Family at war

The Roys are back in town… As Succession returns, the battle for the future of Waystar Royco is only just beginning

- SEAN MARLAND

Battle lines have been drawn and the Roy family are ready to go to war as the feverishly anticipated third season of Succession hits our screens this week.

The final episode of 2019’s second season saw Kendall Roy deliver a bombshell that shook the family to its very foundations when he reneged on a promise to sacrifice himself to save his father Logan’s vast media empire, Waystar Royco.

Instead he went before the world’s press and branded Logan (Brian Cox) a ‘malignant presence, a bully and a liar’ in an audacious bid to wrestle control of the company from his elderly father and grasping siblings.

‘It was a road to Damascus moment where we saw a profound and dramatic change of character from Kendall,’ says Jeremy Strong, who plays him. ‘At the start of the second season, he could never imagine turning the tables on his father, and in a sense he’d given up the fight. But when his father said, “You’re not a killer,” it was a sort of Houdini moment. All of a sudden, he was liberated. The light that had nearly been extinguished came roaring back.’

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As we pick up the story in the new nine-part series, Logan finds himself scrambling to secure familial, political and financial alliances as he fights to protect his position.

The media mogul insists he had no knowledge of historic misconduct on the company’s cruise line. But with Kendall laying blame for the scandal and ensuing cover-up squarely at his door, he realises he must step down as CEO and name a temporary replacement.