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Ready for Succession Season 3? Here’s a Refresher for You.

Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy in Succession

HBO’s Succession is easily one of my favorite shows on television right now. It’s fun, it’s filled with drama, and it centers on a cast of characters that are horrible all for different reasons, and I love them so much. Now, as we’re gearing up for season 3, let’s take a quick look into where we left the Roy family and what we can expect heading into the third season.

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In season 1, we were confronted with the Roy family’s battle to be Logan Roy’s (Brian Cox) favorite as the fight to become his heir as the next CEO of Waystar Royco began. Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) thought it was his to lose, and as we know, that’s not the way to go about anything with Logan Roy. Throughout the season, Kendall had “turned” on his father by trying to prove that Logan was unfit to be CEO, and it resulted in a strained relationship between the two.

But Logan Roy has a way of keeping all his children on a short leash. There’s Connor Roy (Alan Ruck), who had decided to run for President by season 2, and even he can’t say no to his dad. Then there is Kendall, who, after accidentally killing someone after getting in a car accident, will do whatever his father says. Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Shiv (Sarah Snook) are the two who seem to have the most independence, and even they still long for their father to give them positions or tell them they’re doing a good job.

Throughout season 1, we got to see a lot of the dynamic between the siblings. Connor was a laughing stock to his siblings, the older brother that none of them cared about. Kendall used to have an addiction problem, and when his father continued to bring him down, he returned to his use of cocaine. That continued throughout season 2, so Shiv and Roman used it against him to try to prove themselves to their father.

All of this was pretty much setup to get into the meat of season 2. In season 2, the Roy family was trying to take control of Pierce Media, run by Nan Pierce (Cherry Jones). The family wanted control, and neither the Roys nor the Pierces liked each other. The main problem, though, continued as Logan didn’t trust Kendall, and the lies about what happened in “cruises” looms over them.

In season 1, Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) had cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) destroy documents alleging misconduct in their cruise department. It came back around in season 2, when Greg and Tom had to go to court, and while all of this seems important, it is nothing in comparison to what happened in the cliff-hanger finale.

Logan chose Kendall to be the “blood sacrifice” to take the fall for cruises. Kendall agreed to go to the press conference, and while there, he turned around and blamed his father for everything.

That’s a flip from earlier in season 2, when Kendall celebrated Logan’s birthday by rapping for him.

So, where does this all leave us for season 3? Well, the family is divided. There are teams forming, and the siblings are split between Kendall and Logan as they figure out their next moves for Waystar Royco and what’s the best move for their trust funds, their relationships, and the company.

Do I love the mess that is Succession because it is filled with whiny rich people? Yes, I love to absolutely hate their problems, but the show also has an ability to balance the hatred I feel for these rich elite families in real life with characters who know that they’re horrible and call out that horridness on their own. I love Kendall Roy and his mess with my whole heart, and in season 3, we’re ready for incredible guest stars and a season that ignores the problems of COVID because that’s what rich people did.

And that’s the very quick rundown of what you missed on Succession.

(image: HBO)

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Rachel Leishman
Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh.

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