96 Fun Facts About Succession

Who is the creator of the acclaimed HBO series 'Succession'?

Jesse Armstrong, the British writer who co-created Peep Show, created Succession, wrote the pilot and ran the show for all four seasons.

Which real amusement park stood in for the Waystar theme park where Greg is first seen working?

Adventureland in East Farmingdale, Long Island, doubled as the park where Greg's first day ends with him being fired.

Where is Logan when he dies in season 4?

He collapses mid-flight while heading to Sweden to renegotiate the GoJo deal, and the siblings get the news by phone at the wedding.

Greg's grandfather threatens to donate his entire estate to which organization rather than leave it to Greg?

Greg later floats suing Greenpeace as a ploy to claw back the inheritance.

What is Greg Hirsch's familial relation to Logan Roy?

Greg is Logan's great-nephew, the grandson of Logan's estranged brother Ewan Roy.

After Logan is hospitalized in season 1, Kendall becomes acting CEO and Roman is given which title?

Roman had insisted on the COO job as his price for signing off on Logan's original plan, displacing longtime deputy Frank Vernon.

What was Shiv Roy's profession before she began working full-time at Waystar RoyCo?

Shiv Roy initially pursued a career in liberal politics as a political consultant before being drawn into the family business.

Which Roy sibling launches a long-shot campaign for US president?

Connor announces his libertarian run at Shiv's wedding; by season 4 his campaign is polling at one percent.

What is the name of Waystar RoyCo's flagship news network?

ATN's right-leaning coverage is credited within the show with electing the sitting president, whom the Roys privately mock.

Which real network's New Jersey headquarters stood in for Waystar's news channel newsroom?

CNBC's Englewood Cliffs offices hosted the season 4 newsroom shoots, including the election-night episode filmed over two weekends.

Waystar's season 4 Investor Day, where Kendall makes his flight-suit pitch, is held in which city?

The season 4 Investor Day takes place in Los Angeles at Waystar Studios, where Kendall walks out in a flight suit to pitch the company's senior-housing product.

In Succession's pilot, Logan Roy collapses and is rushed to hospital with what medical emergency, forcing talk of a successor?

A stroke, hemorrhagic and sudden, fells Logan in the pilot; he collapses, is rushed to hospital, and the fight over a successor begins at once.

In Succession's third season, the Roy siblings gather in which European country for their mother Caroline's wedding?

The season 3 finale was shot in Italy's Val d'Orcia, with the wedding reception filmed at the Tuscan estates La Foce and Villa Cetinale.

In Succession, what does Greg do when Tom orders him to destroy incriminating documents?

Greg had already used the retained papers to blackmail Tom once, and hanging on to a few keeps his leverage alive.

In Succession, who serves as Waystar RoyCo's general counsel and is also godmother to Shiv Roy?

Gerri Kellman, played by J. Smith-Cameron, is general counsel and Shiv's godmother, a close but often embattled adviser to Logan and the siblings.

How many seasons does the HBO series 'Succession' have?

The series concluded with its fourth season, which aired in 2023.

Who directed the pilot episode of 'Succession,' titled 'Celebration'?

Adam McKay directed the pilot from Jesse Armstrong's script and stayed on as an executive producer.

What is the name of Logan Roy's older, estranged brother?

Ewan Roy is Logan's older, estranged brother; the two crossed the Atlantic as boys in a wartime convoy, and Ewan grew up to despise everything Waystar stands for.

Where does Logan's estranged older brother live, alone, as a rancher?

Ewan lives alone on a ranch in Canada, keeping his distance from Waystar and emerging mainly to lecture Greg about the family's sins.

Why does Logan force Kendall to shut down Vaulter?

Logan orders Vaulter gutted because it is bleeding money: Roman learned from tipsy staffers that its traffic numbers were soft and the site was losing money while staff planned to unionize.

Which Waystar RoyCo division is central to Succession's cover-up scandal?

Kendall's press-conference betrayal of his father runs on the Parks and Cruises cover-up, which also drags Logan before Congress.

What is the name of the tech billionaire who seeks to acquire Waystar RoyCo in later seasons?

Matsson, a Swedish streaming boss, becomes the buyer whose deal drives the entire final season.

What does Shiv ask Tom for right after they are declared husband and wife?

On their wedding night Shiv tells Tom she wants an open marriage, confessing her affair with Nate Sofrelli in the same breath and setting the tone for the whole marriage.

What is the name of Kendall Roy's ex-wife and the mother of his children?

Rava Roy is Kendall's ex-wife and the mother of his two children.

What nickname does the Roy family use for the sitting US president?

The Roys privately call the president 'the Raisin'; Logan holds real sway over him, since ATN's coverage is credited with putting him in office.

What does Kendall reveal on stage just before performing his rap 'L to the OG'?

