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Logan Roy is the main antagonist of the HBO drama series Succession. He is a corrupt media mogul who is the founder and CEO of the fictional right-wing multimedia company, Waystar Royco. He is the father of four children, Connor, Kendall, Roman and Siobhan "Shiv" Roy, all of whom want to succeed him after he passes away.

He was portrayed by Brian Cox.

His Evil Ranking[]

What Makes Him Heinous?[]

• During his tenure as CEO of Waystar, Logan had a history of conducting unethical business practices so that he would establish Waystar Royco as the most powerful media conglomerate in the world, which often involved shutting down various companies and government administrations for his own benefit, an example of which was a Canadian government over grain subsidies, which had a severe socioeconomic impact that left many people impoverished.
• Through his news channels, the primary one being ATN, Logan has his news anchors promote racist, sexist, and homophobic messages to his audience, causing terrible political and social implications for the world. These include the rise of hate crimes, the exacerbation of the climate change crisis, influencing wars, and stoking white supremacist/fascist movements, mostly doing so because it benefits himself and his company.
• He was a close associate of Lester McClintock, the head of the Cruise Division at Waystar Royco, who often used his position to commit a variety of sex crimes towards migrant, union, and non-union workers. While Logan himself never participated in these crimes, he is aware of them due to the complete control he had over his company and kept people like Lester employed in his company, enabling them to continue their behavior, pay hush money to the victims, and also led to "disappearances" to cover up the extent of the situation.
• Even worse is that Logan and his cronies refer to these victims as "NRPIs" (No Real Person Involved), which shows his callous disregard for the victims involved in the company's cruise line.
• While he served as Waystar's CEO, Logan is said to have encouraged a hostile work environment at his company, formed due to the nasty right-wing principles he adhered to. These include an unofficial motto that there would be "no blacks, Jews, or women above the fourth floor" at the main company building, abuse towards low-level workers by the big Whigs of the company by using them as "human furniture," something that leads to a worker's suicide in the second season, promoting hazing games like "Boar on the Floor," which singles out a potential mole that works against his business interests, and as mentioned previously, racist and fascist propaganda promoted by several news anchors at ATN.
• Psychologically, verbally, and physically abused his children, Connor, Kendall, Roman, and Siobhan, taking pleasure in manipulating them against each other. His reasoning for this is that by "toughening" them up, they can step up to the plate and become ruthless in the way they conduct business. It is also mentioned that he was a pretty absent father while they were growing up, as he devoted more time building up his company rather than raising them, which can be seen as a contributing factor to their current attitudes as spoiled rich kids.
• While you could argue that Logan's treatment of his children is justified considering that most of his assertions about them, one of which includes his famous line about them not being "serious people," are correct, he still refuses to acknowledge the role he played in shaping them this way.
• Neglected the eldest son, Connor, for most of his life because he doesn't take him seriously due to embarrassing the family at every turn. While Connor has shown himself to be ignorant and delusional (with his ambitions to become President of the United States), it doesn't excuse Logan's treatment of him. Even on the day Connor is about to get married to his fiancé, Willa, Logan chooses to skip the wedding in favor of securing the deal with Lukas Matsson, the CEO of a popular streaming platform called GoJo, to sell his company after deeming his children unfit to run it.
• For Kendall, Logan's abuse towards him can be considered the most severe out of any of the Roy children. It's implied throughout the show that Kendall was physically abused in the same way Roman was. Not only that, Logan told Kendall that he was going to be CEO when he was seven years old, something that took a toll on his mental health, contributed to his sense of entitlement to that position, and is partially responsible for his addiction problems, only to decide that he is unfit to run the company at the series beginning when he leaves behind a deal to merge with the popular news media website, Vaulter, to attend Logan's 80th birthday party, dangling a carrot in his face before snatching it away at the last minute.
• For Roman, it is mentioned that Logan hit him frequently as a child, something that Roman himself confirms. It is shown that the abuse he inflicted on Roman contributed to his severe sexual dysfunction, inferiority complex, and verbally abusive attitude towards his other siblings.
• For Siobhan (who is also referred to as "Shiv"), while she is arguably the smartest as well as the most competent/well-adjusted of the children, Logan still treats her pretty terribly, threatening her with negative news coverage if she refuses to join the company, dangling the CEO position in her face in a similar way as he did with Kendall only to snatch it away when he deems her unfit to serve the role. That said, Siobhan's lack of experience and her overconfident attitude are what lead to most of her failures, which makes his deteriorating perception of her somewhat understandable.
