Succession power rankings: Live more forever

As the Waystar Royco seas get rougher, some life rafts are more stable than others

By Cindy White | May 2, 2023 | 12:00pm

TV Features Succession

Succession power rankings: Live more forever

Kieran Culkin, Matthew Macfadyen, Fisher Stevens, Nicholas Braun, Sarah Snook, Dagmara Dominczyk Photo: David Russell/HBO

Power doesn’t have to be loud and obvious; it can be stealthy, too. That’s what Roman gets wrong in “Living+” and why he’s fallen further in our rankings. Sometimes there’s power in letting someone else think they have it over you. Shiv understands that. As for Kendall, he’s living his dream of having his father look down on him proudly, but that’s another kind of illusion.

For the first time this season, there weren’t enough characters worthy of a power ranking to fill 10 slots. Connor, who’s usually somewhere in the mix, didn’t appear at all in this episode. Neither did Marcia, Kerry, Ebba, or any of the others who’ve previously secured a slot due to their temporary impact in a particular episode. Here’s where everyone else stands as we head into the back half of the season.

9. Joy Palmer

Previous ranking: NoneWaystar Studios head Joy joins the list this week not despite being fired by Roman after their first meeting since his ascension to co-CEO, but because of it. As Gerri pointed out, Roman’s hasty action opens the company up to liability and almost certainly a lawsuit. It could be one of those Succession things that’s mentioned in one episode and later dropped (there’s not a lot of runway left here), or Roman’s rash decision could come back to haunt him, and the entire company. The fact that they cast Annabeth Gish in the role could be a sign that this wasn’t a one-off appearance. At least, it makes us hope that it isn’t.

8. Gerri Kellman

Previous ranking: 5 (down three spots)Gerri’s already been fired this season and nothing changed, so we’re not counting on this one sticking either. Roman and Kendall need her, even if they don’t want to admit it. As she pointed out, she’s not on the kill list, so Matsson wants her to stay with the company. Technically Shiv is the one who really wants her, but that’s good enough for Matsson. Roman can fling accusations at Gerri all day, but they both know she is good at her job and he’s just throwing temper tantrums without anything to back them up. Points to her for not caving and telling him that he’s just as good as his dad, when it’s obviously not true.

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7. Karl Muller

Previous ranking: 6 (down one spot)Karl’s not ready to jump out of the plane with his golden parachute yet. He’s got some authority left, and he’s willing to throw it around to protect his own reputation. Approaching Kendall right before his speech—either terrible timing or perfect timing—is a defensive power move. He asks to see the changes Kendall has made to the presentation in reference to the company’s finances. That’s still Karl’s arena, and he doesn’t want anything in it that’s going to make him look bad. So when Kendall blows him off he reminds him that they’re in a position of mutually assured destruction—“You’ve got my dick in your hand, Ken. But I’ve got yours in mine. So let’s get real.” He indirectly threatens Kendall that if he says anything on stage that he doesn’t like, he’ll “squeal.” Karl’s unexpected hot streak this season continues.

6. Greg Hirsch

Previous ranking: 8 (up two spots)We saw Greg rise a little last week as a gatherer of intel and the person Kendall entrusted with planting news stories about the retreat. Greg makes the perfect stooge for underhanded dealings, because he usually doesn’t have a clue what’s going on, and even if does catch on he lacks the morals to care. In this episode, Kendall turned to his cousin yet again for some shady deep-fake editing to make Logan say things he never actually said. His manufactured estimate that Living+ could “double the earnings” of the cruise ship division (those pesky cruise ships again) may have actionable ramifications if it doesn’t pan out that way. If anyone finds out that Greg was the one responsible for altering the video, he might be in trouble. But then, he’s wriggled out of tougher situations before.

5. Roman Roy

Previous ranking: 4 (down one spot)Roman’s gone a little crazy with power, or maybe he was always crazy and it’s coming out in weird ways now. If you look at those two firing scenes with Joy and Gerri, the point at which he goes from being frustrated with the conversation to impulsively firing them is when they both invoke his father. He hasn’t properly grieved yet, and now he’s got to hear how he’ll never be as good as Logan was. Which is true, so no one who isn’t a sycophant will ever tell him otherwise. Roman’s spiraling in this episode takes him out of the game when he could have scored a win alongside Kendall. Now his older brother looks like the one who’s solid behind the wheel, while Roman looks like a loose cannon. He spends the final moments of the episode listening over and over to a doctored recording from Kendall of their father saying he “has a micro dick and always gets it wrong.” The words don’t matter, he just wants to hear his father’s voice again.

4. Tom Wambsgans

Previous ranking: 7 (up three spots)Why is Tom so high this week? Do we need a reason other than he won Bitey his first time ever playing? Maybe Shiv let him win, but that just shows he has his own kind of power over her. The angry, flirty mating dance they started up in the previous episode spills over here into emotionally vulnerable sex, honest confessions, and of course a game based on who can simultaneously inflict and endure the most pain. Is there a better metaphor for their relationship? Shiv admits that Tom “finally made me feel something” with a glint in her eye that tells us she’s getting what she wanted from him all along. He’s not sentimental about it this time. He needs an ally in the company and she needs someone to get her through the grief. Whether there’s actual love at the heart of it for either of them is barely relevant anymore.

3. Lukas Matsson

Previous ranking: 3 (down two spots)Although Matsson clearly had the upper hand going into this episode, Kendall got in a few good hits to even the stakes. Kendall and Roman’s two-pronged strategy to make it look like Matsson is unhinged and drive the price of the company up past the value of his offer might actually work. He doesn’t help matters by posting a modified Nazi quote in the middle of Kendall’s presentation. If the point was to throw Kendall off his game and ruin the product launch, he failed completely. Now Matsson is stuck with a product he doesn’t like but the shareholders love. He doesn’t even have the mojo to make Shiv get off her plane to meet with him. He still ranks fairly high because of his obscene wealth and ruthless business tactics, so we’re not ruling out a comeback in future episodes.

2. Kendall Roy

Previous ranking: 3 (up one spot)Kendall begins the episode watching a video of his dad being curmudgeonly and calling his kids fucking idiots. So, a normal day in the life of Logan Roy. Then Kendall turns the tables on him at the presentation. For once, he’s the one manipulating Logan. He can make him say whatever he wants. It’s creepy, but grief gives you a pass to get away with just about anything—like demanding an entire house set overnight and real clouds (which he smartly reconsiders). It also breaks through the bullshit, so when Kendall talks about wishing for another year with his dad to “say the unsaid,” we absolutely believe it (and Jeremy Strong’s performance totally sells the authenticity). Based on his past history, we’re poised for ultimate cringe whenever Kendall gets up in front of a room full of people. This time, it worked in his favor. He didn’t even falter when presented with Matsson’s tasteless tweet in real-time, and Matsson was the one who ultimately had to back down by deleting it.