it's interesting how they kinda change how you react to it. Like when I watched the scene with the siblings where Kendall was like "we knew [about Mo/what was going on with cruises &c]" it felt very much like he was just using it for his own new persona bc of what his team was reading off Twitter or whatever and that's still true obvs, but in the script it comes off the back of a convo with Logan where Logan says himself "NRPI [No Real Person Involved]" and it's like "OH! I see!" ALSO, we all knew Logan was kinda smiling at the end but "smirk-snarl of appreciation." LOVE a good description. Anyway, lots of thoughts, show of all time, need to run it back &c.

[Addie Lovell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kinda a bummer to know there will never be TV writing as good as this is not for tears ever again

[Chris Merola]

Truly one of the most chest thumping season finales

The performances are so specific in Succ that reading it is just as enjoyable as watching it a second time

I'm a structure junkie, seeing the way inter + intra scene conflict dovetails so deliciously, it's such a pleasure. I love this show from its teeniest tiniest punny little roasts all the way up to its grand, sweeping series-long arcs (or really, its sad corkscrew spirals, the whole show a feast of childhood wounds reopening and healing and reopening infinitely)

[elise rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

i read all 750 pages. no regrets

[fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

“EXT. WAYSTAR - ROOF - DAY
Kendall heads for the edge.
Then stops.
The perimeter is now enclosed by a tall glass wall.
He leans his head against the glass. No way out.”

[lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

the scripts almost outshine the show

[Patrick Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 and a half stars.

Prestige television. It’s so good. This is the season in which I began to feel this show was something *really* special, beyond greatness, which as a term of appraisal seems meagre in comparison to one of THE greatest which this season really carved out for the title. It’s filled with iconic episodes, the writing is so nuanced and intentional, every scene and sideways glance has subtextual meaning. It’s masterful stuff.

When I watched it, I rated the season lower than the first, because of Marcia being sidelined, but having read it I feel that’s a season 1 problem. She doesn’t have much to do within that season, which is a greater crime given that she was set up to have far more involvement than she does within that same season. Like Lawrence, she kind of fizzles out and going back to those scenes highlights that *they’re* the problem and not the writing that came after, which is really trying to make that sidelining about Logan’s character rather than poor writing. For the most part - it works!

You really see the layers of Logan’s deception, you see how beguiling he can be romantically, and how petulant his outbursts really are. He’s a fear-mongering tyrant and yet his outbursts come from things like Marcia telling him he’d be in better health if he sold the company. He punishes warmth, but he punishes playing the field when Shiv does it. This season really delves into the impossibilities of his abusiveness and I love it - it’s a window into Shiv’s vulnerability, as well as Roman’s, whose character evolves a great deal within this season; you really see how pathetic (but also sympathetic) he can be despite his monstrosity.

I think the weakest link is Naomi Pierce. She dips in and out of the narrative and doesn’t feel like a consistent partner for Kendall. There’s the Dundee episode where he’s suddenly courting an actress instead and it feels kind of like filler given the far more visceral previous episode in which Logan’s disapproval of Naomi and Ken’s autonomy causes him to use the bartender’s death in season 1 to guilt Ken back into submission. I feel that dynamic and Kendall’s struggle to maintain his father’s impossible confidence could have been expanded upon within the dynamic with Naomi and the introduction of a new character feels superfluous and undermining - particularly when Naomi is the one who first breaks through to Kendall in the finale, why not nourish *that* relationship? It would make for more compelling drama and as it stands, that aspect makes the final stretch feel weaker than I could have been.

Besides that though, the finale is otherworldly. The characters come to life a lot more within this season and it’s also ceaselessly entertaining. “You can’t make a Tomlette without breaking some Gregs” is ludicrously funny. “Boar on the floor” is ridiculous and terrifying, “Safe Room” is a masterpiece, the Pierce negotiations and the breaking of the Cruise News will never not be entertaining; it’s a fucking great season. It’s beautifully written, wonderfully consistent, and inexhaustibly brilliant, and in my opinion, this is the show’s second weakest showing. The quality of writing is utterly ridiculous.

For anyone curious, I think the order of quality goes (from worst to best) S1, S2, S3 then S4. Every season is better than the last. Anyway, this is such a great read, and it’s crazy how much more you soak up seeing it on the page rather than on the screen. Even the words feel lived in.

[Maxine Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think I've been as obsessed with something as I have with Succession in a long time. Unprecedentedly, brilliantly, disturbingly opaque and dense characterization. Nearly every character, from the leads to the guests, possesses powerful mystique or quietly deranged idiosyncrasies. Darkly funny and unsettling. Fantastic commentary on personal, political, and professional abuse and how it all entwines.

There are no bad seasons of Succession, and every season is special to me in its own way for various reasons, but season 2 is my favorite. The way that Logan treats Kendall in these episodes is the closest we will ever get to understanding his nebulous motivations and past. And Kendall, Shiv, and Roman of course are achingly sympathetic. Probably the most compelling season of TV I've ever watched or will watch for at least the next decade. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it daily for about two years. Every scene adds new and often sickening dimensionality. Almost all the deleted scenes (sometimes even just lines) altered my view of a character, a relationship, or the entire show. Countless layers and niches to this rotting onion. ❤️

[Andy Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second series of Succession scripts is just as good as the first, if not better. When you read the scripts before rewatching them on screen, you get a real feel for the rhythm of the show and can see how the original scripted dialogue has been supplemented and often improved by the actors on set. And what actors they are! And what words and situations they have to play with. The writers are geniuses. So are the directors and producers and creators. And the actors. Succession is just genius! Roll on the series three scripts!

[jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

-yeah this season is basically flawless, there is nothing more satisfying than “the truth is that my father…”
-fav episodes in no particular order: vaulter by jon brown (underrated), safe room by georgia pritchett (feel like she’s my fav succession writer bar jesse), tern haven by will tracy, dc by jesse armstrong & this is not for tears by jesse (ofc)

[Lauren loc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gil: Do you know what is special about the hours between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. on the night of March 12?

Tom: Uh, no sir.

Gil: That was the only two-hour period in which you did NOT send an email to Mr. Hirsch with the title You Can't Make a Tomlet Without Breaking Some Gregs. You sent the same email to him 67 times in one evening.

Tom: I guess it was a joke

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the season where I really fell in love with the show and reading this book reminded me why. The writing, character dynamics, the drama, the hilarious one-liners. It's perfection all around. Jesse Armstrong and his writing team are really geniuses.

[clara · Rating 5 out of 5]

adorned in regalia (team kendall shirt) speaking in ancient tongues (rapping L to the OG)

[imogen · Rating 5 out of 5]

best season

[lexi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just ridiculously good

[leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

02.04 safe room > holy bible

[Eloise Melbourne · Rating 5 out of 5]

L to the OG
Dude be the OG
They playin'
Playin' like a pro

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

KLRRR