At Logan's 50-years celebration Kendall pulls off his jacket to reveal a 'Roy 50' baseball jersey; Jeremy Strong insisted Kendall should not actually be bad at rapping.

Whom does Caroline Collingwood marry in Tuscany in the season 3 finale?

Caroline marries Peter Munion, a fussy English suitor the siblings mock; the Tuscan wedding becomes the backdrop for Logan's final betrayal of his children.

Who is Logan Roy's third wife, his spouse for the majority of the series?

Marcia Roy is Logan's third wife, after Connor's mother and Caroline Collingwood; in the pilot Logan tries to give her a seat on the family trust.

Which longtime rival of Logan secretly backs the season 1 hostile takeover bid?

By season 3 Sandy is too ill to walk or speak, and his daughter Sandi negotiates on his behalf.

Who founded Vaulter, and holds Kendall in open contempt?

Lawrence Yee, played by Rob Yang, founded Vaulter and sold it to Waystar in season 1, where he openly sneers at Kendall until Logan has the site gutted.

In Succession's second season, Logan tries to buy which rival news conglomerate to make Waystar too big to be taken over?

Logan's logic was that swallowing Pierce Global Media, a respected legacy news house, would make Waystar too large for competitors to buy out.

Logan's engraved Rolex gift at the Hungarian hunting lodge quotes which poem?

The Tennyson gift arrives in the same episode as the infamous 'Boar on the Floor' humiliation game.

What is the name of the Scottish city where Logan Roy was born and where a major celebration is held?

Logan Roy was born into poverty in Dundee, Scotland, and the city is featured when the family visits for a celebration of his 50 years at Waystar.

Which comedian guest-stars as the host of The Disruption, the late-night show that skewers Kendall?

Ziwe plays host Sophie Iwobi on The Disruption; Kendall agrees to appear and then bails at the last minute, watching the segment from an after-party instead.

Which football club does Roman buy Logan as a 50-year gift, only to learn Logan supports its rival?

Roman and oligarch Eduard Asgarov present Hearts; Logan is a Hibernian man.

Season 2's yacht-set finale was filmed around which Croatian island?

The season 2 finale's yacht sequences were shot off the Croatian island of Korčula, aboard the superyacht where Logan picks his sacrifice.

What is the name of the senior-housing venture Kendall and Roman pitch on Waystar's Investor Day?

Living+ was Logan's own unrealized idea, which Kendall inflates on stage with growth promises that the company's CFO warns it cannot keep.

Kendall's friend from Harvard, a private-equity investor with a seat on Waystar's board, is which character?

Stewy plays both sides for four seasons, financing Kendall one year and dining with Logan the next.

Logan's baby sister Rose died of which disease, a death his aunt and uncle blamed on him?

Rose died of polio that Logan, then a boy, was blamed for bringing home; Ewan tells the story in his blistering eulogy at Logan's funeral.

Which actor plays Logan's estranged older brother?

James Cromwell plays Ewan Roy; his funeral eulogy in the final season earned him a 2023 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.

In the season 1 finale, the young man who dies in Kendall's car crash had what job at the wedding?

Logan had fired him earlier that night for spilling champagne, and later uses the death to force Kendall out of the takeover.

Who serves as Waystar RoyCo's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for much of the series?

Karl Muller is Waystar's chief financial officer and one of Logan's old guard; in season 4 he warns that Kendall's inflated Investor Day numbers will not hold.

GoJo summons Waystar's entire executive team to its corporate retreat in which country?

GoJo's retreat is in Norway, in the mountains above a fjord; the old guard reads the invitation as proof the deal is real, the siblings as an insult days after Logan's death.

Who is Logan's ever-present bodyguard, described as his 'body man'?

Colin is Logan's bodyguard and 'body man', a constant silent presence; in the season 4 premiere Logan muses to him over a late-night diner meal about death and whether people are just economic units.

The season 4 rehearsal dinner where the siblings reunite with their eldest brother was filmed at which restaurant?

The Grill occupies the old Four Seasons space in the Seagram Building, an apt spot for stalling a billion-dollar deal.

Kendall's season 3 apartment was filmed in which Manhattan development, chosen for its 'polished sheen'?

Kendall's season 3 apartment was shot in a penthouse at 35 Hudson Yards; the glossy new development suited a home the producers wanted to feel devoid of deeper roots and personal history.

What is the name of Kendall Roy's two children?

Kendall's children are Sophie and Iverson; in the finale Roman sneers that neither is biologically Kendall's, Sophie being adopted and Iverson conceived by donor.

What is the name of the fictional streaming service owned by Waystar RoyCo?

Waystar RoyCo owns a streaming service called StarGo, which is often criticized within the show for its quality and content.

In the pilot, the family gathers to celebrate which birthday of Logan's?

