Succession power rankings: Who emerged victorious after the funeral?

The penultimate episode officially sends off Logan and sets the stage for an epic finale battle

By Cindy White | May 23, 2023 | 1:00pm

TV Features Succession

Succession power rankings: Who emerged victorious after the funeral?

Alexander Skarsgård, Sarah Snook, Justin Kirk Photo: Macall Polay/HBO

Welcome to the last power ranking before we know who, if anyone, walks away with all the marbles at the end of Succession. We strongly suspect that the answer will be “no one” or at least “it’s complicated”—Jesse Armstrong isn’t the kind of showrunner to give us simple answers—but it has been fun to watch the rise and fall and rise again from episode to episode in this final season. Bear in mind that this list isn’t intended to be a prediction of what will happen or who will win the show, so to speak. It’s meant to reflect the power each character gained, lost, or simply exercised within each episode.

Before we get into the ranking for “Church And State,” there are a few minor players who deserve shout outs even though they didn’t make the list. First, congratulations to Jess (played to perfection, as always, by Juliana Canfield) for finally moving on from Kendall and his toxic family. Like she said, it’s time. We also have to commend Caroline for gathering that messy contingent of Logan’s exes in the front row of the church (and giving us vibes from the musical Six). What could they accomplish if they all banded together? And finally, it looks like Ebba is pulling a Shiv and playing both sides—feeding useful intel to Hugo, and Kendall by proxy—only she’s probably too smart to get caught. Even if she did, she has some pretty good leverage against Matsson, so she’s essentially untouchable. Kudos to all of you, ladies.

Now, let’s see where the rest of the characters have positioned themselves, one last time.

10. Connor Roy

Previous ranking: 6 (down 4 spots)Connor ends the season , in the bottom slot. His presidential campaign is over and he doesn’t have much to show for it. He dropped out of the race too late to make much of a difference to Mencken’s campaign, and thus missed his chance at any incentives the potential president-elect was inclined to toss his way. The look Mencken gave him when he tried to engage him in political discourse said all we need to know about their relationship going forward. And the rest of the family shut down his “formally inventive” eulogy on the basis that it would leave them “open to legal action.” We still kind of want to hear it, though.

9. Roman Roy

Previous ranking: 2 (down 7 spots)From Roman the Showman to the Grim Weeper in half a day is quite a precipitous drop. Only Succession could make us detest Roman in one episode and sob along with him in the next. We know that his claims of pre-grieving were bullshit, but to see that wall of denial crumble in real time was stunning, a combined result of heart-shattering dialogue like “Is he in there? Can we get him out?” and Kieran Culkan’s full-bodied performance. It’s a pity that a perfectly natural expression of grief (which, as anyone who has experienced it will tell you, can be ugly, raw, even animalistic) at his own father’s funeral can lead to a sharp and painful downfall from the upper echelons of power, but that’s the world Roman lives in (and don’t think for a second he wouldn’t be laughing and circulating that video if it was anyone else). Kendall, doing his own riff on “beast mode,” takes the opportunity to twist the knife further and blame him for fucking up the speech, and the deal with Mencken. In the heartbreaking final scene, Roman goes out into the street picking fights with protesters just to feel something besides mourning and humiliation.

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8. Greg Hirsch

Previous episode: 4 (down 4 spots)Greg had a few jobs in this episode, and the only one he did well was the one he wasn’t asked to do. Not that it’s very difficult to walk beside a casket on wheels. Always working the angle, Greg pushes Roman for a “link-up” with Mencken in exchange for keeping his grandfather from speaking, though he was ultimately unsuccessful (to be fair, no one on Earth could have kept Ewan from that podium). And we know the speech was successful because Greg sucks up to him afterwards, “It was a good, hard take that you gave.” Later, he tries to get some face time with Mencken without Roman’s intro, to deliver Tom’s message that he was behind the ATN call that allowed them to declare victory on election night. He didn’t manage that, either. After this lackluster performance (we’re talking about Greg here not Nicolas Braun, who is always great) Do we still think Greg the Egg can take it all? Could Matsson end up tapping him instead of Shiv as his American CEO? At this point, anything’s possible.

