HBO’s Succession burst onto television screens in June 2018 with a debut season that would lay the groundwork for what would become one of the most acclaimed series in television history. Created by British writer Jesse Armstrong, the show’s first season introduced viewers to the Roy family’s Shakespearean power struggles within their global media empire, Waystar RoyCo. While the series would later become a cultural phenomenon, its first season began as a slow-burning examination of wealth, power, and familial dysfunction that gradually built momentum through its masterful character development and razor-sharp dialogue.
The ten-episode first season marked a bold departure from traditional corporate dramas by blending darkly comedic satire with intense family drama. Through the lens of the Roy family’s machinations, Armstrong and his team crafted a scathing critique of media monopolies, generational wealth, and American power structures. The season’s central conflict—sparked by patriarch Logan Roy’s sudden decision to retain control of his empire despite promises of succession—sets in motion a chain of events that would not only define the series’ trajectory but also earn critical acclaim for its unflinching portrayal of corporate greed and family loyalty.
Power Succession and Reversal
The story opens with Logan Roy (Brian Cox), the aging, formidable CEO of global media and entertainment conglomerate Waystar RoyCo, who initially plans to step down due to health concerns. Logan intends to hand the reins of his sprawling empire, which includes conservative news network ATN, theme parks, and cruise lines, to his second oldest son, Kendall (Jeremy Strong). As a high-ranking executive and presumed heir, Kendall has been groomed for the role for years, positioning him as the natural successor. However, during Logan’s 80th birthday celebration, he abruptly reverses course and announces he’ll remain CEO.
Logan presents his children, Kendall, Roman (Kieran Culkin), Shiv (Sarah Snook), and Connor (Alan Ruck), with documents that would give his fiercely protective third wife, Marcia (Hiam Abbass), two votes in determining the company’s successor after his death. The maneuver reveals Logan’s deep distrust of his children’s judgment and his strategic use of Marcia as a counterbalance to their ambitions. Such an unexpected power play blindsides Kendall, who reacts with fury at both the sudden shift and the proposed empowerment of his stepmother. In a calculated move to secure Roman’s signature, Logan fires his longtime friend and COO, Frank (Peter Friedman), Kendall’s mentor and godfather.
Logan then offers the COO position to Roman instead, a tempting proposal for his son who typically shirks responsibility but desperately craves his father’s approval. Despite this maneuver and favorable terms offered to both Roman and Shiv, a successful political consultant largely operating outside Waystar’s orbit, they refuse to sign, wary of giving Marcia such leverage. The siblings’ resistance stuns Logan, and shortly after this heated confrontation, he suffers a massive hemorrhagic stroke, requiring immediate hospitalization. Surgery is considered, but Logan’s condition remains critical, leaving Waystar’s future uncertain and creating a power vacuum.
Meanwhile, Kendall, eager to prove his leadership capabilities and boost the company’s sagging profit margins, works to acquire digital media startup Vaulter. When he learns of his father’s stroke from Vaulter’s CEO, Lawrence (Rob Yang), he rushes to the hospital where the Roy siblings engage in a heated power struggle. While Roman and Connor—Logan’s eldest child from his first marriage—largely detached from the core business but harboring political ambitions) favor honoring their father’s wishes by signing the documents, Shiv balks at granting Marcia such authority. Kendall, seeing an opportunity, pushes for his own ascension to CEO. They ultimately agree to install Kendall as acting CEO with Roman serving as interim COO.
Shortly after Kendall becomes acting CEO, Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron), Waystar’s savvy general counsel, uncovers a critical financial vulnerability. Logan had secretly taken out a USD 3 billion loan, secured by company stock, for park expansions. This loan contained a dangerous clause: if Waystar’s stock price dipped below USD 130 per share, the entire debt could become immediately due. With Waystar’s stock price teetering dangerously close to this threshold under Kendall’s uncertain leadership, the company faced potential financial collapse. As the stock price ultimately breached this critical point, Kendall, desperate to prevent Waystar’s insolvency, turned to his college friend Stewy Hosseini (Arian Moayed), a private equity investor. Stewy agreed to a USD 4 billion capital injection for voting stock and a board seat, staving off immediate disaster but introducing a challenging new dynamic to the company’s control.
