Shows Like
Shows Like Succession for Your Next Power-Struggle Binge
By Jordan A. · · 2 min read
Succession is the rare show where every dinner scene feels like a knife fight and nobody actually pulls a knife. The tension is in the room. The cruelty is in what nobody says. It's a hard show to find a replacement for because most "rich family" dramas mistake wealth for personality and forget to write the people.
Here's what actually lives in the same neighborhood as Succession.
The family knife-fights
Billions is the obvious pairing. It's bigger and sillier than Succession, and that's the point. Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis having a seven-season staring contest.
The Crown is Succession with a thousand more years of baggage. Both shows know that family dinners are the scariest room in the house.
House of the Dragon is dynasty drama with dragons. Strip the dragons away and it's two Roy kids fighting over a throne that isn't quite vacant yet.
The business of cruelty
Mad Men is the prestige TV classic most people either finished or bounced off of. If you bounced, try again after Succession. You'll see the DNA.
Industry is HBO's show about first-year bankers in London and it has more Succession in it than Succession had in its own first season. Sharp writing, ruthless characters, and a complete refusal to make anyone likable on purpose.
The Loudest Voice is a Russell Crowe miniseries about Roger Ailes and it's a lot darker than Succession but pulls the same threads.
The rich and the rotten
The White Lotus is Mike White's Succession cousin. Same cruelty, warmer weather, shorter runtime.
Big Little Lies season one is a masterclass in rich people being terrible to each other for good reasons.
The Undoing is a six-episode miniseries with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant. Start it on a Saturday and you're done by Sunday.
If you want the cold political brain of Succession
House of Cards (the UK original is better, but the US one is fine) is the political version of the Roy family dynamic.
The Thick of It and Veep share Succession's creator and they're the funny half of the brain. If you haven't watched Veep, you're missing the best comedy of the 2010s.
Boss is an older Kelsey Grammer show that nobody watched and everyone should. Eight episodes of pure political viciousness.
For the writing, not the setting
Slow Horses has Succession-level dialogue in a completely different genre. Every line lands.
Better Call Saul is a show about lawyers and the best drama of the last decade. You don't need to have seen Breaking Bad. Start there.
If you want to skip the sorting entirely, BingeNext will rank this list for you based on your taste and the services you pay for. Tell it Succession is the bar and it will work backwards from there.
Nothing replaces Logan Roy telling his kids they're not serious people. But the shows above get surprisingly close to that specific brand of wound.
Topics covered: succession, drama, family, business
About the author
Jordan A., Founder, BingeNext
Jordan A. is the founder of BingeNext and writes every guide on this site. He built the recommendation engine after one too many nights lost to the streaming menu, and he still tests every pick the hard way: by watching it.