• He is shown to have an abusive, or at the very least, a negative relationship with other members of his family, including his brother Ewan, who rightfully despises the way Logan has used his news network to spread hate speech and propaganda for his own interests; his grandchildren, Sophie and Iverson; threw Connor's mother in an insane asylum, and has cheated on his other two wives, Caroline and Marcia.
• When Kendall plots a vote of no confidence in Logan's leadership due to his health and age being a major concern, as well as his entitlement to the CEO position, this fails due to him not being able to rally enough supporters on the company's board. Afterward, Logan fires all of the board members who voted in favor of Kendall's motion, including Frank Vernon, without exit package.
• After Kendall filed a lawsuit against Logan, he planted several negative news stories detailing his addiction issues, which created a major stain on his public image.
• After Kendall nearly succeeds in taking over the company through a "bear hug" (a deal so good that the company has no choice but to accept it, otherwise they upset the shareholders) with Logan's rival, Sandy Furness as well as his longtime friend and private equity-investor, Stewy Hosseini. In retaliation, Logan turns his siblings against Kendall at Siobhan's wedding by reminding them that it's a family company, which is hypocritical considering that he planned on selling Waystar to Gojo later on.
• When Kendall gets into a car accident that kills a waiter Logan had an issue with at the wedding due to him seeking drugs to revel in the moment, Logan blackmails him to back away from the bear hug and continue being subservient to him. This turns everyone against Kendall, rendering him into a human punching bag as well as making him rife with remorse, guilt, and depression.
• He forces Kendall to shut down Vaulter after they threaten to unionize, posing a threat to the company's long-term business interests. This leaves several people jobless and is an onscreen example of Logan using his influence to end major companies for his benefit.
• He attempts to buy the Pierce Global News network, a highly reputable and respected source of information that Logan only views as an outlet to spread more propaganda. It is also implied that he does this out of spite towards his brother Ewan given that he watches their network.
• He uses Kendall as a figurative "sacrifice" to absorb all of the blowback from the cruise line scandal, which protects himself, his associates, and his business for the long term.
• Throughout the third season, he pits his children against each other, specifically toward Kendall, so they can take him down after he accuses Logan of enabling individuals involved in the cruise situation on live television. This is shown to have detrimental effects on their mental health and spirals Kendall towards the deep end with his addiction issues.
• After attending a conference to figure out the presidential candidate that Waystar will back during the election, Logan chooses Jeryd Mencken, a far-right, fascistic, white supremacist at Roman's prodding, because he realizes that the most extreme candidate will guarantee a victory for the company and advance his interests for the long-term. While Roman was the one who assured Mencken's victory, it was Logan who approved of him in the first place, making him indirectly responsible for all of the mentioned hate crimes/riots that took place after ATN announced Mencken's "victory," even though all of the votes had not come in yet, yielding bleak prospects for the future.
• This move also negatively affected his family due to a racist bully attacking his granddaughter, Sophie, at school following Mencken's "election" and straining Kendall's relationship with his ex-wife Rava, his children, and causing his assistant, Jess, to quit working for him.
• When the Roy family visits Caroline, Logan's divorced wife and the mother of Kendall, Roman, and Shiv, for her wedding in Italy, Logan, while meeting with Kendall to discuss his future, feeds Iverson some food he suspects Kendall of poisoning. While it can be argued that he knew the food wasn't poisoned and he only wanted to screw with Kendall, it's still a terrible thing to do because one of Kendall's biggest redeeming qualities is his protective nature of his kids.
• At the end of season three, after his children coalesce to take the company for themselves due to Logan's plan to sell the company to Lukas Matsson, he manipulates Tom, Shiv's husband, to inform him of what they are doing and in retaliation, revises the divorce agreement with Caroline that prevents them from doing so, something that the season had been building up to. This causes the children's relationship with him to become strained for several months, while also preventing them from spending time with Logan before his eventual death, something that Shiv points out to Tom in their argument toward the end of season four.
• In the episode before his death, he announces to the workers at ATN that he will be taking a much more active role in their part of the company and ensure that the rhetoric becomes more extreme. This means had he not died, his company did have the potential to become a lot worse than it already was.
• Even though he died alone in an airplane bathroom with none of his family members/loved ones to accompany him in his last moments, he faces no comeuppance for his actions, making him a Karma Houdini.
• He sets the standards for the series, as he is the main antagonist who uses his influence as the head of a powerful media company to manipulate world events in his favor, regardless of the detrimental consequences it has on the rest of the world. The abuse he inflicts on others is also unique because it extends not just towards his loved ones, but millions of people who are either involved or not involved in his company.
• While he does have several comedic moments, they are not detracting given the fact that his actions are still treated seriously by the narrative and are more so a reflection of how abusive he is to others.

