Succession: Embracing the Fictional Anti-Hero

The television landscape has long been painted with a vast array of morally compelling characters and stories. Over the past few decades, there has been a noticeable shift in focus within TV works, with a more prominent focus on exploring the narrative of the “bad guy,” averting from a long-held belief that audiences can only love a hero. Television shows like Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Dexter, and The Sopranos have all solidified themselves as critically acclaimed series, and have proven that there is indeed a prominent audience with an incredibly strong fascination with morally and ethically flawed characters.

As HBO’s Emmy-winning dramedy Succession airs its fourth and final season this spring, it is clear that this show’s massively successful run is largely due to the audience’s profound fascination with the crooked and morally ambiguous portrayal of the fictional Roy family. Succession centers on the exploits of the Roys, the familial owners of the fictional multi-billion dollar media conglomerate: Waystar Royco. The show opened in 2018 centering on the family CEO and patriarch Logan Roy as he begins experiencing a clear decline in health. In the wake of his illness, recognizing that their father is potentially unfit for the role of CEO, the four Roy children all begin to vie for control and prominence within the family company.

The storyline of this series takes a noticeable deviation from other aforementioned “bad guy” "-centric shows. There is a lesser focus on crime, and other further removed acts of corruption, instead focusing on some issues that hit closer to home, including the nefarious and unethical aspects of the rich and powerful that reflect our own modern corporate America. The very idea of centering an entire series around an entirely white, out-of-touch, filthy rich, and ethically rotten family, such as the Roys, seems like it would spell out a show’s death sentence due to a perceived lack of viewer empathy. Whether the show’s success can simply be attributed to the audience’s morbid curiosity found in the foul-mouthed and cruel banter between the Roy siblings, or the more complex familial relationships at play between a father and his children, it is clear that audiences resonate with this series profoundly.

Watching this series is certainly a strange experience, as audiences look on while these characters make some horrifying decisions with oftentimes no repercussions due to the Roys’ wealth and status. However, there is a strange empathy that we feel as we watch these characters. Though we may not necessarily sympathize with them completely, we at least begin to understand the extent of the culture and environment that has fostered their behavior. Audiences begin to understand and connect with the family’s only daughter, Siobhan Roy, as her cutthroat and seemingly cruel nature towards her husband is explained. We see her tumultuous relationship with her virtually absent mother, as well as the array of failed relationships that exist within her family, as they have provided no true example of a healthy partnership for her to emulate. Viewers also begin to pity the youngest son, Roman Roy, as we begin to understand that the character’s selfishly aloof and foul-mouthed exterior serves as a defense mechanism for his crippling fear of exhibiting emotional vulnerability.

However, the show’s audience develops perhaps the most profoundly complex relationship with Kendall Roy, the middle child. Kendall is the most intense depiction of an “anti-hero” in Succession’s entire character log. We watch as Kendall struggles, emerging from his picture-perfect corporate “daddy’s boy” persona, into a morally fluctuating individual who learns to wear his heart on his sleeve, as he slowly begins to acknowledge that his father Logan, may just be the true monster in his life after all. We look on in pity as Kendall attempts to navigate his identity and reckons with the immense personal and familial damage caused by the company he once loved.

Succession has masterfully crafted characters that audiences just love to hate. Each of them is vastly enthralling in its own way, showing a different facet of human nature that audiences aren’t accustomed to seeing so closely. The show’s profound social commentary, accompanied by some masterful writing, hilarious and witty banter, and a compelling storyline allows these seemingly irredeemable characters to soar to new heights. HBO’s Succession is a cautionary tale of sorts, demonstrating how wealth, power, and status can corrupt humanity to its core, solidifying these protagonists as a fictional dumpster fire that we just can’t look away from, and can’t help but care about.

Your MagazineMay 9, 2023