Who Inspired The Succession Story?

Succession has a knack for finding Shakespearean drama and dark hilarity in an honest reflection of today’s billionaires and media ecosystems. But how much of it is directly inspired by specific facts?

It’s long been noticed the Succession Patriarch Logan Roy has a lot in common with Rupert Murdoch, as well as some overlaps with others like Sumner Redstone. Jesse Armstrong’s original script was apparently called The Murdochs, and Jerry Hall’s divorce agreement with Murdoch forbade her from giving any storylines to Succession – so the family is clearly aware of the resemblances. And in fact, through looking at Rupert Murdoch: we probably should have called the Succession ending… In a deal announced in 2017 (and completed in 2019), Murdoch sold most of 21st Century Fox’s assets to an outside company Disney – just as (spoiler alert) in the end Logan decides to sell to Lukas Matssen, and none of his kids manage to hold on as true successors to his company.

Obviously, “Succession” is a work of fiction that goes far beyond these inspirations, and the creators have stated that the show isn’t directly based on any one particular family, but let’s take a look at some of the interesting parallels:

1. Logan and Rupert Murdoch: Both are aging patriarchs of influential media empires. Logan’s ATN is a lot like right-leaning Fox News. They have a hard-edged, ruthless approach to business and are deeply involved in their companies even at an advanced age. They both have had health issues that caused family and corporate upheaval around succession issues. Both are American immigrants (Logan from Scotland, and Rupert from Australia), and they have built successful media empires with controversial legacies. Like Logan, Rupert always gave the impression he intended for one of his kids to succeed him, but never explicitly named anyone as the heir, and mixed up his family and his business to a degree that reportedly encouraged his children to compete for his love-slash-business.

2. Kendall and James/Lachlan Murdoch: Kendall is kind of a mix of two of Rupert’s sons, Lachlan and James Murdoch. Kendall is obsessed with rap, and James owned a hip-hop label; James was “sacrificed” by his dad in the 2011 hacking scandal (like Logan tried to do to Kendall), and he resigned for good in 2020 over content differences, similarly to how Kendall at certain points publicly criticizes his dad’s choices and morals. And Kendall actor Jeremy Strong took inspiration from the legend that James tied his shoes very tightly. On the other hand, Lachlan began as Murdoch’s most prominent heir apparent, like Kendall, before he suddenly quit in 2005 – echoing Kendall’s yo-yo-ing between being his dad’s faithful servant and rebelling against him. Lachlan returned again in 2014 and is still a major executive at Fox but did not take over from his dad as head of NewsCorp because of the Disney deal – again much like Kendall’s ending. Overall, Kendall’s struggle for power in the company and efforts to modernize mirror some of the reported dynamics between Rupert Murdoch and both Lachlan and James.

3. Shiv and Elisabeth Murdoch/Shari Redstone: Shiv, like Elisabeth Murdoch and Shari Redstone, is the only daughter in the family who’s somewhat distanced from the core of the business but ultimately seeks a role within it. Like Shiv, Elisabeth Murdoch built a career first outside of the family business. Elisabeth founded Shine Group, an international group of TV production companies that produced successful shows, but then, like Shiv, she still came under the family umbrella. Elisabeth sold her company to her dad’s NewsCorp and joined the board. Like with Shiv, there was a lot of speculation about Elisabeth potentially taking on a leading role within the Murdoch empire, but in both cases, this didn’t fully materialize. In 2019, Elisabeth founded her own new production company, Sister, which incidentally has a first-look deal with Jeremy Strong. Rupert could reportedly be dismissive of his daughter as a contender to succeed him – similar to Logan with Shiv. According to Sky High writer Mathew Horsman, Rupert said Elisabeth needed to figure out how many children she would have before going further in the company. Shiv also has parallels to Shari Redstone, who assumed control of National Amusements and became the Chairwoman of ViacomCBS – and also has red hair. Like Shiv, Shari both publicly fought with her father and desperately wanted his approval. Both have been involved in public and often contentious succession struggles. Unlike Shari, Shiv doesn’t engage in actual legal battles with her family members, whereas Shari was involved in multiple lawsuits related to her father’s company and succession planning. Shari also only has one brother and was more in conflict with her elderly father’s romantic partners. And in some ways, that later life relationship evokes Sandy and Sandi in Succession.

4. Roman and James Murdoch: Roman, like James, is often seen as a less serious figure compared to his siblings. Both are seen as more rebellious and less likely heirs, yet they hold significant roles within their family’s companies, seem drawn to more creative arenas, and at times do become the frontrunner.

5. Connor and Prudence Murdoch: Both Logan’s eldest Connor and Prudence, Rupert Murdoch’s oldest child from his first marriage, are less involved in the family business compared to their younger siblings.

6. The Buyout Attempts: In the second season of “Succession”, Kendall Roy makes a power move to try to take over his father’s company. This is very reminiscent of real-life legal battles within the Redstone family. Shari Redstone, Sumner’s daughter, fought a legal battle against her father’s former girlfriend, Sydney Holland, and another former companion, Manuela Herzer. The women were accused of manipulating the ailing Sumner to gain control of his media empire, leading to a very public, messy legal battle. Similarly, Kendall’s move was seen as a betrayal and led to dramatic family and corporate conflict. And the whole conflict also makes us think of the plotting savvy of Logan’s wife Marcia, which leads us to:

7. The Divorces: Rupert Murdoch has been married four times, and his divorces have often been high profile, given his wealth and influence. His divorce from his third wife, Wendi Deng, attracted considerable media attention, and at the age of 92 he reportedly divorced his fourth wife, Jerry Hall, over email, allegedly writing, “Jerry, sadly I’ve decided to call an end to our marriage. We have certainly had some good times, but I have much to do.” In the show, Logan Roy’s divorces from his children’s mothers, and his union with, then estrangement from, his third wife Marcia, have major implications for family dynamics – and business. Moreover, just like Murdoch’s children, Logan’s children worry about the potential dilution of their inheritance and control over the family business due to their father’s partners.

