While Game of Thrones fans patiently await the show’s eighth and final season in 2019, it can be a challenge to fill that 8:00 p.m. Sunday night timeslot with a high-quality show. What can match the lofty expectations set by HBO’s flagship series? At least one show, also on HBO, passes muster: Succession.
Succession follows the dysfunctional yet immensely wealthy Roy family, which controls the fifth largest media/entertainment conglomerate in the world. Logan Roy (Brian Cox), the tough, demanding, and often unfair patriarch, is a self-made billionaire who founded Waystar Royco, but due to mounting health issues, he’s slowly stepping back from his company. Logan wants his children to prove to him that they can lead the company and ensure that it continues to thrive.
Logan Roy is very much like Tywin Lannister from Thrones. Both characters demand respect and exercise absolute control over their lives. Family name means everything to Logan, and he does not suffer weakness in any of his children.
Connor Roy (Alan Ruck) is the eldest of Logan’s four children, but refuses to have anything to do with the family business. Instead, he lives a life of luxury at his sprawling New Mexico ranch, which is about as far removed from the political maneuvering and constant bickering of the rest of his family as possible.
Connor considers himself a freethinker, but is actually just another rich white man living the libertine lifestyle because his daddy has paid for everything. He declines to take a side in family disputes, but is quick to report on his siblings to his father. He’s a little like Loras Tyrell in that way, who seemed less committed to the family’s future success than someone like his sister Margaery, but did enjoy jousting and tournaments and the finer things in life, all of which were afforded to him because of his position as the heir apparent to the Tyrell fortune.
Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) is Logan’s second oldest son, who for most of this inaugural season has been poised to take control of Waystar as CEO when or if his father retires. There’s just one problem: Kendall is weak. No one respects him, and his constant need to seek the approval of his father has bled over into his interactions with his peers, employees, ex-wife and siblings.
Kendall constantly suffers Logan’s verbal abuse and looks to vices like drugs and alcohol to numb the emotional pain of never being good enough in his father’s eyes. There’s something of Tyrion Lannister in Kendall. Both men endure abusive relationships with their fathers and turn to drink to deal with it. Each man knows that as long as his father is alive, he will never amount to anything of real importance.
Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) is Logan’s third and youngest son. Logan prizes his cockiness and bravado and has groomed him to become the company’s Chief Operating Officer. However, he is immature and lacks focus, which often gets him in trouble. His father doesn’t completely trust him, at least not yet.
In that regard, Roman is like a young Jaime Lannister. Both men were groomed to be the pride of their family, but their lack of maturity has become a source of contention between them and their fathers.
Siobhan “Shiv” Roy (Sarah Snook) is Logan’s only daughter and the youngest of his four children. Of her siblings, Shiv is the most ambitious, and uses her talents in the world of politics rather than the family business, much to her father’s consternation. Unlike her brothers, Shiv doesn’t need her father’s approval to be successful, but she does respect him, and a stern look from Logan can put Shiv in her place.
Obviously, Siobhan’s Game of Thrones counterpart is Cersei Lannister. Much like Cersei, she was never content being the power behind the throne. Both women crave power for themselves, and will go a far way to get what they want.
Succession shares more in common with Game of Thrones than just character types. Its intro theme song is one of the best on television, which is something HBO does really well. The show is heavy on political jockeying, which recalls not just the Lannisters but many of the back-and-forth subplots prominent in the show’s early seasons.
Also, Game of Thrones director Mark Mylod helmed four episodes this season, something else the two shows share. Succession airs Sunday nights at 8 p.m. CST on HBO. It’s already aired seven episodes of its 10-episode first season. Time to jump on the bandwagon!
Next: Joss Whedon making sci-fi drama “The Nevers” for HBO
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