HBO has released the firstSuccessiontrailer. The upcoming series follows The Roy family, which controls a global media and entertainment empire, but when the patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) announces he’s stepping down, the family starts angling for who will take control with the “soft-hearted” son Kendall (Jeremy Strong) looking like the frontrunner to lead his father’s company into the future over the objection of his siblings.
The trailer proudly announces it’s from the director ofThe Big Short,Adam McKay, but you won’t find many comedic touches here, although there are a few.Successionlooks like it’s far more on the dramatic side as a power struggle ignites and follows deeply flawed people trying to assume the mantle of leadership for a massive company. The question here is if these characters are endearingly flawed, or if this is a war of the assholes kind of thing like the second season ofBoardwalk Empirewhere you don’t really care who wins because everyone is terrible? InVeep, that callousness works because it’s tempered by hilarious incompetence, but in a drama, it can seriously hurt the stakes. That being said, I’m eager to at least give the pilot a shot to see if it hooks me.
Check out theSuccessiontrailer below. The series premieres on HBO in June and also starsKieran Culkin,Sarah Snook, andAlan Ruck.
Here’s the official synopsis forSuccession:
The Roy family controls a global media and entertainment empire, but when patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) announces he’s stepping down as head of the company, the family is forced to contemplate their next moves. From Executive Producers Jesse Armstrong, Adam McKay, Frank Rich (HBO’s Veep), Kevin Messick, Will Ferrell, Jane Tranter (HBO’s The Night Of) and Mark Mylod (HBO’s Entourage), Succession premieres this June on HBO.
