How Succession became the perfect Trump-era show

The Hollywood Reporter

The HBO drama seemingly based on the Rupert Murdoch empire is a massive hit among viewers, critics and even Murdoch's fourth and current wife, Jerry Hall. Jesse Armstrong, the British writer who created Succession, insists the HBO drama's connection to the Murdochs is mostly coincidental -- despite the show originating a decade ago as a film script titled Murdoch. "I'm uncomfortable with the word satire," he tells The Hollywood Reporter, bristling a bit when asked to categorize his show. "In the U.K., there's quite a bit of sledgehammer weight to that word, which is the antithesis of the subtle approach I strive for." Brian Cox, who plays Succession's patriarch, says of the show striking a chord in the Trump era: "It's a morality tale. It's saying human beings are basically ludicrous. They're ludicrous in their desires, they're ludicrous in what they get and don't get and, in the end, they never even know what they want."