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A ruthless dynasty

Succession is sliding towards a bloodbath, so don’t expect a happy ending, writes

Michael Idato.

If you’re looking for clues as to how HBO’s dynastic comedydrama Succession will end, you need look no further than William Shakespeare’s 400-yearold masterworks Romeo and Juliet, Titus Andronicus and Henry VI, Part Two.

They are among the Bard’s bloodiest works and, as Succession enters its third season (premiere streaming now on Neon and SkyGo) and an uncivil war is declared within the ranks of the wealthy Roy family, few things are more certain than the fact the hit show is now sliding towards a very unhappy ending.

‘‘It doesn’t feel very like Succession to end with a nice little bow, so I imagine more of a bloodbath is probably on-brand,’’ says Australian actor Sarah Snook, who plays ambitious Siobhan ‘‘Shiv’’ Roy.

‘‘But that’s the interesting thing right? How the family relates to each other and whether their dynamic will actually prove beneficial for them in terms of their growth spiritually or otherwise. Or whether it will inevitably tear them apart because they can’t face each other in the ways that they need to as a family.’’

When it launched in 2018, Succession was a modest pay TV hit. It does not command the audience of either its stablemate Game of Thrones or its rival The Crown, though thematically the three shows are remarkably similar, with Succession using boardrooms instead of battlefields and throne rooms.

And yet, it has emerged as an equal on – ironically or appropriately, depending on your perspective – the strength of media noise. ‘‘As glorious and furious as ever,’’ said The Guardian of its third season return. ‘‘An acidly observant, ferociously acted study of the ruthless world [of the] privileged,’’ declared Vulture.

Its ruling family, the Roys, are more-or-less analogous to the Murdochs – the series originated as a Murdoch-focused piece, but evolved significantly during development – though there are also shades of other great business dynasties: the Maxwells, the Trumps, the Packers and the Redstones.

The show’s second season concluded with a nail-biting season finale that was easily the rival of the iconic ‘‘cliffhangers’’ which defined the 1980s ‘‘supersoap’’ genre of Dallas and Dynasty, but with elevated production values, sharper writing and magnificently satirical touches.

As its third season opens, the family is at war. Waystar RoyCo’s founder Logan Roy (Brian Cox) is on the brink of being edged out by his eldest son Kendall (Jeremy Strong), testing the loyalties of his other three children Shiv, Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Connor (Alan Ruck).

As absurd as the quasifictional ripped-from-theheadlines world of the Roys is, Snook says the series reaches its audience through the connective tissue of family. ‘‘Whether it’s a group of friends that’s your family or your actual birth family, the concept of family is universal,’’ she says.

‘‘And no matter what demographic, or what amount of money is in your bank account, I think you still find yourself wrestling with your siblings and exchanging barbs and insults,’’ Snook says. ‘‘I love running into people who say, that’s my dad, we didn’t grow up with money, but that is totally my dad.’’

The twists and turns in the second season finale seem to have set up Shiv for a meteoric rise to the centre of the political and financial mosaic that makes up the Roy dynasty. But her bumpy track record exposes her to the accusation that she could emerge as her father’s choice because of the optics of being a woman.

‘‘I think she’s been aware that she gets that quite a lot in her life,’’ Snook says. ‘‘She is the only female in the group of siblings, and so that happens a lot. Finding herself in that position yet again, though boring, is not unusual. But I think she’s a person who is determined to take advantage of any situation she finds herself in. She is certainly going to do her best to turn it around.’’

Her rising mixed fortune is also emblematic of the dilemma faced by the four Roy siblings: that despite their access to wealth and connections, none have parlayed that into a sustained career outside the safety net of the family company, WaystarRoyCo.

‘‘I think part of being in the

‘I think part of being in the Roy family is having a decent amount of hubris. . .’ SARAH SNOOK

Roy family is having a decent amount of hubris, of confidence and determination and will and belief that you can do something, even if you don’t necessarily have the latent skills to do that,’’ Snook says. ‘‘Shiv talks a big game, but can at least back that up. And I think she probably thinks that she can do that better than her brothers.’’

As for that highly anticipated, inevitable bloodbath ending, it may be at least a few seasons away. The series is one of HBO’s most valuable assets, in terms of quality, awards season traction and media noise. At the same time, the third season opens at a flashpoint in the family’s reign.

‘‘Maybe not with hatchets and swords, but at the same time Kendall did kill somebody, or, well, somebody has died and many people will have lost jobs and will have had their livelihoods changed with the effects that the decisions this one family makes,’’ Snook says.

‘‘I love the scale at which this family operates, and the macro/ micro of that. It’s extraordinary to be able to go, it’s a sibling/ family relationship here, but then all our decisions are affecting thousands of workers on a company level. But then cultural, social ripples in the world of Succession, they move on forever.’’

The season three premiere of Succession is streaming now on Neon and SkyGo. New episodes debut each Monday on Neon and on SkyTV’s SoHo channel at 9.30pm.

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2021-10-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

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