Sad ‘Succession’ Is Ending? Here Are 5 Shows on HBO Max to Fill in the Dramatic Gaps in Your Viewing Schedule
Sad ‘Succession’ Is Ending? Here Are 5 Shows on HBO Max to Fill in the Dramatic Gaps in Your Viewing Schedule
Following Sunday night’s latest twisty episode, the final season of HBO’s “Succession” is now officially half over, and while fans are reveling in the Machiavelian maneuvering of the Roy children following the untimely passing of their father, the reality of the situation still exists; the season — and the series — is set to conclude on Sunday, May 28.
TBD
Despite the impending end of the Emmy-winning series, one of the major benefits of HBO MAX is having access to all of the great shows that live in the service’s robust library. From classic series like “The Sopranos” to “The Wire” to “Sex and the City” to “Game of Thrones,” there are endless hours of prestige entertainment that HBO Max subscribers can dive into right away. But, because those shows have all ended their runs (despite the “And Just Like That…” and “House of the Dragon” sequel series), you can’t really enjoy the excitement of watching along with millions of other fans and live tweeting each episode’s twists and turns, like has become part of the fun of watching “Succession.”
However, the streaming service does have five shows that you can binge right now that deliver all kinds of drama, humor, and action to fill the “Succession”-shaped hole in your entertainment appetite, and they come with the benefit of still being on the air, so when the next seasons return on HBO and the soon-to-premiere Max, you can immerse yourself in all of the gleeful joy of streaming new episodes at the same time as fans around the world.
The Last of Us
HBO’s Sunday-night show that immediately preceded Season 4 of “Succession” was one of the most talked-about series in recent memory. Finally cracking the code to turn video games into prestige content, the series is set in a dystopian 2023 in which the world has been overrun by a fungal infection that turned people essentially into zombies.
While the premise sounds like many other post-apocalyptic stories from the recent past, what made “The Last of Us” stand out is how much the show focused on the relationship between its central characters Joel and Ellie, rather than the blood, guts, and violence that is inherent in the story. While those factors are all very much still present in the series, there is far more focus on resilience, hope for the future, and found family than you would normally expect from a zombie series.
If it is the interpersonal drama and ever-developing and shifting relationships that keeps you glued to “Succession,” this series might be exactly what you need to watch next.
The Last of Us
Twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed, Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse the United States and depend on each other for survival.
The White Lotus
Despite the very different premises, “The White Lotus” is probably the perfect complement to “Succession.” A darkly comedic takedown of the bad actions of excessively wealthy and obliviously privileged people, Season 1 of “The White Lotus” won the Emmy for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series (and Season 2 is expected to be a major contender at this fall’s awards), while “Succession” is a two-time winner in the Outstanding Drama Series category.
Each season of the anthology series takes place at a different luxury resort in the White Lotus chain and the mostly-rotating cast of the show brings new opportunities for rich people to behave badly… usually resulting in a dead body. While the bad actions at a media company and a high-priced resort are very different, “Succession” and “The White Lotus” feel very much connected on a tonal basis. Both use a sly, subtle sense of humor to underscore their characters’ misdeeds while allowing their audiences to reveal in all of the chaotic fallout.
The White Lotus
Follow the exploits of various guests and employees at an exclusive tropical resort over the span of a week as with each passing day, a darker complexity emerges in these picture-perfect travelers, the hotel’s cheerful employees and the idyllic locale itself.
Euphoria
If it’s the melodramatic, soapy stories that you love about “Succession,” this high school-set series might be the perfect thing to fill in the Waystar Royco gap in your programming diet. Having earned an Outstanding Drama nomination for its second season, series star Zendaya has won back-to-back Emmy Awards for playing the show’s drug-addicted teenage narrator Rue.
The series dives unabashedly head-first into topics of loss, love, abuse, mental illness, violence, addiction, and more with a frank, but empathetic point of view that feels like something that only HBO could pull off. While the plotlines in “Euphoria” might be more fanciful, honestly unhinged, than those in “Succession,” the drama in this series is second to none. Zendaya leads an incredibly talented cast including Sydney Sweeney (who was also in “The White Lotus” Season 1), Maude Apatow, Jacob Elordi, Angus Cloud, Eric Dane, Colman Domingo, and more. Much like “Succession,” “Euphoria” finds a way to utilize its expansive ensemble to tell a wide-reaching story with depth and nuance.
Euphoria
A group of high school students navigate love and friendships in a world of drugs, sex, trauma, and social media.
Perry Mason
Just this week, HBO concluded the second season of its prequel series examining the origins of one of the most iconic names in TV history, Perry Mason. Before he was the famed defense attorney most famously played by Raymond Burr on and off for nearly four decades, Mason was a struggling Los Angeles private investigator during the height of The Great Depression.
Starring Matthew Rhys, this densely plotted mystery series delivers all of the gripping drama and intrigue of “Succession” with a much more hard-boiled, pulpy perspective. Season 2 of the series wrapped up on Monday, so you have two full seasons available to binge right now.
Perry Mason
Set in 1932 Los Angeles, the series focuses on the origin story of famed defense lawyer Perry Mason. Living check-to-check as a low-rent private investigator, Mason is haunted by his wartime experiences in France and suffering the effects of a broken marriage. L.A. is booming while the rest of the country recovers from the Great Depression — but a kidnapping gone very wrong leads to Mason exposing a fractured city as he uncovers the truth of the crime.
Titans
While you might consider your favorite Roy sibling to be a superhero, it is difficult to ever imagine them as a fully functioning, unified team. While the Titans have had their own ups and downs over the years, they are — at least slightly — more cohesive than Logan’s kids. Led by Batman’s former Boy Wonder Dick Grayson (now going by his new persona of Nightwing), the reformed Titans fight crime in cities across the country, battling some of the most treacherous villains from the DC Comics’ canon.
Season 4 of the show — airing now through May 11 — focuses on the team’s attempts to neutralize bad guys Brother Blood, Mother Mayhem, and Jinx. There is plenty of time to catch up on the first three seasons in order to enjoy the final handful of this season’s episodes as soon as they become available.
Titans
A team of young superheroes led by Nightwing (formerly Batman’s first Robin) form to combat evil and other perils.
Whatever it is about “Succession” that keeps you gripped to the edge of your couch on Sunday evenings, once the series ends in five weeks’ time, HBO Max has plenty of series for you to binge that will scratch your unique itch. And, with the incorporation of thousands of hours of Discovery programming coming when Max launches on May 23, there will be even more shows to keep you entertained until your next new favorite show premieres.
Max
Max is a subscription video streaming service that gives access to the full HBO library, along with exclusive Max Originals. There are hubs for content from TLC, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, TCM, Cartoon Network, Travel Channel, ID, and more. Watch hit series like “The Last of Us,” “House of the Dragon,” “Succession,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and more. Thanks to the B/R Sports add-on, users can watch NBA, MLB, NHL, March Madness, and NASCAR events.