While Kendall struggles to manage the company’s financial challenges, his personal life simultaneously crumbles. His attempt to reconcile with his estranged wife Rava (Natalie Gold), the mother of his two children, only confirms their impending divorce. Logan eventually regains consciousness and returns home, though Marcia initially plays gatekeeper, fiercely controlling access and assuring the family of his recovery while flexing her newfound influence. When Logan is well enough to meet with Kendall, he furiously admonishes him for the private equity deal. While the capital injection from Stewy was necessary to save Waystar from the fallout of Logan’s hidden debt, Logan views Kendall’s decision to cede voting stock and a board seat as a profound betrayal and a sign of weakness, rather than a pragmatic solution to a crisis Logan himself precipitated.
Upon his return to Waystar, Logan immediately begins reasserting control. In a calculated move to sideline Kendall and assert influence over Roman, he reinstates Frank to mentor Roman as COO. Meanwhile, Kendall prepares for the company’s annual charity gala, organized by Connor, hoping to regain some footing. However, his position grows increasingly fragile as Logan steadily consolidates power. The narrative reaches a climax at the gala, where Connor notices revisions in Kendall’s speech that hint at announcing Logan’s retirement. Tipped off in advance, Logan delivers the speech himself, announcing his triumphant return as CEO and leaving Kendall publicly humiliated before the company’s elite and stakeholders.
Corporate Scandal Meets Family
While power struggles roil the executive level, significant developments also emerge within Waystar’s operations, notably involving Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen), Shiv’s ambitious fiance. Already a Waystar executive hungry for advancement, Tom is appointed to lead the Parks and Cruises division. Simultaneously, Logan’s great-nephew, Greg Hirsch (Nicholas Braun), arrives on the scene. Greg, the hapless grandson of Logan’s estranged and principled brother, Ewan (James Cromwell), seeks a new role after being fired from a low-level Waystar theme park job.
He initially lands an entry-level position and soon finds himself under the frequently demeaning supervision of Tom. When Tom is promoted amidst the leadership uncertainty to head the Parks and Cruises division, he brings Greg along as his executive assistant. In this new capacity, Tom—and by extension, Greg—uncovers alarming documents detailing a systemic cover-up of serious crimes within the division, including sexual harassment, assault, and even deaths. The company’s callous handling of these cases, particularly those involving vulnerable victims like migrant workers and women, underscores Waystar’s prioritization of its reputation and profits over human lives. Shaken by the scale and severity of the scandal, Tom confides in both Greg and Shiv, seeking guidance on how to proceed.
After careful consideration, Tom weighs exposing the cruise scandal, but Gerri warns against such action, emphasizing the potential catastrophic fallout for the company. When Tom confronts Greg about potentially leaking the information, Greg plays dumb, leading Tom to suspect Shiv as the only other person he confided in. However, a subsequent private interaction reveals Gerri thanking Greg for discretely informing her about Tom’s discovery and his panicked handling of the sensitive cruise documents. This confirms Greg had bypassed Tom to share the information with a more powerful and experienced player. While Greg’s motivations stem from an emerging self-preservation instinct and a desire to align with key Waystar figures, his actions also reveal a shrewd understanding of corporate power dynamics, belying his initially naive demeanor.
As Thanksgiving approaches, the already fraught family dynamics are set for further tension. Marcia invites Ewan to the family gathering. Consequently, Greg is sent to Canada to escort the reluctant Ewan, setting the stage for a reunion marked by ideological and personal conflicts. Meanwhile, Logan makes a controversial decision to expand into local TV markets, brushing off his counsel’s advice and showcasing his increasingly erratic and defiant behavior following his medical crisis. Alarmed by his father’s actions and his own diminished standing, Kendall begins quietly orchestrating a vote of no confidence among the Waystar board members to oust Logan from the company.
