Plot Twist! Succession Season 5 has been here all along!
Is our "Season 5" just playing out in real life in the media industry?
“ I hate to say this because I love you,
but you’re kind of evil.”Kendall Roy
Warning: tropes ahead! We depart from my usual data & insights content for a step back on the state of the media corporate politics landscape.
HBO always has the power to make me mourn the end of a series. When Game of Thrones ended (love it or hate it), nothing on TV came close for some time and I was left with a Westeros-sized hole in my heart. There is no heartbreak like saying goodbye to your TV friends (and their addictive drama) for the last time.
But as hard as it was to say goodbye to the 🐉 Mother of Dragons, Succession’s devastating, cynical, and irony-laden ending last year was a real heart-wrencher. Where would I get my fix of over-the-top, unhinged media mogul wars?
The joke was on me – and maybe all of us – as it turns out Season 5 has been on full display in 2024. Once we left the Roys to suffer their fates on the home entertainment stage, real-life media moguls swept in to give us a much bigger live act. (If you’ve been following the news in media and entertainment, you know exactly what – and who – I am talking about.) I’ve had to unironically say “Bring the popcorn!” more times than I can count as we all stood by marveling at the plot twists, intrigue, power moves, and red herrings afoot in the broader media industry.
My contribution to this chaos is a lovely side-by-side: Succession storylines juxtaposed with their modern, real-life, all-too-true, and all-too-soon events.
Broken Lines of Succession & Musical Chairs
“ I love you, but you are not serious people
Logan Roy
ON TV: The entire series revolves around the never-ending question of who will succeed Logan Roy as CEO of Waystar Royco. When Logan fails to properly plan for his inevitable exit, his children run amok, knocking down the dominos of dark tragicomedy satire. The longer the patriarch keeps his children in the dark about his intentions, the more the ensuing chaos and infighting fuels the mystery and leads to endless plotting and maneuvering by the Roy family members.
IN REAL LIFE: The comedic parade of who will lead “_______” (fill in the blank with one of many big media companies currently undergoing succession-planning ambiguity) has been a broken record on repeat.
In late 2022, Disney’s tumultuous ousting of Bob Chapek was quickly followed by the “temporary” return of legendary leader Bob Iger. A year and half later, the mystery continues to swirl as to who may take the reins next. (Gold stars to whoever penned this appropriately named Vanity Fair headline: Bibbidi Bobbidi Who Will It Be?)
Disney’s not alone: Paramount Global has also been in an extended cycle of calamity at the top. Musical chairs in leadership, a long drawn-out M&A drama. Earlier this month Bob Bakish was unseated in a pre-merger earnings call, stating that “Paramount would instead be led by a team of three executives”.
Hmmm.. What could go wrong with a team of three? I can’t help but go straight to images of Shiv, Kendall, and Roman’s (brief) commitment to leading the company together as one. While I hope it goes better for Paramount’s new helm(s), three might prove to be a crowd.
Lights, Cameras…. Board Drama!
ON TV: The external pressure on Logan from the board of directors – and the control that the board had on the internal and external maneuvering and voting – was always a driving force in the series. You never quite knew what would come out of the mouths of the folks around that table or which way the unpredictable and complex relationships between the trustees would twist each week. Succession board scenes were the cumulative battlefield of the series, where each deception, red herring, or misplaced piece of trust was met by an equally delicious chess move or act of betrayal. Board meetings were the funeral for many best-laid plans.
IN REAL LIFE: Clashing motives, beliefs, and objectives have been on full display for some important brands, as the boardroom continues to prove itself as the modern arena.
This quarter, Disney had its own great battle of the boardroom vote, affectionately described by Reuters as “a multimillion-dollar, mud-slinging battle.” If you missed that one, here’s the TLDR: activist investor Nelson Peltz tried to win over two board seats. There was public campaigning and targeted advertising at play on both sides of the power tussle, which ultimately became a bit of a hero and villain narrative of its own (befitting of Disney).
