Succession has earned acclaim for its depiction of the fictional lives of the megarich, power-hungry and venal Roy siblings (Connor, Kendall, Shiv and Roman) as they vie for control of Waystar Royco. Almost every component of the TV series has found a second life elsewhere in culture, inspiring a Twitter account with more than 255,000 followers that posts out-of-context scenes from the show, weekly commentary about the cast members’ fashion and even a remix by rapper Pusha T of the series’ catchy theme song.
It is this kind of fandom that has culminated in a “mini version of a Super Bowl” for the show’s finale, said Meng, who is in the running for a $1,000 jackpot. “I might spend it on a trip to Tuscany” — the location of the drama-filled Season 3 Italian wedding of Caroline Collingwood, Shiv, Kendall and Roman’s mother.
Jayson Buford, who placed a $20 bet with nine of his friends at his Succession watch parties, said betting was “a fun activity to do to supplement the idea of the show, which is very communal. It’s a show about a family, people have watch parties, people gather, and it plays within that.” Buford predicts that Waystar Royco is going to dissolve and that nobody will take over the company. Logan “thinks Kendall is an addict, and he doesn’t think Shiv is smart,” he said.
Some Succession viewers are placing noncash bets to bond with their co-workers.
“It’s a team-building exercise,” said Colm Phelan, 30, a digital public relations manager in Dublin. “Everybody was watching Succession, and we thought it’d be fun to start an in-house gambling game for the team.”
About 25 participants place pretend $10 bets every week, Phelan said. Contestants can change their guesses based on the outcome of the latest episode each week, but by the end of the series, only the person who correctly chooses the successor the most times will be named the winner.
The prize? “TBD,” he said. “It wouldn’t be a cash prize; it would be a gift voucher.”
Shruti Marathe, who started wagering money on TV shows with her group of seven friends from college when Game of Thrones aired its sixth season in 2016, has expanded her casual betting game to a somewhat time-consuming hobby that now includes more than 60 participants across five social circles, three rounds of predictions and an elaborate survey that goes beyond the question of who will come out on top.
The groups include Marathe’s work friends, college friends, noncollege friends, and her family and their friends. There’s also one she calls “The Waystar Royco Executive Training Program.” Who’s in this latter group? “Friends of friends,” said Marathe, 25, a development manager in Los Angeles. “For example, people who were sitting at my table at my friend’s wedding.”
The 15-question Succession form requires players to forecast several potential plot points.
Because of the survey’s detailed responses and number of participants, Marathe said, she chose not to collect money from players, so there will be no official cash prize. But winners will receive something priceless: “You get bragging rights.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Written by: Wilson Wong
©2023 THE NEW YORK TIMES
