'Succession' character catch-up: Where did we leave the Roy family at the end of season 1?
Season 2 of HBO’s drama Succession premieres Sunday night. But where did we leave the members of the extended media company-owning Roy clan at the end of season 1? You’ll find a handy catch-up guide to the characters’ respective trials, tribulations, and total devastations below.
Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong)
Oof, where to start? The very-much-off-the-wagon Kendall started the season finale by accidentally shouting at his son, and that was pretty much the best thing he did. Celebrated delivering notice of a hostile takeover to his father by embarking on a booze-and-blow bender and then helped cause the drowning death of a server at the wedding of sister Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) while on the hunt for more cocaine. Ultimately blackmailed by Logan into removing himself from the takeover attempt when the patriarch found out about Kendall’s involvement in the fatality. Basically, the guy is a shell of a man.
Logan Roy (Brian Cox)
By the end of season 1, Cox’s old school Rupert Murdoch-esque media magnate seemed to be fully recovered from the stroke which had endangered both his life and professional position at the head of Waystar Royco earlier in the season. Kendall’s delivery of the “Bear Hug” letter announcing the corporate attack on his own father caught Logan by surprise, but his successful blackmailing of his offspring gave him a fighting chance of keeping control of his media empire.
Connor Roy (Alan Ruck)
Is Connor the black sheep of the Roy family? Tough to say, given the competition. Regardless, Ruck’s entertainingly bonkers character — the older sibling of Kendall, Roman, and Shiv — really took things up a notch in the season finale. First, he threatened to punch new brother-in-law Tom and “take a f—king dump on the ground” if his escort/aspiring actress girlfriend Willa (Justine Lupe) wasn’t included in Tom and Shiv’s wedding photographs. Later, he announced his intention of running for President. It should be an interesting campaign given Connor’s intention of tackling “the great dangers” of “unsecured debt and masturbation — the spilling of good seed.” Thanks for the clarification, buddy!
Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin)
Faced a likely charge of corporate manslaughter when a rocket whose launch he was remotely overseeing blew up in Japan. But wait! While a couple of folks were severely injured, it turned out no one actually died, which allowed Roman to go back to enjoying Shiv and Tom’s nuptials. Or, to quote the man himself, “It’s just an arm and a couple of f—ing thumbs?… That’s great, I’m not going to ruin a party over a couple of f—ing thumbs!” All heart, that one.
Siobhan “Shiv” Roy (Sarah Snook)
The youngest Roy sibling proved her savviness by assisting the political ambitions of Eric Bogosian’s liberal presidential candidate Gil Eavis. Maybe a tad less savvy? Informing Tom on their wedding night that, “I’m not sure I’m a good fit for a monogamous marriage.”
Tom Wamsgans (Matthew Macfadyen)
Tried, and mostly failed, to take Shiv’s declaration in his stride. The good news? His new wife gave him permission to throw her colleague and former lover Nate Sofrelli (Ashley Zukerman) out of their wedding.
Marcia “Marcy” Roy (Hiam Abass)
Logan’s third, and current, wife continued to act as her husband’s most-trusted confidante, helping advise him on how to deal with the still-ongoing attempt to takeover Waystar Royco by Kendall’s (now former?) pal Stewy Hosseini (Arian Moayed).
Greg Hirsch (Nicholas Braun)
“Cousin” Greg managed, remarkably, to avoid trouble and/or embarrassment at Shiv and Tom’s wedding. Rather, he astutely pointed out to Kendall that he might be deserving of further career advancement given his possession of copied documents about “the stuff at the cruise lines.” Kendall’s response — “Greg, you little Machiavellian f—!” — seems spot-on.
Watch HBO’s own Succession season 1 catch-up video above.
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