And my favorite board meltdown of the year, where it was impossible to know who was in the right or wrong, OpenAI’s board imploded and unraveled on a very public stage over the ethics and future of artificial intelligence. The world followed as the events unfolded almost hour-by-hour as if it was a celebrity trial, in an exhausting whiplash of who was in and who was out. It was one the oddest board implosions of our time, triggered largely by ambiguous grey areas and the weight of responsibility of bringing nascent GenAI technology.
This feud wasn’t just a corporate power tussle, it held all of our futures in its hand as fundamental questions about the role of board governance and how tech companies should approach innovation and development in the new frontier. The board was tackling incredibly tough fundamental debates about the future of AI: are we innovating at any cost? What role should ethics play? Poorly equipped to manage these tough conversations productively within their own walls, the board’s disagreements with Altman came close to causing the overnight collapse of one of the most important tech companies of our time.
Perhaps there is a Sam Altman biopic in our future? I am hoping for a scene where someone flips their desk Tom-Wambsgans-Style. And something tells me we’re not done seeing this debate through, this was just the beginning.
“Information, Greg, it’s like a bottle of fine wine. You store it, you hoard it, you save it for a special occasion and then you smash someone’s face with it.”
Tom Wambsgans
Political Intrigue & Regulatory Games
ON TV: The political ties between business and family are the constant throughline for the series. Front and center are Logan’s attempts to curry favor with politicians and manipulate regulators to protect his own interests, but just as important are Shiv’s past political career (and future ambitions), Tom’s congressional meltdowns, Connor’s terrible (glorious?) presidential run, and Roman’s too-real-to-even-laugh-at shady election influence on behalf of villainous candidate Jeryd Mencken.
IN REAL LIFE: HBO’s writer’s room did almost too good of a job throughout the series as nearly every plotline above has its own real-life parallel in the tech and media industry.
Disney’s conflicts over local politics – dubbed by the media as “woke wars” in Florida – has been well-documented. And on Capitol Hill, Meta has been embroiled in their own political controversy through congressional hearings about the harmful effects of social media on our youth.
As we enter another election cycle, everything – even just turning on the news – is giving me PTSD as I think back to those newsroom scenes from Season 4, which had Murdoch’s media empire squarely in its satire crosshairs.
Cliff Hangers! What’s Next?
Each new piece of news, speculation, or regime change brings both stress responses of “Oh God what now?!” and a bit of comedic mental gymnastics as I try to recast the characters in my mind – who is Shiv? Logan? Gerri? Lucratively slimy Stewy?
An industry collaborator recently said, “We must laugh or else we cry!” At least this character match-making and imagining the would-be plotlines of “Season 5: Succession Real World” has created some entertainment.
I could keep going (and we haven’t even mentioned the fit of stitches I fell into during Season 4’s “Living+” launch as I thought about all the “+” streaming services and failed metaverse promises), but for a final piece of fun, I’ll ask you a question.
For a final bit of fun:
Which of Succession’s charming character quip best represents your response to the chaotic state of the the media category?
Greg - “What am I gonna do with a soul anyways?!”
Connor Roy- “"America, Be Afraid. Be Warned. For The Conheads Are Coming.”
Shiv Roy- “I’m just glad we have a company to act on behalf of, thanks to me”
Ewan Roy- “"This Whole Family Is A Nest Of Vipers. They'll Wrap Themselves Around You And They'll Suffocate You."
Gil - ““You Can’t Make A Tomlette Without Breaking Some Greggs.”
Mencken - “Hey hey hey, it’s the Grim Weeper. Tiny tears.” —Mencken
Kendall Roy- “It’s enough to make you lose your faith in capitalism.”
Logan Roy- “Congratulations on saying the biggest number, you f*cking morons.”
Roman Roy- If I cringe any harder I might become a fossil”
Stewie - “Team Ken, baby”
Gerri - “F*cking amateur hour, wake me up when it is over”
Now that I’ve gotten my satire out of my system, back to your regularly scheduled research and insights-driven programming!