Succession is a show about a media mogul and his family. 4 kids and a few ex-wives. The show focuses on the day to day of the family drama and what it is like running or being heir to a large conglomerate. It’s witty, intense, heartbreaking and thought-provoking.
Seeing as the kids in the show are constantly trying to challenge one another and their father for power, they use their intelligence or lack thereof to prove to their father that they should be the one who takes over the company. Waystar Royco is about making power moves and in order to do that, well you have to flex your intelligence a bit. Bear with us as we try to rank who is smarter than who based on some of the manipulative, constructive and calculating moves they have made over the past two seasons.
Connor Roy
Connor is Logan’s oldest son. He isn’t very smart, he doesn’t work and has no desire to. He is very far removed from Waystar and anything surrounding it. Connor’s latest obsession is to become President of the United States. Something that his father and Shiv have both advised him against. Connor starts our list out with being one of the main cast members with the lest intelligence.
Don’t believe us? One example of many is that video he releases declaring his intentions to run for president. His first item on his platform, not paying his taxes and willing to go to jail to keep it that way.
Tom Wambsgans
Big time jerk Tom is really only in the position he’s in currently because of his wife Shiv. Guess it helps to be banging the boss’s daughter, right? Tom is not only the least likely person to run the company he is also incapable of doing anything impressive besides looking for people to fire.
Tom treats Greg like crap but wraps it in a pretty bow so it’s okay. He is more concerned at looking for someone he can talk down to seeing as he feels like the lowest person on the totem pole in the Roy family. He finds this person in Greg.
Greg Hirsh
Speaking of Greg we happen to think that he is a little bit smarter than Tom and a few others in the family and company. Cousin Greg or Greg the Egg is often counted out due to his touch of social anxiety and inability to speak up. Greg is constantly talked down to mostly by Tom but in season two he truly shined.
We won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it but after this season we expect Greg to be a more confident man in season three. Maybe he will show us all that playing stupid pays off.
Marcia Roy
Logan’s wife has been his confidant for some time now. In season one, he leaned on her a lot not only because he was sick but also for advice with the family and the business. There was something refreshing about Marcia maybe it’s the way she always puts the kids in their place.
Her ability to turn her and Logan’s pillow talk into a way to insert herself into other people’s conversations leads us to believe she is a lot smarter than she lets on. She also seems to be in it for herself or is it just us? She and Logan are having a difficult time. Their marriage is fractured and it was before Rhea Jarrell shows up.
Roman Roy
Roman is Logan’s youngest child. He is confident (for no reason), snippy (because he’s spoiled) and he doesn’t have a good reputation around the office or really amongst his family. Despite all of that we can assume that all the Roy kids have a bit of determination in their blood because they are Logan’s kids. However, Roman has been trying to step his game up and make big moves in order to secure his spot in the business.
He’s in management training and he uses Gerri as his confidant. But we can’t forget that Roman is snarky, mostly looking for his dad’s approval and lacks any real experience when it comes to the business.
Frank Vernon
Frank is, along with Logan, one of the longest-serving employees of Waystar Royco. That is until he finds himself caught up in Kendall’s garbage and subsequently fired. He has since been fired 2 more times and added a few more bad decisions to the list.
However, before he was recruited by Kendall we can assume that he was able to keep his job at Waystar Royco all those years because he knew what he was doing. Some of the chatter around Frank makes us believe that he is a playboy, a lothario of sorts. He spends a lot and always has a new woman to impress.
Gerri Kellman
Gerri really is the MVP of Waystar. She is always there to give advice that is actually helpful. She also tries her hardest to keep the company out of legal trouble but let’s be honest it falls on deaf ears most of the time.
However, in season two Gerri was able to look past Logan and see the future of Waystar. She has conveniently aligned herself with Roman (who might just run it all one day). She is quick-witted and doesn’t get bogged down by the boys club. By the looks of it, she and Roman have formed somewhat of a hands-off sexual relationship. One that can be fruitful for Gerri in the future.
Kendall Roy
Kendall is sharp, he has learned the family business, he has something that Logan had in his youth; a spark. He knows a good deal, he knows when to push and when not to. Unfortunately, he has used all these great traits for negative things.
His use of drugs has also made it so that he can’t make clear decisions. Fans are lead to believe that Kendall is the ONE, the child that will take it all. But is he really the right fit? He has made too many bad public decisions. Logan can’t trust him fully. Bottom line is, Kendall has the knowledge, the skill, and the experience to be the most intelligent. But he needs to get over a few of his nasty habits.
Shiv Roy
Shiv is a fan favorite. She is very smart probably the smartest of all the kids. She is only just now transitioning into the family business and that’s because Logan pulled a power move and offered her the top position. We only assume he did this because at the time he needed her expertise in navigating the media during a time of crisis. Shiv has so much more going on in her own life and her own career path.
Because she has been so successful on her own she is pushing for things at Waystar instead of sitting back and learning by her dad’s side. Because Shiv is so smart she knows not to be excited about anything her father offers her and in the end, she was right.
Logan Roy
There is no way that Logan couldn’t be considered the most intelligent on the list. He built a media conglomerate on his own, from nothing and he grew up poor in an abusive household. Logan knows how to deal with other people in the business.
He plays the game to get what he wants and has tried to teach his kids to do the same. As much as he wants to retire he wants to call the shots till he is six-feet under. He, unfortunately, has raised kids and surrounded himself with people who are either all for themselves or not as committed to the company as he is.
