HBO’s Succession may feature a bunch of cut-throat characters, but some are less hateful than others. Let’s rank them from nicest to meanest!
Succession returns to HBO this Sunday so we can spend more time with the cutthroat Roy family and their inner circle. The dark comedy stood out last year by exploring the complex dynamics between the hard-to-please patriarch and his kids desperate to prove their own worth. Of course, in the business world, not everyone can play nice and we rank the characters based on their overall goodness.
1. Greg Hirsch
Wonderfully played by Nicholas Braun, Greg Hirsch is the grandnephew of Logan Roy (Brian Cox), grandson of Ewan Roy (James Cromwell) and awkward protégé of the borderline sinister Tom Wamsgans (Matthew Macfadyen). Despite hanging around these wretched, conniving billionaires, Greg manages at least an air of incorruptibility. In fact, when Tom convinces him to swallow endangered songbirds (called ortolans) as a dinner time treat, he is noticeably disgusted by the process.
While he’s capable of blackmailing Tom about sex scandals on a cruise line, it seems like he’s only just defending himself. Plus, let’s face it, it was foolhardy for Tom to put Greg in charge of the cover-up. Greg may be relatively innocent, but power wrangling itself has a way of corrupting someone, and his prior innocence may only inform him on his way up. Does only scum rise to the top? We’ll find out more in season 2 of Succession!
2. Connor Roy
Oddly enough, Connor Roy (Alan Ruck) just barely loses to Greg in this list. The eldest son of Logan, there’s a real sense that he tries to defy ultra-rich-white guy stereotypes. He also does a halfway decent job of it, expressing concerns over the environment and such. Granted, almost everything about him is probably fake, but he really wants to look he’s making a difference. Who knows? Maybe to some extent his character is (in his own little way, at least). He also wishes to seem smart, starting a podcast on Napoleonic history. Who knows? Maybe he does know about that…or will it all be ghostwritten while he gets sole credit?
The point is, Connor at his worst probably doesn’t amount to much harm, at least in the short term. There’s also debate over whether the woman he’s dating, Willa (Justine Lupe) is interested in him, as she’s been a paid escort in the past. On the bright side, he may genuinely feel he’s rescuing her from a sordid life. Like any Succession character, there’s definitely wiggle room for additional evil with Connor Roy, especially when he’s wanting to run for President of the United States. However, it’s hard to imagine him not fumbling and bumbling his way through a campaign.
3. Siobhan “Shiv” Roy
Sarah Snook’s character, Shiv, may hate her family (especially Logan Roy), but the average fallen apple stays close to the tree. We do know that Shiv can become shrewd, rude, crude and nude to have her way. She’s also directly linked to the political world, as she seems hostile to her family’s media empire. Many would quickly point of her cheating on Tom Wamsgans, and that he, despite being horrible in general, seems to genuinely be faithful to her. In fact, she may be the sole thing preventing Tom from going over the edge into some unknown abyss of debauchery.
She has been active in the campaign of Gil Eavis (Eric Bogosian) for President, and almost seems genuinely interested in preventing her family business from gaining true monopoly status on media. Also, to complicate things, she has a way of sometimes uniting her broken brothers, and reminding them they are actually family. For that fact alone she wins a point or two of goodness.
4. Kendall Roy
Played by Jeremy Strong, Kendall Roy is oddly not the worst person on Succession. In fact, the worst aspects of his character involve his trying to appease his father Logan, and trying to run his family’s business, Waystar Royco, in a sound manner. However, his father just isn’t having that, and begrudges his son every step of the way! Logan resents how his family wants to wrangle power away from him, and Kendall is at the epicenter of Logan’s resulting abuse. He also uses drugs to cope with his depression. For this, he wins sympathy points, at least.
Also on the plus side, Kendall tries to be aware of what’s going on in an industry, as opposed to merely dominating others like a pack of animals. That being said, Kendall is slightly worse than Shiv, as he doesn’t see much wrong with his family’s business in and of itself. Also, as we’ve seen, he’s capable of leaving the scene of an accident he caused, not saving his dead passenger, then going back to a party acting like nothing happened (Chappaquiddick-style). As bad as this is, at least we can say it was an accident.
5. Tom Wamsgans
Calling Tom worse than Kendall is a matter of taste, really. However, let’s be real here: This guy is a jerk, plain and simple. Constantly bullying Greg, there’s almost nothing truly likable about him. We can really only hate-like him (which is probably a term by now). Also, that he tries to hide the cruise ship sex scandal is, well, scandalous. Hopefully, we’ll learn more about that (and Tom’s sleaziness) in season 2. At the same time (and paradoxically), we may see Tom more humanized regarding his love for Shiv Roy, which appears to be quite genuine. As stated before, she may be likened to his kryptonite, and also as proof that he’s capable of not being a jerk to everyone. Still, what a jerk! Season 2 may be intense based on this character alone. There’s so much more to explore!
6. Roman Roy
“Yum yum, blood! Shirts off sh**!” Such is how Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) refers to layoff, which he likens to a family of sharks circling its prey. He also likes to take his shirt off. Roman is the most lovable sleazoid Succession has to offer. He wants all of his family’s power but none of the responsibility. It does make one wonder, what keeps Roman on board? Why doesn’t he just use some of his wealth to retire at an early age, away from all this trouble?
It’s because, in many ways, he feeds off his family’s dysfunction. His eyes are perpetually seeking a train wreck, which may be partly why he’d participate in a few. Then again, this may not literally be the case. When he botches a space shuttle launch that he was freakishly put in charge of, he seems to vaguely regret it. However, that seems to be more avoid sensing intense legal troubles and lawsuits, which can ultimately threaten anyone — even sons of self-absorbed billionaires.
7. Logan Roy
An aging dinosaur from a plainly regrettable era, Logan Roy refuses to pass the torch. If he has his way, it will need to be wrested from his freshly deceased hand. That really is his nature. Waystar Royco is not only his baby but he hates it. He also hates his children. He needs his wealth and power but hates that, too. Basically, this bitter old fool is either incapable of love or can’t distinguish it from hate. To him, everything is a game, and there’s a sense that he has insiders in government willing to do his bidding, too.
How could he not be at the bottom of this list? Still, somehow his current wife, Marcia (Hiam Abbass) seems to love him. Or is she merely used to him, to the extent that it approximates some form of love? Like the sound bite-addled media he runs, he’s good at taking people down in succinct statements, such as telling son Kendall, “What have you had your entire life that I didn’t give you?” It stings even more because it’s true. Basically, people like Logan Roy are what make life so tough, and we hate them for it, while they hate us back (possibly even harder).
What are your thoughts on Succession? Are we wrong about who’s the nicest/meanest characters? Let us know in the comments!