On Could 31, 2025, HBO will launch Mountainhead, the closest factor to a film set within the Succession universe. Succession‘s creator, Jesse Armstrong, wrote and directed the hyper-satirical chamber piece, which follows 4 ultra-wealthy tech bros reuniting for a lavish getaway as the worldwide financial system disintegrates. Critics have praised the movie for its excellent performances and sharp dialogue, which rivals that of Succession.
Though media magnate Logan Roy and his grasping, formidable kids don’t seem in Mountainhead, the movie’s trailer unmistakably evokes Succession, that includes Armstrong’s trademark barbs and one-liners skewering tech tradition, out-of-touch billionaires, and unchecked American capitalism. In different phrases, Mountainhead is a must-visit vacation spot for Succession followers.
‘Mountainhead’ Follows 4 Billionaires
Written and directed by Jesse Armstrong, Mountainhead tracks 4 odious, mega-rich American mates who reunite for an off-the-cuff weekend getaway in Utah through the winter. The title “Mountainhead” refers back to the title of the mansion-like lodge the foursome stays in, the place Hugo Van Yalk (Jason Schwartzman) performs host. As the one non-billionaire within the group (he is a multimillionaire), Hugo is jokingly referred to as “Soup Kitchen” by the three others attributable to his perceived poverty.
The three different unbearable tech bros embrace Randall (Steve Carell), the eldest member and preliminary investor who’s battling most cancers; Venis (Cory Michael Smith), an AI deep-fake specialist; and Jeff (Ramy Youssef), a liberal-leaning tech guru specializing in filters that assist distinguish deep fakes. When Venis proposes buying Jeff’s AI filter instruments, the negotiation launches a full-fledged existential dialog about an impending financial meltdown. And the way their backside line is affected.
Because the world burns round them, the avaricious tech bros take luxurious delight, proving how cynical, nihilistic, self-absorbed, and morally bankrupt they’re. Very similar to the attraction of Succession, Mountainhead focuses on deeply unlikable characters with little redeeming worth who stumble and fumble their method to the throne as CEO, and get the humbling comeuppance they deserve. The foursome function stand-in figures, akin to Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Peter Thiel, highlighting the callous habits of the billionaire class because the hole between the haves and have-nots continues to widen.
Jesse Armstrong Doubles Down on the ‘Succession’ Components in ‘Mountainhead’
Rated #57 on IMDb’s High 250 TV Exhibits, Succession gained 19 Primetime Emmy Awards throughout its five-season run from 2018 to 2023. Jesse Armstrong created the present and wrote lots of its scripts as a modern-day retelling of Macbeth, Shakespeare’s household tragedy about rival siblings vying to succeed the king. In Succession, the king was Logan Roy (Brian Cox), a Rupert Murdoch-like media tycoon who has no religion in his three incompetent kids aspiring to succeed him.
The three kids embrace the drug-addled Kendall (Jeremy Sturdy), the conniving Shiv (Sarah Snook), and the perverted Roman (Kieran Culkin). This detestable lot manipulate one another and backstab their method towards the CEO place as Logan’s well being wanes. Armed with chopping insults and high-powered zingers, Mountainhead takes its characters and the insolent method they communicate to one another to an entire new degree.
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By confining the foursome to a single setting and accelerating his acerbic dialogue to nuclear ranges, Armstrong correctly retains his directorial debut acquainted and self-contained. In different phrases, it appears he is basically recreating the award-winning Succession components, making the characters much more loathsome because the commentary frequently denigrates the ethical rot of tech bro tradition. Wanting a feature-length reunion of the Roy household, Mountainhead is shaping as much as be the subsequent neatest thing to an official Succession film.
Along with Armstrong, Succession‘s govt producers — Frank Wealthy, Jon Brown, Lucy Prebble, Tony Roche, Mark Mylod, and Will Tracy — serve the identical position on Mountainhead. As such, followers of the hit HBO collection can anticipate artistic and tonal continuity within the upcoming movie.
What Critics Are Saying About ‘Mountainhead’
Forward of its HBO premiere on Could 31, 2025, Mountainhead holds an 89% Rotten Tomatoes ranking and a 68 Metascore. Almost each single evaluation compares the movie to Succession’s dramedy steadiness, with some critics admiring the hassle to push the components ahead and others much less impressed. A staunch defender of the movie is The Guardian‘s Peter Bradshaw, who writes:
“Jesse Armstrong has returned with what seems like a horribly addictive feature-length spin-off episode from the prolonged Succession Cinematic Universe…Greater than any comedy and even movie I’ve seen just lately, that is film pushed by the line-by-line want for fierce, nasty, humorous punched-up stuff within the dialogue, and narrative arcs and character improvement aren’t the purpose.”
These detracting from the movie’s deserves acknowledge the scorching wit, but argue that the poisonous characters are too repulsive to take a seat with for 108 minutes. One such critic is IndieWire‘s Christian Zilko, who notes:
“’Mountainhead’ is a transparent extension of among the themes Armstrong explored in ‘Succession’…However it by no means comes near reaching the high-wire act that enshrined ‘Succession’ within the pantheon of nice TV exhibits: making us like these characters.”
Certainly, for all of the Roy siblings’ faults and flaws, their award-worthy performances made viewers take care of them by the story’s finish. With Mountainhead, Armstrong appears much less enthusiastic about making the 4 deplorable tech bros redeemable, and extra involved with coloring them as silly caricatures who stand in for right this moment’s damaging and divisive, mega-powerful CEOs. These complaining that the characters are flat and two-dimensional could also be lacking the purpose Armstrong is intentionally underlining in huge daring print.
Even when Mountainhead‘s satirical lens will get a bit foggy for some, the image appears to stay clear concerning its stance on unchecked wealth and capitalism run amok. In lambasting the wealthy and {powerful} as grasping, soulless exploiters of the much less lucky, Mountainhead shares the identical central thesis Armstrong launched in Succession. It is simply actually ramped as much as new heights within the Utah mountains. Mountainhead will premiere on HBO and stream on Max on Could 31.