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During the tense Thanksgiving dinner, Tom tasks Greg with destroying documents related to the cruise scandal, though Greg slyly preserves copies before shredding them, further demonstrating his evolving, opportunistic nature. The evening spirals when Logan and Ewan, who hold drastically different ethical views, lock horns over the company’s practices and Logan’s life choices, resulting in Ewan’s abrupt departure. Kendall attempts to enlist Ewan’s support for the upcoming vote, but his uncle, while deeply critical of Logan, refuses to directly move against his brother, despite holding a board seat.
Failed Coup and Fallout
The next morning, Kendall, along with Roman, Frank, and Gerri, scrambles to secure board member support for Logan’s ousting. They believe they’ve gained the backing of Lawrence Yee of Vaulter and Stewy Hosseini. Stewy, critically, also represents the interests of Sandy Furness (Larry Pine), head of Furness Media Investments and a significant rival looking for opportunities to weaken or acquire Waystar. Their backing, if it held firm, would be pivotal to the coup’s success. On the crucial day, Kendall travels to Long Island to sway an ailing board member, but flight restrictions from a potential terror threat ground his helicopter, complicating his return to Manhattan. Caught in gridlocked traffic after a terrorist threat closes Manhattan’s bridges, he must join the crucial board meeting remotely from a car, significantly undermining his leadership presence.
During the palpably tense vote, Logan’s refusal to leave the room and his intimidating presence tip the scales in his favor. Both Stewy and Lawrence, wilting under Logan’s steely gaze, abstain from voting. More significantly, Roman unexpectedly backs his father. Following his victory, Logan summarily fires all opposition voters, including Kendall and Frank, in a blistering confrontation with cutting remarks and security escorts, purging those he views as traitors. In the aftermath of the failed coup, Kendall takes legal action against Logan for wrongful termination. Tabloids, likely fed information by Logan’s camp, start circulating damaging rumors about his relapse into drug addiction, further isolating him from potential allies.
In an attempt at damage control and to project an image of family unity following the failed coup, Logan arranges a therapy session at Connor’s New Mexico ranch—a sprawling, remote property reflecting Connor’s desire for a life apart from the core family business, albeit funded by it. At the ranch, Connor welcomes the family with Willa (Justine Lupe), a playwright he is dating. He hopes to solidify their relationship, a suggestion she accepts with noticeable reluctance. The therapy session itself, intended to mend deep-seated familial wounds, is quickly derailed by an accident involving the therapist.
Meanwhile, Shiv reconnects with her former lover and political strategist, Nate (Ashley Zukerman). Nate is deeply involved in the presidential campaign of Senator Gil Eavis (Eric Bogosian), a progressive Democrat whose platform includes challenging media conglomerates like Waystar, complicating Shiv’s professional and personal life. Meanwhile, Kendall, who had initially decided against attending the therapy, changes his mind but gets sidetracked en route. He relapses into drug use with locals, ironically fulfilling the rumors Logan previously circulated. Roman eventually finds Kendall and brings him to the already tense ranch, where simmering family conflicts erupt into a raw, revealing confrontation, laying bare their profound dysfunctions.
The conflict reaches its peak when Logan confronts Shiv about her meetings with Gil and, in a moment of brutal honesty, admits he planted the false reports about Kendall’s drug use before his actual relapse, revealing the depths of his manipulation and willingness to destroy his own children to maintain control. This confession lays bare the toxic nature of Logan’s relationship with his offspring, where love and approval are conditional upon absolute loyalty.
Betrayals and Fatal Consequences
A month later, Stewy hosts Tom’s bachelor party at an exclusive underground club, attended by Roman, Kendall, Greg, Connor, and Tom. While Shiv permits Tom his bachelor party’s indulgences, she secretly rekindles her affair with Nate while working on Gil’s campaign, juggling her desires and political ambitions. Tensions flare when Gil appears on Waystar’s conservative news network, ATN, but questioning about his wife’s suicide by the network’s hosts forces him to storm off, a move likely orchestrated by Logan to undermine him and assert control over the narrative.