8. The Scandals: In “Succession”, the Roy family’s media empire faces a major scandal when serious misconduct allegations surface regarding the cruise division of their company. The company is accused of covering up incidents of sexual assault and other misconduct. This has been compared to real-life scandals that have hit Fox News, a part of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. In recent years, Fox News has faced several high-profile sexual harassment allegations involving key personalities and executives like Roger Ailes, which led to significant public scrutiny and corporate upheaval, and was dramatized in the movie Bombshell. The scandal also echoes the 2011 News Corp scandal where it was discovered that their UK newspaper, News of the World, was hacking phones that belonged to famous people and even victims of crimes. Like when Logan and Kendall testify before Congress in the show, both Rupert and James testified in front of UK Parliament’s Culture, Media, and Sport Committee. And just as Logan wanted to sacrifice Kendall, Rupert let James take the fall by giving up his executive chairman role in the company’s UK publishing. The season 4 episode, “America Decides” (titled after then Fox News slogan “We Report, You Decide”), is also a dark reflection of Fox News’ election reporting. As Aiden McLaughlin writes for Mediaite, “The theme of the episode, of course, is that America does not decide” because “the higher powers at ATN… push the network to call the race for Mencken.” ATN airs the incendiary conspiracy suggestions of Tucker Carlson-esque Mark Ravenhead, and the decision desk gets itself into awkward positions – an inverse to how Fox called Arizona for Biden and then had to hold off calling other states to avoid being the first to call the election for Biden; and even more so, a mirror of how in 2000, their desk (led by George W Bush’s cousin) was the first to call the election for Bush and majorly impacted public opinion. ATN’s mishandling of the election coverage due to their eagerness to please their audience also recalls the Dominion defamation lawsuit (settled for $787 million) over claims aired on Fox News that alleged Dominion’s voting machines had been rigged to steal the election from Trump.

9. The Roys and The Kennedys: Kendall’s tragic accident where he’s culpable for the death of the caterer while driving high is actually modeled on a Kennedy scandal. In the Chappaquiddick incident of 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy (JFK’s younger brother) drowned one of his employees when he drove off a bridge. Even though a judge found that this was negligent and intentional, Kennedy only got his license suspended

10. Selling To An Outsider: Logan shocks everyone by – after constantly fighting to keep the company – suddenly announcing he’s going to sell to GoJo. In fact, Rupert Murdoch basically did the same thing when he sold to Disney in a deal that was set from 2017-2019. Rupert kept only the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Sports, and Fox News – which was reportedly what he cared about most, just as Logan cares only about keeping ATN in the deal he’s negotiating with Mattsson. According to the New York Times’ Jim Rutenberg, this was basically a vote of no-confidence in his kids. Rutenberg said, “By making his family the business, and the business his family, Rupert left his family just as broken up as his company was when he sold to Disney. It was ripped apart by this decades-long battle for succession which, at the same time, was a zero-sum seeming battle for their father’s love.” Weirdly, even from his grave, Logan still got exactly what he wanted – for the Gojo Deal to go through, and none of his children to get the top job, because Logan always wins. Why this is what he wanted is a little inscrutable, until you get inside their psychology. When asked about his interest in Murdoch and Redstone, Jesse Armstrong once remarked that, when asked about their succession plans, both moguls had quipped that they didn’t plan to die. Murdoch was even quoted as saying, “I’m now convinced of my own immortality.” Armstrong said: “It felt like something quite basic about not wanting to give up and feeling that loss of influence at the end of your life. And I started to feel there was a show about what those people are like in general.”

Sources:

Davis, Janelle. “It’s not hard to see how the Murdochs inspired ‘Succession’.” CNN, 27 Sep. 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/10/entertainment/succession-murdochs-origseriesfilms/index.html. Accessed 9 June 2023.

Issa, Natalie. “Who’s the real-life family the Roys are based on in ‘Succession’?” Deseret News, 30 May 2023. https://www.deseret.com/23668341/succession-based-on-murdochs. Accessed 9 June 2023.

McLaughlin, Aidan. “Succession’s ‘America Decides’ Election Episode is a Prescient Skewering of Fox News.” Mediaite, 15 May 2023. https://www.mediaite.com/tv/successions-america-decides-election-episode-is-a-shockingly-prescient-skewering-of-fox-news/. Accessed 9 June 2023.

“Real-life ‘Succession’: How one of the biggest media tycoons split up his empire.” CNN, https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2022/03/30/murdochs-rupert-murdoch-media-empire-ron-cnn-104.cnn. Accessed 9 June 2023.

Richardson, Nick. “Sumner Redstone: the other media baron who inspired Succession was more toxic and dysfunctional than Logan Roy.” The Conversation, 21 May 2023. https://theconversation.com/sumner-redstone-the-other-media-baron-who-inspired-succession-was-more-toxic-and-dysfunctional-than-logan-roy-204035#:~:text=Murdoch%20turned%2092%20in%20March,likely%20he%20was%20half%2Djoking. Accessed 9 June 2023.

“The Murdochs: Empire of Influence.” CNN, https://www.cnn.com/shows/the-murdochs-empire-of-influence. Accessed 9 June 2023.
“UK Phone Hacking Scandal Fast Facts.” CNN, 27 Apr. 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2013/10/24/world/europe/uk-phone-hacking-scandal-fast-facts/index.html. Accessed 9 June 2023.