The pilot gathers the family for Logan's 80th birthday, where he uses the occasion to announce he will not be retiring after all.

Why is Greg fired from his theme-park job in the very first episode?

He had smoked marijuana before his shift; his mother then sent him to New York to beg Logan for a better job.

The show began as an unproduced feature film script about which real family?

Armstrong's unproduced 2010 screenplay was about the Murdochs, Rupert and his children fighting over the family empire; Succession reworked the idea into the fictional Roys.

What gets into poll analyst Darwin Perry's eyes on election night?

Darwin gets wasabi in his eyes from the newsroom sushi, and Greg's lemon LaCroix rinse makes it worse; with Darwin off air, Tom greenlights the premature Wisconsin call for Mencken.

In the finale, what do Shiv and Roman whip up in Caroline's kitchen to 'anoint' their brother?

Shiv and Roman blend a vile smoothie from whatever is in Caroline's kitchen, a 'meal fit for a king', and Kendall gamely drinks it as his anointing.

Roman's misfired explicit photo lands in whose inbox?

The photo meant for Gerri goes to Logan's phone right after Roman helped close the GoJo deal, turning his biggest win into an instant humiliation; Gerri then distances herself.

Connor's ranch is in which US state?

Connor's ranch, Austerlitz, is in New Mexico; the episode was shot around Santa Fe, and the name nods to Connor's obsession with Napoleonic history.

The show's logo-less, neutral-toned costuming became shorthand for which fashion term?

Succession's logo-free, neutral-toned wardrobe became shorthand for 'quiet luxury'; costume designer Michelle Matland kept the Roys in black, navy and beige across all four seasons.

What does Logan call the humiliating game he forces Tom, Greg and Karl to play at the hunting lodge?

Logan names the game 'Boar on the Floor', making Tom, Greg and Karl crawl and oink for sausages as he hunts for the leaker at the Hungarian lodge.

After Logan's funeral, how does Roman end up bloodied?

After the funeral Roman deliberately walks into a crowd of anti-Mencken protesters and is beaten bloody; the stitches he gets that day burst when Kendall hugs him in the finale.

Before playing Tom, Matthew Macfadyen was best known as which literary hero?

Macfadyen played Mr. Darcy in the 2005 film of Pride & Prejudice opposite Keira Knightley, before Succession made him Tom Wambsgans.

Which ambassadorship is promised for conceding the presidential race to Mencken?

Mencken's camp offers Connor the ambassadorship to Slovenia in return for conceding; his rambling concession speech airs live in the middle of ATN's election-night coverage.

In the season 2 finale, Tom defiantly eats a piece of Logan's what?

Tom plucks a piece of chicken off Logan's plate and eats it in front of everyone; minutes earlier on the beach he had told Shiv he was unhappy in their marriage.

GoJo's founder repeatedly mailed his ex-girlfriend Ebba what after their breakup?

Matsson confesses he sent Ebba bricks of his own frozen blood, half a liter at a time; Shiv, both disturbed and amused, advises him on containing the scandal.

What job does Logan's assistant Kerry audition for in season 4?

Kerry, Logan's assistant and girlfriend, records an audition tape to become an ATN news anchor; Tom and Greg mock it, and Greg is dispatched to let her down gently.

At the karaoke bar, Logan tells his children they are not what?

At the karaoke bar Logan tells Kendall, Shiv and Roman, 'I love you, but you are not serious people'; he dies in the following episode.

What is given as Logan's cause of death?

Brian Cox was told before filming began and admitted he felt 'a little bit rejected' to end up 'as an ear on a carpet of a plane'.

Tom Wambsgans is originally from which city?

Tom grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, where his mother is a respected attorney; the Roys never let him forget his Twin Cities roots are distinctly un-glamorous.

What affectionate nickname does Logan use for Shiv?

Logan calls Shiv 'Pinky'; the pet name sits alongside his season 2 promise to make her his successor, a promise he quietly abandons.

On election night, a voting center is set on fire in which city?

A Milwaukee voting center is set on fire, destroying tens of thousands of ballots from a liberal-leaning county, which is why calling Wisconsin early was so consequential.

The leftist senator Shiv briefly works for was loosely modeled on whom?

Gil Eavis was loosely modeled on Bernie Sanders; Eric Bogosian avoided a direct impersonation, borrowing only the indignation that wells up from the gut.

What is the name of the siblings' proposed new media brand in season 4?

The siblings' startup, The Hundred, pitched as Substack meets Masterclass meets The Economist, is abandoned within the premiere the moment they learn Logan is going after the Pierces again.

GoJo's subscriber numbers turn out to have been inflated in which country?

Matsson admits GoJo's India subscriber numbers were inflated; Shiv advises burying the news during the election fallout and Logan's funeral, when coverage would be thin.

