If you haven’t watched Succession yet, I’m not sure what to tell you other than: GO WATCH SUCCESSION. It’s the most fun thing on TV right now – great acting, great writing, god awful characters. Fun! And since it’s almost the end, here’s my take on television’s most despicable family. Here are the best and worst Succession characters – ranked by just how awful they are.
Succession Characters Ranked: Best to Worst
Before I get into the rankings, there are a few disclaimers to note, starting with a Spoiler Alert (*As with any TV show recap, there might be some spoilers if you haven’t watched through the latest episode.)
But, more than that, I want to say that Logan is NOT included on this list. For a few reasons, really:
A., the Roy family is the pinnacle of elite and it’s very un-elite (non-elite?) to speak ill of the dead.
And B., I’m pretty sure we can all agree he’s the worst. (After all, he’s the reason everyone else is as bad as they are!)
Alright then, here are the Succession characters ranked from least to most terrible.
10. Willa
Poor Willa has done nothing wrong and yet, somehow she ended up stuck in this shit show of a family!
I mean, sure, she did choose to marry Connor, but at least she never lied about her reason. She’s been nothing if not upfront about the fact that money was a large motivator.
Still, she might not be in love with Connor, but she does appear to care about him.
9. Gerri
Did Gerri cross a line (or two or three) with the whole inappropriate relationship with Roman? Uh, yeah. She went WAY past the line.
But, like Willa, she does seem to care about him. Maybe not in the way he cares for her, but she does care. Well, she did, anyway.
Aside from that, she’s the most competent person working at Waystar and Roman better CYA.
8. Marcia
It’s telling that the only semi-decent people on the show are women, no? At this point, Marcia sure seems to have an agenda, especially considering that she and Logan were basically estranged when he died.
But, prior to that, she was a loving wife and at least tried to be a good stepmother to his kids. It would be interesting to know how long they were married because her relationship with the Roy children never seemed super maternal. Their stilted formality suggests it was a later in life marriage for the both of them.
7. Tom
Tom has openly admitted his love of luxury. He likes nice things, he likes his job, he likes living the lifestyle. But that doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy. In fact, most of the time, he’s been halfway decent.
Did he betray Shiv by talking to Logan? Yep. Did he give the worst possible gift of a freaking scorpion? Yep again. Did he tell a pregnant Shiv that she wouldn’t make a good mother? Ding, ding, ding!
And yet, he’s not even in the top half of the list.
6. Roman
Now the fun begins! When it comes to Succession characters, no one is good. Nothing gives that away like Roman being in the “good half” of this list.
First of all, Kieran Culkin is by far the best part of the show. He’s so good that he makes it impossible not to like Roman Roy at least a little bit.
Yes, I know. He’s got a lot—and I mean a LOT—of problems. The sexting was bad enough, but the random termination spree and hardcore support of a fascist presidential candidate really pushes him over the edge. However, he does seem to love his family and at least some of his unhinged behavior can be attributed to grief.
5. Shiv
I’ll be honest, it was pretty much a coin toss between Roman and Shiv. The two youngest Roys are almost equally bad, each in their own way. Roman is more screwed up, but Shiv is far more ruthless. Then again, she’s also more competent and would’ve made a better CEO than her slime puppy brother.
As for morality, she seems conflicted about betraying her brothers, just like she was about cheating on Tom. But Shiv continues to hurt people over and over again despite these inklings of guilt. Besides, does she feel bad about the betrayal or is she just worried that she bet on the wrong horse? It’s hard to tell.
4. Connor
This was another really hard one. Connor has been relegated to the side most of his life, which is reflected in how little screen time he gets. He’s clearly pretentious —not paying taxes when you’re part of the 1% is about as pretentious as you can get. His whole running for president thing also seems downright delusional.
But, he earns some points here for being good to his wife and his siblings. I mean, he basically tried to take on the role of father when Logan couldn’t be bothered, and the younger Roy’s still treat him like a joke. His pompous nature could very well be a mask for true pain.
3. Kendall
The number one boy isn’t quite the number one on this list. But, he’s close enough! Kendall is as pretentious as Connor, as ruthless as Shiv, and, at least at times, as insensitive as Roman. (See basically every interaction with Rava!)
There have been times where he’s earned some sympathy points and he’s shown that he can be somewhat competent in business. But he’s just an absolute dick. And unlike Roman, he doesn’t wear his dickishness on his sleeve. Which makes him all the more dangerous.