What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]

• He is WAY too sympathetic to be Near Pure Evil:
  • He originally had a happy (albeit impoverished) childhood in Dundee, Scotland, but when World War II started, his mother sent him and his brother away to live with their Uncle Noah in Canada. However, on the way over there, the engine of the U-boat they were traveling gave in and they were stranded out at sea, where they were told not to speak, move, or cough for three nights and two days, otherwise, it would implode.
  • Not only that, when Ewan and Logan moved to Canada, their Uncle Noah was incredibly abusive towards the latter, causing him to have deep scars on his back into Logan's old age. What's more, when Logan returned home from Boarding School after falling ill, his baby sister Rose arrived in Canada, where she died from polio shortly thereafter, which caused him to blame himself for her death for years, something that his uncle and aunt never attempted to absolve him of.
    • While his tragic backstory doesn't excuse his actions, it's hard not to feel some sympathy for him and understand why he became the monster he was by the time the story takes place.
  • His death is heavily played for sympathy, as he dies alone on an airplane to Sweden to secure the GoJo deal with Lukas Matsson, separated from all of his loved ones, and is something that he tried to prevent through his attempt to reconcile with his children in the previous episode. When his children hear about his death, they are such devastated wreaks that it is hard not to feel sympathetic towards them along with the circumstances in which Logan died. Even at his funeral, while almost everyone there, implicitly and explicitly, acknowledges his abusive nature, they still feel immense sadness and devastation over his death, with Roman's breakdown, Ewan, Kendall, and Shiv's eulogies all showcasing this, as well as sad music playing in the background as his coffin is taken to his mausoleum as several other characters cry as this happens.
• He does have some people he genuinely cares about.
  • When it comes to his children, while Logan is abusive towards all of them, the narrative still makes it clear that he undoubtedly cares for them and wants them to be a part of his life, as the way he was raised prevented him from healthily showing his love. He affectionately refers to Kendall as his "number one boy," Shiv as "pinky," and expresses concern for their wellbeing at different points in the series, especially after he strikes Roman, Kendall falling off the inflatable, and when he protects them from Lester. The abuse he puts them through is arguably not a subversion, as he genuinely believes his methods will allow his children to become effective business leaders and is proud of them whenever they show spouts of ruthlessness, especially when Kendall denounces his father for the cruise incident at the end of season two. Even as they start to gain their own independence, he does attempt to reconcile with them by having them agree to the GoJo deal and when they refuse, telling him to ask Matsson for more money out of spite, he does say that while he doesn't view them as serious people, he loves them all nonetheless.
  • He is shown to love his third wife, Marcia, as before his death, he would call her every night and have "intimate" conversations with her, and he recounts the time when he and Marcia would read to each other stories, stating that he misses her and is one of the few people he would show his vulnerable side to.
  • Even after sending him away to live with his abusive uncle, Logan did love his mother, Helen, as he set up several memorials for her after she died and fondly remembers his time with her in Scotland.
  • He loved his sister Rose deeply, as he remained heartbroken over her death and blamed himself for it happening in the first place, something that his brother Ewan acknowledges at his funeral and makes sure to tell him that it wasn't his fault.
