HBO’s comedy drama series Succession has landed 25 Emmy nominations, making it the show with the highest number of noms this year. The three-season series created by Jesse Armstrong focuses on the filthy rich and dysfunctional Roy family, the owners of Waystar Royko, a global media and entertainment conglomerate. Logan Roy, the family’s patriarch and monarch of the empire, is ill, and the other family members are squabbling for control of the business. Here’s what makes Succession on Disney+ Hotstar a great binge watch.

A strong ensemble cast led by Brian Cox

Succession has one of the best ensemble casts in recent TV series history. From the immature, irresponsible and twisted Roman (Kieran Culkin) to the delusional Conor (Alan Ruck), the series is filled with comedic talent. However, the heavy lifting is done by Brian Cox as the patriarch Logan Roy and Jeremy Strong as the vulnerable drug addict Kendall, who was once the heir-apparent. Sarah Snook as Shiv, the only daughter of Logan, also makes her presence felt as the series progresses. Matthew Macfadyen, as Shiv’s husband Tom, and Nicholas Braun as the goofy cousin Greg, have a great chemistry as friends.

Power dynamics of a warring family

The show is heavily driven by the power dynamics among the family members, with Logan pulling all the strings. His three children swarm around him for his attention as they believe they can shape the future of the company. This results in a kind of Machiavellian scheming and plotting, but at the heart of Succession is the tale of a family that just wants to be loved. This interplay of cunning and vulnerability makes Succession riveting. And, of course, for the way all the financial maneuvers are made to sound reasonable without bogging one down with business jargon.

A poster from Succession. Twitter

Shades of a Shakespearean tragedy

Woven into this corporate-cum-family drama is a strong element of Shakespearean tragedy. Logan is like a modern-day King Lear; a media tycoon – instead of the King of Britain – who is determined to pit his children against one another to save his legacy from being torn apart. On his birthday, he tactfully pushes back the issue of succession by announcing that the reins will remain in his hands. Interestingly, during the initial days of his career, Cox had gained recognition for his portrayal of King Lear at both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre.

The characters are scary, the humour is scarier

The cruelty of the entitled to the emotional inadequacy of the privileged – it can be difficult to care about the characters in Succession as they all are slightly different shades of terrible. And the show’s writers don’t mince words while painting what’s going on in the characters’ minds. The dialogues are so sharp and profane that at times it borders on the scary, and the way the characters insult each other is just brutal.