‘Succession’ Is Over. This Is What We’re Watching To Fill The Roy-Shaped Void

We bid adieu to the deplorable, damaged Roy siblings in Succession, saw the end of Ted Lasso’s Richmond tenure, and finished the latest series of Yellowjackets.

With so many hot shows wrapping up their latest season, and the weather well suited to staying in, what are the Viva team tuning into this month?

Deadloch

Screening on Amazon Prime Video.

I love a small-town mystery series, and this new show straddles drama and comedy, as well as issues of gender, gentrification and race in a small Tasmanian town with sharp satire (and a dash of slapstick). It’s like a mix of Broadchurch and Seachange and The Breaker Upperers (Madeleine Sami stars in that, and Deadloch too). The characters are great, and it’s just the thing to watch after work on a winter’s night. — Emma Gleason, commercial editor

Barry

Screening on Neon.

Selling Sunset

Screening on Netflix.

The extremely extra real estate agents of Los Angeles’ Oppenheim Group are back for season six, with two new team members and a whole lot more staged drama. This ridiculous reality show, in which the cast allegedly sell luxury real estate for a living, is worth watching for the clothes alone. Chelsea stole the show for me, hosting a 2pm broker’s open in a sheath of a sequin dress and pageant-girl updo, shimmying into the office in a flower bikini, and donning that Diesel skirt/belt for a coffee meeting. — Johanna Thornton, deputy editor

The Square, directed by Ruben Ostlund (2017)

Screening on Mubi, AppleTV and Academy On Demand.

After watching Triangle of Sadness and Force Majeure, this was one of Ostlund’s previous films I hadn’t seen until recently, and am due for a repeat watch. The satirical black comedy won the prestigious Palme d’Or in 2017 and takes a closer look at societal behaviours and the pretensions of the art world. It also makes an interesting commentary on the role of public relations damage control and the transactional relationships people have with PR. Danish actor Claes Bang plays the role of a suave Stockholm gallery director faultlessly, even down to his demise; Elisabeth Moss is brilliant as an opportunistic journalist; and Dominic West is hilarious as a soulless headline artist. How to remain authentic in an artificial world? Ostlund’s mirror to society is confronting. — Dan Ahwa, creative and fashion director

Screening on Neon.

Sometimes you want a tragicomedy set somewhere Nordic, where the lakeside cabin pans fill you with the need to find some idyllic woodland, and the theme is quietly existential. Joachim Trier’s film The Worst Person in the World, released in 2021 and set in modern-day Oslo, serves all of this in segmented courses, the film divided into 12 chapters that follow the evolution of twenty-something Julie (Renate Reinsve) as she navigates love, grief and the messy variables of getting older. Joachim himself described the film as “a coming-of-age film for grownups who feel like they still haven’t grown up”, all of which is to say it’s beautiful and sad and comforting for anyone feeling decision paralysis. There’s also a semi-regular voiceover from an omniscient narrator — for those who, like me, enjoy a cohesive, soothing narrative device. — Julia Gessler, digital editor

Platonic

Screening on Apple TV.

One of the best duos in comedy (watch Neighbors and its sequel and tell me I’m wrong) Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen are reunited in the new series Platonic, which follows two college friends reconnecting, and the regression and hijinks that ensues. It’s a hilarious, relatable and very nuanced depiction of relationships — romantic and platonic — as well as ageing, as they grapple with the people they were, who they’ve become, and how they reckon with the gulf in between. It’s funny, promise. — Emma Gleason, commercial editor

Severance

Screening on Apple TV.

This sterile and stirring sci-fi show made for a gripping watch when it was released last year. It follows a small group of employees working at a mysterious biotechnology corporation, who have undergone a procedure called “severance” — creating a break between their consciousness in the workplace and outside of it. The employees inside the workplace are newly born, made to work a mind-numbing job with little context or understanding of what their daily work actually does (or any means of escape). The disappearance of a co-worker sends the employees on the path of discovery of a confusing corporate conspiracy. Throughout the series, they discover the extent of the nightmarish, bureaucratic control, while trying to communicate with their unknowing out-of-work selves. And with widespread strikes and union action impacting industries both here and abroad, season one also makes for a great rewatch. A workforce recognising their collaborative power and coming together to fight exploitation? It seems more than prescient. It’s not a light watch, even though Ben Stiller lends his expertise to direct and Parks and Recreation’s Adam Scott plays the lead. Still, the uncanny thriller packs plenty of punch. — Madeleine Crutchley, multimedia journalist

Tiny Beautiful Things

Screening on Disney Plus.

Based on the novel by Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things is a comedic yet heartwarming drama starring the exceptional Kathryn Hahn and newcomer Sarah Pidgeon. It is based around a woman who reluctantly takes on an anonymous advice column called Sugar, and who is discovering who she is through trial and triumph. It is a must-watch, with both lighthearted and darker moments, but fantastic acting and a good storyline. — Annabel Dickson, fashion assistant

Industry

Screening on Neon.

To fill the void left behind from Succession, I’m rewatching Industry on Neon, another bitter pill to swallow about people wearing suits and being despicable. Well, actually it’s about a group of young graduates who are dealing with stiff competition to win permanent positions at a top investment bank in London. Cue toxic workplace behaviour, fragile egos, loads of depressing grey scenes of London’s business districts and the systemic injustice bred from a very tired British class system. So much fun! — Dan Ahwa, creative and fashion director

Black Mirror

Season six coming soon to Netflix.

I’m very excited that this eerily prescient anthology series from satirist and screenwriter Charlie Booker is returning to Netflix on June 15. (Who could forget the true-to-life episode from season 3 in which Bryce Dallas Howard played a woman obsessed with improving her social status online?). The first episode in the new series is called ‘Joan is Awful’ and includes a sort of meta Netflix, an entertainment platform on which an ordinary woman (Schitt’s Creek’s Annie Murphy) discovers her life has been adapted for TV, and Salma Hayek is playing her. The genre-bending series also stars Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), Michael Cera (Superbad) and Kate Mara (House of Cards), and will cast its disturbing ‘what if?’ lens on everything from AI to the paparazzi. — Rebecca Barry Hill, writer

And Just Like That

Season two coming soon to Neon.

The gang’s all back, even Samantha. Season two of And Just Like That gives us a chance to return to the Sex-And-The-City-Verse, picking up where the show left off last season. What do we know about the second instalment? Aiden’s back, if on-set paparazzi shots are anything to go by. So is Samantha, for the season finale, with this shocking casting addition being revealed last week, with Variety reporting ‘Cattrall shot her dialogue on March 22 in New York City, without seeing or speaking with the stars of the series, including Sarah Jessica Parker, or with And Just Like That showrunner Michael Patrick King,’ which suggests an executive decision, and does little to dampen the long-standing rumours of a feud. Drama! And Just Like That season two is debuting in New Zealand on June 23, so you’ll want to clear the calendar and spend that Friday night in. Until then, for more fiction about well-heeled New Yorkers, see what we thought about WASP-y wealth satire Pineapple Street.

The Bear

Season two coming soon to Disney Plus.

Carmy and his crew return to the kitchen, in what’s likely to be another high-stress series of this hot show. Season one ended with personal and professional change, and the Chicago eatery is poised to transform from The Original Beef to The Bear — an evolution that will serve up fresh insight into the hospitality world, as it transitions from sandwich shop to restaurant. Will we watch season two when it airs at the end of June? Yes, chef!