‘Succession’: Which Roy Wins Based on the Real Family Who Inspired the Show?

Fans tune into every episode of Succession to see if an adult Roy child will gain the upper hand over the other siblings to take over the family business. Or if they will all get manipulated by their father once again. But which Roy wins if it follows the real family who inspired the show? Here is everything you need to know.

Who is ‘Succession’ based on?

The HBO show follows the Roys, whose patriarch is the head of the world’s biggest media and entertainment company. Logan (Brian Cox) is the head of the family, and as he gets older, it’s clear someone will have to take his place. He has four children Connor (Alan Ruck), Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook), and Roman (Kieran Culkin).  

The Roys are fictional but pulled from real life for inspiration. Logan closely resembles Rupert Murdoch, who founded News Corp, given their occupation. Murdoch has six children. For a while, it seemed like three of them, Lachlan, James, and Elizabeth, were in the running to take over his media empire once he retires.

That’s because they each were part of the business at different times. Another connection between the Roys and Murdochs is while they’re having conversations about who is taking over, they also were forced to handle huge scandals with how their business was conducted.

Which Roy wins based on the real family who inspired the show?

Rupert Murdoch sold to Disney and split some of the money with his children. But he is still executive chairman of News Corp. Many assume his oldest son, Lachlan, will take his place when the time comes, according to the Irish Times.

His brother, Jamie, has resigned from the family business, claiming he disagreed with some of the content of News Corp. Lachlan is currently the CEO of Fox Corporation.

That leaves the question of who would be Lachlan’s fictional counterpart in Succession? Connor is the eldest Roy, but he is the farthest removed from the business and isn’t interested in it. He also has a different mother than his other siblings, which makes him similar to the other Murdoch children that haven’t publicly been considered seriously as a potential successor.

Roman is the youngest son, which makes him similar to Jamie. He’s also been considered as the “rebel” because he’s been outspoken about his father’s business. That is starting to sound like Kendall, given his actions at the end of season 2.

This means if we simply go by birth order through the three Roy children that share the same two parents–Kendall wins. But if we go by personalities and position within the media company in season 3–it looks like Roman might win.

But if the show truly follows the family as inspiration, then that means no child will truly “win.” The father seems to be staying in the position of power and is willing to sell to other companies instead of keeping the whole empire together for one of the children to take over.