Where does Kendall wander in the final shot of the series?

The final shot finds Kendall on a bench in Battery Park, staring out at the harbor with Colin, Logan's former bodyguard, standing behind him.

How much do the siblings bid to snatch the Pierce deal away from Logan?

The siblings bid $10 billion, a number Nan Pierce cannot refuse, after Shiv coaxed Tom into hinting at Logan's ceiling.

The season 4 premiere borrows its title from which 1960s sitcom?

The season 4 premiere is titled 'The Munsters', after the 1964 CBS sitcom about a family of monsters; its centerpiece is Logan's lonely diner meal with his bodyguard, musing on whether people are economic units.

Which rapper remixed the main title theme in 2019?

Pusha T rapped over Britell's theme on 'Puppets (Succession Remix)' in 2019; Britell called him the dream choice for a score built on hip hop and classical music.

At Kendall's 40th birthday party, the VIP zone is a giant replica of what?

Other installations included a replica of his mother's birth canal and a 'compliment tunnel'; a nursery set was cut.

How much does Connor pay for Logan's apartment after his death?

Connor agrees with Marcia to buy the apartment for $63 million at the wake itself, while his siblings jockey over the interim CEO job.

Jeremy Strong initially hoped to play which character?

Strong first read for Roman and lost the part to Kieran Culkin; he then pursued Kendall, later saying the rejection only sharpened his hunger for the role.

Kendall's season 1 drive off the bridge was inspired by which real incident?

The crash was modeled on Ted Kennedy's 1969 Chappaquiddick accident, in which a young woman drowned after Kennedy drove off a bridge and left the scene.

Which uncle physically abused Logan throughout his childhood?

Logan's uncle Noah, who took the brothers in, beat him; the scars across Logan's back are glimpsed when he swims alone at the end of the New Mexico episode.

The Hungarian lodge episode was inspired by whose cruel dinner parties?

Jesse Armstrong modeled the episode on Joseph Stalin's dinners at his dacha, where the dictator forced his inner circle into humiliating games and drinking late into the night.

Poll analyst Darwin Perry was partly inspired by which NBC News figure?

Darwin Perry was partly inspired by Steve Kornacki, MSNBC's khaki-clad election-night numbers man; Adam Godley's Darwin is ATN's equivalent, sidelined mid-count.

In the finale's home video, which Robert Burns song is sung at Logan's dinner?

In the home video Logan leads the table in 'Green Grow the Rushes' (Burns's 'Green Grow the Rashes, O'), a clip the Roy children watch after his death.

Every season finale title is taken from a poem by which writer?

All four finale titles come from John Berryman's 'Dream Song 29'; Berryman died in 1972 by jumping from a Minneapolis bridge.

Logan's funeral Mass was filmed at which Manhattan church?

The funeral was shot at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola on Park Avenue, the same church that hosted Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's 1994 funeral.

Shiv and Tom's wedding was filmed at which stately home in Herefordshire?

Eastnor Castle, a 19th-century Gothic Revival house near Ledbury, stood in for the English estate where Shiv marries Tom; the venue hosts real weddings.

Which is the only episode in which Greg Hirsch does not appear?

Greg does not appear in 'Austerlitz', the family-therapy episode at Connor's ranch that ends with the celebrity psychologist in hospital after diving into a shallow pool.

Kendall's underwater escape from the crashed car was filmed in a tank at which British facility?

It was Jeremy Strong's first significant on-screen stunt, and the crew shot it entirely on 35mm film.

Kieran Culkin won his lead actor Emmy for which episode?

He beat both Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong in the same category that year.

Who hosted HBO's official Succession podcast for the final season?

Kara Swisher, the veteran tech and media journalist, hosted HBO's official podcast for season 4, tying each episode's plot points to real-world media events.

Season 2's finale was shot aboard which real 279-foot superyacht?

The finale was shot aboard Solandge, an 85-metre Lürssen superyacht, cruising the Croatian coast while Logan picks his 'blood sacrifice'.

The Pierces' California home is owned in real life by which former tech CEO?

The siblings' own LA base was a $83 million Pacific Palisades estate with 20,000 square feet of living space.

The pilot had its world premiere at the Series Mania festival in which city?

The US premiere followed a month later at the Time Warner Center, and the first episode drew just 582,000 live viewers.

Which private-equity fund is behind the season 1 hostile takeover bid?

Its backer later fell ill, rumored to be from syphilis, and sent his daughter to negotiate in his place.

In what year did Logan buy the Waystar newspaper that seeded his empire?

He had first bought an advertising business with money left by his father, then bought out his brother's shares.

Alexander Skarsgård named which Spotify co-founder as an inspiration for his character?

The part was pitched as a two-episode role before being expanded into a series regular.