How Accurate Was “Succession” in Depicting the Murdoch Family Drama?
Dynasty: The Murdochs, a four-part Netflix documentary series, pulls back the curtain on Rupert Murdoch’s empire — one of the most powerful and wealthy media moguls in the world — and the family tensions over who will succeed him. Through archival footage, past interviews, and commentary from family insiders, the dynasty comes to life, marked by both rivalry and conquest.
Meanwhile, the 2018 HBO TV show Succession is said to be loosely based on the same family, although with fictional characters and names. Since this new docuseries was released just last month, viewers are now revisiting Succession to explore the similarities and overlaps across its plotlines.
Both depictions are based on the same premise: a billionaire patriarch running a global media empire and a dysfunctional family vying for control. In Succession, the leading figure is Logan Roy, played by Brian Cox, who exhibits a blunt, ruthless personality. Similarly, Rupert Murdoch exhibits these traits in real life: being authoritative, fostering rivalry, and encouraging his children to compete for their place in the company (and not hesitating to humiliate them in the process). In this world, being snubbed by family is common — and such behaviour is rewarded as a means to control.
The Murdoch children, Lachlan, James, Elisabeth and Prudence, each occupy different positions within or adjacent to the empire. There’s favouritism, an effort to win their father’s approval, public exits from the company, and disagreements over the direction of the business — all of which equally occur in Succession.
Across both, there’s a constant search for validation and affirmation from the patriarch who calculatedly withholds it, and sometimes that innate desire is used against them. While alliances and trust are fragile, that’s exactly what makes the family so fascinating. Viewers across both media are constantly left wondering, “How is this family so un-family-like?”
In demonstrating these complex family dynamics, both stories feature the trope of a black sheep. In each case, it’s someone who directly challenges the patriarch, becoming both a ‘threat’ and an outsider. This is James Murdoch, whose differing political stances position him at odds with the wider empire and family. And normally, when there’s a black sheep, there’s also a favoured child, creating further tensions amongst siblings who are all competing for the same goal.
Interestingly, there’s also a mingle between power, media, and politics. The Murdoch orbit spans News Corporation and Fox Corporation, both of which have long been linked to shaping political discourse and promoting certain voices over others. The fictional media company in Succession, Waystar Royco, wields that same power. Both narratives also touch on corporate scandals, including allegations of sexual harassment and the extent of concealment within powerful media conglomerates, highlighting how protection is often prioritized for those at the top.
But the question of who will be the successor is constantly revisited, and reaching an answer is a long legal fight, with public perception weighing in along the way. Watched together, the two media form a dialogue between reality and fiction, set against immense wealth and inherited privilege. This battle of the nepo-babies reveals that the fear of power slipping away is the greatest loss of all.
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