PR experts weigh in on how the Roys should handle Succession's current batch of crises
A fun exercise in considering how to approach a truly terrible job
[This piece discusses spoilers from Succession.]
This Sunday, the Roys will finally return to our TV screens to once again vie for a kiss from daddy, act like total assholes to everyone around them, and continue their reign as the finest users of the expression “fuck off” the world has ever seen. Ahead of Succession’s season three premiere, which picks up where a cliffhanger ending involving a corporate public relations crisis left off, The Ringer decided to ask a few PR experts how they would handle trying to keep Waystar Royco from completely falling apart despite its C-suite’s constant issues.
Starting with Kendall’s press conference at the very end of season 2, a trio of crisis management experts explain that the Roy family’s Sadsack-in-Chief could probably expect the move to blow up in his own face because, in the end, he can’t separate himself entirely from his family business just by blaming his dad for some of its most heinous actions.
The experts then advise Logan (who one of them terrifyingly states is the character “most familiar to me in my professional practice”) to respond by lying low for a bit and coming back with a comprehensive plan that may, in part, involve talking publicly about how unreliable Kendall is because of his drug use and failed corporate coup.