The True-life Family the Roys Are Based on in Succession
The show's creators were inspired by one clan in particular.
Season 4 of Succession, revolving around the members of the rich and unhappy Roy family, continues to delight fans with some fast-unfolding action and almost-Shakespearean drama, which gets more and more intense with each new episode.
The tragedy of Logan Roy's children makes us empathize with them, but Succession is still a satire about people who, in the name of money, are willing to violate all moral principles and end up losing everything.
This scenario sounds quite realistic, and it's not surprising that the Roy family is based on a few real-world families who own media conglomerates.
Succession creator, Jesse Armstrong, once spoke in an interview with HBO about the personalities that inspired the Roys.
'We thought of famous media families like the Hearsts, to modern-day Redstone, John Malone, Robert Fitz of Comcast, Murdoch, and Robert and Rebekah Mercer, who founded Breitbart,' Armstrong said.
He emphasized that the source of inspiration was not somebody in particular but many influential billionaires.
And yet, Logan's family has clear parallels to the equally powerful family of a real-life kingpin — and that is the family of Rupert Murdoch.
To begin with, Rupert is no less insidious and influential than Logan. The businessmen own the largest conservative media empires in the US, News Corp and Waystar, respectively, and Roy's ATN is similar to Murdoch's Fox News.
Both tycoons also intended (much to the chagrin of their 'successors') to sell parts of their companies to other media giants: Murdoch sold 21st Century Fox to Disney, leaving only a few divisions including Fox News, while Logan wanted to sell his stake to GoJo.
Furthermore, there are parallels in the two moguls' offspring. Rupert has a daughter from his first marriage, Prudence Macleod, who is minimally involved in her father's business, just like Connor Roy.
Murdoch also has three children from his second marriage: sons Lachlan and James and daughter Elisabeth, and they may be seen as prototypes for Kendall, Roman, and Shiv.
Also, just like Logan, Rupert Murdoch has stabbed his children in the back more than once as they came and went from their positions in the company.
But the Murdochs' position in the real-world media business seems more secure. The old mogul is still alive, and his son Lachlan (unlike Kendall) is now at the head of Fox Corp, pushing a conservative agenda for the sake of money, while James and Elisabeth have left the business.
The situation with the Roys seems to be more tense, and we will see how their story unfolds very soon — Episode 4 'Honeymoon States' will arrive on HBO on April 16, 2023.