Shiv’s attempt to persuade Logan to back off the personal attacks against Gil backfires when Logan drops veiled threats about exposing her affair with Nate, demonstrating his willingness to weaponize his children’s vulnerabilities. When Shiv refuses to cut ties with Gil’s campaign, Logan retaliates: Marcia informs Shiv he won’t attend her wedding—a cutting blow revealing his emotional manipulation is as effective as his corporate power.
Meanwhile, at the bachelor party, Tom brags to Greg about hooking up with Tabitha (Caitlin FitzGerald), while Kendall meets Sandy Furness. Sandy reveals Stewy’s secret alliance with him in a planned hostile takeover—a revelation that explains Stewy’s earlier investment in Waystar—and offers to buy Kendall’s Waystar shares, looking to consolidate power. Kendall counters with his own pitch for a hostile takeover, proposing to use Sandy and Stewy to wrest control from his father and secure his position as CEO. This bold move signals his determination to reclaim what he believes should be his.
The wedding unfolds at an English castle, bringing together the Roy family, including Caroline (Harriet Walter), Logan’s second wife and the aristocratic English mother to Kendall, Roman, and Shiv, who maintains a frosty relationship with her children. Logan’s unexpected appearance, driven more by PR concerns than fatherly love, adds another layer of tension to the proceedings. During the wedding festivities, Nate reveals his past affair with Shiv to a stunned Tom, sparking a significant confrontation. Faced with Tom’s anger and the potential fallout, Shiv strategically uses her knowledge of the cruise division scandal as leverage. She approaches Gerri, offering Waystar’s silence on the devastating scandal in exchange for ATN ceasing its aggressive on-air attacks regarding Senator Gil Eavis’s deceased wife. This negotiation, effectively with Logan through his trusted counsel, results in a temporary ceasefire in the public feud between Waystar and the Eavis campaign.
The situation takes a dramatic turn when Kendall learns that Sandy and Stewy have fast-tracked their hostile takeover plans to coincide with the wedding, capitalizing on Logan’s absence from the country and the perceived family distraction. The morning after, Kendall presents Logan with their bear hug acquisition offer to buy the company, triggering a furious response and frantic strategy session by Logan and his team. His siblings react with shock and rage upon discovering his alliance with outsiders against the family business, viewing it as the ultimate betrayal of blood loyalty.
During their wedding night, Shiv confesses her affair with Nate to Tom, suggesting they consider an open relationship. This bombshell devastates Tom, but he reluctantly accepts, agreeing to forgive her but insisting Nate be removed from their lives. Despite this significant betrayal, the newlyweds temporarily reconcile, though the foundation of their relationship is severely compromised.
The season culminates in tragedy. Kendall, reeling from the takeover announcement and his family’s furious reaction, desperately seeks cocaine. He enlists a young waiter from the wedding catering staff, Andrew ‘Doddy’ Dodds (Tom Morley), to help him score. As they drive in search of drugs, Kendall, attempting to avoid a deer on a narrow bridge, loses control of the car, which plunges into the water. Kendall manages to free himself from the sinking vehicle. He makes a brief, panicked attempt to help Dodds before succumbing to fear and fleeing the scene, leaving the waiter to drown. This act of negligence and cowardice will have profound and haunting consequences for Kendall.
When Logan discovers Kendall’s involvement the next morning, he seizes the opportunity. Using his considerable power and resources, Logan orchestrates a cover-up: the official story will be that Dodds stole Kendall’s key card and car. In exchange for this protection, Kendall must publicly abandon his hostile takeover bid and agree to attend rehab. This Faustian bargain effectively shackles his son to him through guilt and complicity, demonstrating how Logan ultimately maintains control not just through corporate maneuvering but by exploiting his children’s deepest vulnerabilities and mistakes. It’s a devastating conclusion that sets the stage for the power dynamics and moral compromises that will define the series going forward.
