Succession season 2 spoilers: Show boss on real-life influences

With Succession season 2 coming up on HBO a little bit later this summer, you’re going to have a chance to see one of TV’s darkest and funniest dramas. It’s a weird way to look at it, but this show possesses that rare ability to be both realistic to elitist media executives and then also satirical at the same time. It looks as corporate takeovers and family conflicts, while also examining the shark-infested waters that often swirl all around them.

Entering into season 2, you’re going to see the landscape for Logan, Kendall, and some other characters become really murky — especially since the show is looking all the more at major corporate mergers and the ripple effects that they have on employees. Like many other shows within this world, there are inspirations aplenty being taken from real life. That means the Disney-Fox deal is integral to how Succession views the world. It’s something that was in the mind of executive producer Jesse Armstrong as he approached the season, as he explains to The Hollywood Reporter:

Yeah. We read everything that’s going on in the media landscape. We already had that merger, takeover stuff cooking, so those ones were more grist-to-the-mill. The bigger story, which informed the emotional temperature, [was] the feeling of tech being at the heels of all those media companies, which is part of the reason, obviously, that you’re seeing a [spate] of conglomerations. So that kind of [feeling of], like, “OK, we are these massive cultural edifices, but there’s something bigger in the culture that could swallow us all,” is a framing you might find in the show in the second season.

One of the fascinating things to look at with tech and media is that these big companies (like major networks and news organizations) know that they have a lot of potential users, but maybe not the most cutting-edge way to reach them. The Roy family within Succession could be seeing that and desperate to find the way to snag some tech support before anyone else. Of course, add to this the show’s complicated power structure and you’ll see why certain family members may be the ones most keen to orchestrate deals before others — being perceived as a driving force means more power, and we certainly know that there’s nothing that some of these characters love more than the perception of having more power. It helps them out in the long run, as they all jockey to be sitting at the head of the table (while cursing profusely at everyone that they consider to be below them).

Want to get some other information on Succession?

Then be sure to visit the link here, as that is where you can get a little bit more scoop in regards to the recent season 2 trailer. We break that down and give you even more reasons to be excited for the new season.

What do you most want to see coming up on Succession season 2? Be sure to share right now in the comments. (Photo: HBO.)