Succession: The Next Legendary HBO Show
When Game of Thrones ended with its infamously poor eighth and final season in 2018, many wondered who would replace them on HBO’s Iron Throne on Sunday nights. Turns out, the same year Game of Thrones ended, its successor (pun intended) just started.
Succession, created by Jesse Armstrong, is similar to Game of Thrones in the sense that its powerful white people vying for power and control. However, that’s where the similarities more or less end.
It tells the fictional story of the powerful Roy family, who run Waystar Royco, one of the biggest media conglomerates in the world. The patriarch, Logan (Brian Cox) has just turned 80 and still is the company’s CEO and three of his children Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin), and Shiv (Sarah Snook) are all looking to be his successor. There is a fourth child named Connor (Alan Ruck), but he is irrelevant most of the time.
I know that doesn’t sound very fascinating, but Succession offers a dynamite cast, incredible character studies, phenomenal production, and timely messages about powerful media conglomerate families.
Brian Cox has had a legendary career, with iconic roles in Manhunter, Braveheart, and X-Men, but Logan Roy might be his greatest role. He is crass, intimidating, and looking to find any way to attain more power, wealth, and success. And when I say any way, I mean it. Logan will lie without abandon, make and break promises immediately. Whatever leads him to more power, more control, more wealth. And this mindset from the CEO patriarch has created a sense of mistrust and fear among the employees of Waystar Royco and the Roy family.
Kendall, Shiv, and Roman are all suspicious of their father and each other. The three children see any moment of affection shown by Logan or one of their fellow siblings as an ulterior motive to a higher goal. This mindset brought upon by their father strains all relationships they have with anyone outside the family.
Kendall, who was destined to be the next CEO, is divorced, barely sees his children, and suffers from addiction issues, which truly cost him the CEO role. Shiv, who wants to distance herself from the family and control it at the same time, is unable to have a true, happy marriage with her self-conscious/self-hating husband Tom (Matthew McFadyen). Tom, to counteract his crumby marriage, will take out his insecurities by bullying Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun), widening Logan’s influence to in-laws as well. Roman, the venomous tongued man-child, is unable to have a real, happy relationship with any of his girlfriends due to the weird sexual relationship he has with Gerri (J. Smith Cameron), the second-in-command at Waystar Royco.
And these are just the characters. If you, like myself, are interested in more than just the characters and story, the direction, and the writing of Succession is some of the best on television today. Armstrong’s writing is a masterful blend of comedy and drama. The show has had directors like Mark Mylod, who ironically directed some of Season 5 of Game of Thrones, and Adam McKay, director of Best Picture Nominees The Big Short and Vice, who give the show a fantastic look and feel to it. The camerawork of Succession is very similar to The Big Short, a style that I enjoy very much.
The quality of the show creates not just a masterclass in how to make a television show and create character studies, but also commentary on the current state of media conglomerates and media in general. It is pretty clear that the Roy family and Waystar Royco are based on the real-life Murdoch Family, owners of the media conglomerate News Corp, the company that owns Fox News. The show presents the dangers of giant media conglomerates as some rich old, white guy can shape the masses’ views about the world. All of this combines for quite possibly the finest show not just on HBO, but on television.