The Succession Cinematic Universe

On Multiverses and Merch

It’s Succession time again. 

Unlike Marvel’s multiverse, the multigenerational saga of Game of Thrones and the multigenerational multi-planetary saga of Star Wars, Succession exists in the present tense. Its fictional universe is vast, even though it doesn’t cross time or space or genre.

The Succession universe doesn’t stretch into fantastical lands or new planets. What drives the Succession industrial complex of thought pieces and speculation is how it stretches into our reality. While Marvel movies have cameos of characters from other franchises, and Star Wars from other planets and shows, Succession has brushes of real world drama.

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If you buy an annual subscription before the end of Succession you’ll get this heartwarming mug.

Waystar|Royco is an intentional parallel universe of right-wing media and politics that borrows from the Redstones and Murdochs. The Pierces, who run a leftwing news conglomerate, evoke families like the Wall Street Journal’s Bancrofts and the New York Times’ Sulzbergers — so much so that for multiple seasons I thought their company was a newspaper company rather than a broadcast media company. Mattson, a Swedish tech billionaire making an ownership play for Waystar|Royco has notes of Daniel Ek, Peter Thiel, Adam Neumann, and whiffs of Musk. 

So when I watch Succession, I don’t just watch the episode.

There’s entire worlds behind each character that I, a mere non-billionaire-media-tycoon mortal, want to unpack. So I turn to the rest of Succession’s universe.

I read power rankings at The Ringer, The AV Club and Vulture. I listen to the official Succession podcast with Kara Swisher, and a handful of unofficial ones, including Felix Salmon’s breakdown on Slate Money. Both bring on expert guests (a divorce lawyer to talk Shiv’s divorce on the former, a Pentagram creative lead to talk logo design for The Hundred for the latter).

The Succession Fashion Instagram identifies designers and price points for the characters, and I learned that Kendall is Loro Piano guy, Willa is a Sandro girl, and Shiv has houndstooth blazers from both Alexander McQueen and Ralph Lauren. And probably my favorite, Mattson sports a lot of Fjallraven.

The Financial Times even got forensic with scripts and screen grabs to break down valuations, ownership stakes and how much those Roy kids are actually worth.

The Succession universe also extends by its secrets. What’s happened behind closed doors? Who’s said what to whom? Entire worlds happen off camera, and unlike most shows, we’re not privy to all the deals and promises that shape the story. And even when we’re right there, the jargon of finance, marketing, and PR--bear hugs and proxy wars--can make a conversation at once highly entertaining and completely opaque. There’s a full dictionary (at least through Season 2) , and Reddit is full of discourse about the language.

So I did a little Frame Strategy extension into the Succession universe.

Who doesn’t love a mug sporting Royisms and curse words? Or a ludicrously capacious bag? Make it a gift and tell someone you love them without telling them you love them.

I’ll be dropping new ones as inspiration strikes from the show every Tuesday.

Bonus: If you get an annual subscription before the end of the show, the silver Fuck Off mug is yours.

You’ve just read Framing, a regular newsletter about what’s good culture, marketing, and business by Anita Schillhorn van Veen. I’m Director of Strategy at McKinney, on the lead team of Ladies Who Strategize, and a writer over at my other favorite Substack Why Is This Interesting.