7. Ewan Roy

Previous ranking: NoneWe haven’t seen Ewan since season two, and it was wonderful to have him back, even for just one scene. Ewan’s speech was touching, revealing, brutally honest, beautifully delivered, and masterfully written. At some point, these two brothers set off on wildly different paths, but as Ewan noted, their temperaments aren’t that far apart. When Ewan stepped up to make his speech, he had that same stubborn determination as Logan and there was no stopping him. With the courage of his convictions, he stood up there and told everyone at the funeral the unvarnished truth about the man they were to memorialize. That’s not the same kind of power we often talk about when it comes to the characters on this show, but it’s still formidable.

6. Hugo Baker

Previous ranking: NoneHugo hasn’t made the power list until now, but he has been instrumental in many of Kendall’s plans to take over the company and fight the acquisition. As one of the names on Matsson’s kill list who will be out of a job when GoJo takes over Waystar Royco, Hugo’s got a personal stake in making sure that doesn’t happen. He’s got a spy in Matsson’s camp and he’s willing to spread the gospel of Kendall to anyone who will listen. “This is an explicit plan to fuck the deal,” Kendall tells him after his father’s internment. “Me, rule the world. And you can come, but it won’t be a collaboration, okay? You’ll be my dog. But the scraps on the table will be millions.” Hugo’s response to that offer? “Woof. Woof.”

5. Tom Wambsgans

Previous ranking: 9 (up 4 spots)Logan dying might be the best and the worst thing that’s happened to Tom. Without the protection of his former father-in-law or his sometimes estranged wife, Tom has to step up and prove he can do the job as the head of ATN. He can’t get by on family connections alone anymore. Ironically, that only seems to make him more attractive to Shiv. “You would have never dared not to come to his funeral when he was alive,” she jokes. “He’s lost a lot of influence over the last few days,” Tom hits back. When he gets choked up talking about how he was the first one in there with Logan when he died on the plane, Shiv finally sees how tired he is and offers their place to hide out for a while. They’re still in the process of dismantling the walls they’ve built up between them, sharing little moments of honesty that can be both hurtful and healing. As messed up as they are, we’re still kind of rooting for these kids to end up together.

4. Kendall Roy

Previous ranking: 3 (down one spot)Kendall had a big turnaround in this episode. At the beginning he couldn’t even keep his wife from leaving the city with their children, despite threatening to get a court order and lay down in front of her car. There are some things that money and power can’t buy you. But then, Roman breaks down and leaves him an opening. He steps up to bury his father, not to praise him, and winds up giving a frankly impressive impromptu speech. By the end of the episode, he’s got his crew together, including Hugo and Logan’s old bodyguard Colin (who doesn’t love the idea, but also doesn’t want it getting out that he’s been to therapy), ready to go into battle against Shiv. He would rank higher except he’s heading into the finale at a disadvantage. Shiv seems to have brokered a deal between Matsson and Mencken, who is set to go back on his word and let the deal go through. The three of them now have the upper hand, but Kendall seems determined to show everyone that he’s his father’s son, so he’s going to fight to the bitter end.

3. Jeryd Mencken

Previous ranking 1 (down 2 spots)As many of you pointed out last week, Mencken’s celebration of his victory was premature. All ATN did for him by projecting his win in Wisconsin on election night was allow him to create a narrative of positive momentum. Nothing has been officially decided, though you wouldn’t know it from the way everyone at the funeral fell all over themselves to get some face time with him. At the reception, Kendall, Greg, Connor, and Roman were all competing for his attention before Shiv whisked him away for a one-on-one with Matsson. And then he was off to Ohio to gladhand some more, but not before letting Matsson know that an American CEO could work. As Kendall points out, they’ve lost their leverage over him. “He’s got our dick in his hand,” Kendall tells Roman. “We should have his dick in our hand.” But they don’t; they’ve lost out to someone with more power. That’s what happens when you align yourself with a fascist.

2. Siobhan “Shiv” Roy

Previous ranking: 8 (up 6 spots)Shiv’s speech wasn’t as condemning as Ewan’s or as soaring as Kendall’s, but she got in a few good lines. Only she could have called out her father’s misogyny so effectively: “He couldn’t fit a whole woman in his head.” Devastating, and true. She continues her streak by convincing Matsson that what he needs to get the deal through is an American CEO. After her advice about releasing his bad numbers on a day when the media is busy with bigger news stories works out well, he’s inclined to listen to her. And it works. Matsson successfully charms Mencken and gets him to yes on the promise of a stateside CEO. We are obliged to point out, however, that he didn’t specifically say it would be her on their call. She took it that way, but it leaves room for him to ultimately screw her over by naming someone else (we don’t want to say Greg, but maybe Greg?) as CEO of Waystar Royco.