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film2018–2023

Succession

Disciplines:
satire
television/television drama
fiction/family saga

Summary

HBO drama series created by Jesse Armstrong following the Roy family — owners of a global media and hospitality conglomerate — as they fight over succession in a darkly comic tragedy of late capitalism and family dysfunction.

Core Contribution

Became the defining prestige television portrayal of contemporary oligarchic power — simultaneously satirizing and humanizing its billionaire characters — and produced some of the most acclaimed writing in the medium's history.

Historical Influences

Jesse Armstrong

Intellectual Lineage

Shakespearean Tragedy TraditionAmerican Dynasty DramaBritish Political Satire

Allied Works

The Wire Mad MenBillions Industry

Contemporaries & Peers

The Wire Mad MenBreaking Bad The Leftovers Severance

Minds Influenced

No recorded minds influenced.

Intellectual Posterity

'What we do in the shadows' monologueWaystar Royco as cultural shorthand for media oligarchy

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Succession

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