With its television series Succession, HBO has given the world the change-of-generations corporate drama it never knew it needed. Logan Roy, the ageing founder and chief executive of Waystar Royco, a media and entertainment conglomerate, is thinking of stepping down. But which of his four children will get to control the company?
Will it be the irresponsible and druggy but sort-of-fun Roman? Will it be Kendall, who is not quite the high-functioning sociopath he would like to think he is? Will it be the apparently decent daughter Shiv, who may, deep down, be the most Machiavellian of the lot? Or will it be the seemingly uninterested libertarian Connor, who whiles away his days on a remote ranch?
Naturally, they are all awful, utterly spoilt by money, and fight like cats in a sack — it is hugely entertaining. But what of plutocratic inheritance in the real world? Does being gifted vast sums of money ruin your life? Will it make you like one of Roy’s offspring?