  • Logan genuinely likes his nephew, Greg Hirsch, as he expresses genuine shock when the latter says that he is planning on leaving the company to side with Ewan, tells him that it's his choice on what he wants to do, and treats him better than most people in his inner circle. After Greg says he slept with a girl in his guest bedroom, this seems to raise Logan's opinion of him afterward because while he does call him disgusting, he still smiles and expresses his approval.
  • Even though he has a stormy relationship with his brother Ewan, he seems to love him to some extent, as he fondly reminisces the early part of his childhood in Scotland with him at one point, particularly when discussing the birds Logan would see in their hometown of Dundee.
  • He has a fondness towards his bodyguard, Colin, as he calls him a "good guy," his "pal," and his "best pal," and has a vulnerable moment with him when talking about what his life has amounted to and gifted him a watch worth thousands of dollars in his will.
  • He genuinely respects Tom Wambsgans, Siobhan's husband, as he warmly welcomed him into the family after he proposed to her and values his input when making business decisions. After Tom betrays Shiv in the season three finale, Logan greets him warmly in a genuine way, showing that he softened up to him over time.
• He has numerous nicer moments sprinkled throughout the show:
  • In the pilot episode, when Roman humiliates the young kid for losing a game of baseball as well as a million dollars he could have won from it, Logan evidently disapproves of this behavior and congratulates the kid for putting in a "magnificent effort." He later gifts the kid's family with the Patek Philippe that Tom gave him for his birthday, which is not subverted or done for any pragmatic reason.
  • When Kendall tells him that he deserves the blowback from the cruise scandal after accidentally killing the waiter at Shiv's wedding, Logan tries to comfort him by saying he doesn't deserve it in any way, that he hates that he resorted to that option in the first place, and downplays the manslaughter to make Kendall feel better.
  • After Kendall fell off the inflatable and almost drowns, he comforts his grandchildren, Sophie and Iverson, specifically the latter by reading to him a short story. This shows that while he is just as abusive and rude to them as his children, such as the case when struck Iverson in season one, he still loves them and is willing to take time out of his day to have a nice moment with his grandchildren. Even after he hit Iverson (it's left ambiguous whether it was intentional or unintentional given Logan was recovering from a stroke that he suffered in the pilot episode at the time), he does ask him immediately if he is alright, arguably another "Pet the Dog" moment, albeit a minor one, that shows that he does care for his grandchildren.
  • He is shown to collect various medals of war veterans out of respect, using this as an opportunity to bond with Connor's girlfriend and his future daughter-in-law, Willa, with nothing indicating that this was disingenuous.
  • Not long before his death, Logan does seem to express worry to his bodyguard, Colin, about how his actions may have led to the world becoming a worse place, ponders about whether or not he wasted his life trying to build his business ruthlessly while distancing himself from his family, and is overall quite depressed with everything going on in his life, which is played for some sympathy.
  • In a recording several weeks before his death, Logan, Connor, and several of his cronies sing a famous folk song together that is played for sympathy and is meant to showcase a softer side that we rarely see, but is a reminder that for all of his faults, he still had some good in him.

External Links[]

• Logan Roy on the Villains Wiki
• Logan Roy on the Succession Wiki