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Succession – Season One: The Complete Scripts
The complete, authorised scripts, including deleted scenes, of the multiple award-winning
Succession
.
** Winner of nineteen Emmys, nine Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and a Grammy. **
With an exclusive introduction from creator Jesse Armstrong.
'The most thrilling and beautifully obscene TV there is.' Guardian
'Extraordinarily entertaining and incisive.' Empire
'One of the most relentlessly paced shows on television.' Rolling Stone
Everything I've done in my life is for my children.
When Logan Roy, the head of one of the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerates, decides to retire, each of his four grown children follows a personal agenda that doesn't always sync with those of their siblings -- or their father.
Collected here for the first time, the complete scripts of Season One feature unseen extra material, including deleted scenes, alternative dialogue and character directions. They reveal a unique insight into the writing, creation and development of a TV sensation and a screen-writing masterpiece.
'Monstrous, near-Shakespearean perfection.' New Statesman
** Winner of nineteen Emmys, nine Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and a Grammy. **
With an exclusive introduction from creator Jesse Armstrong.
'The most thrilling and beautifully obscene TV there is.' Guardian
'Extraordinarily entertaining and incisive.' Empire
'One of the most relentlessly paced shows on television.' Rolling Stone
Everything I've done in my life is for my children.
When Logan Roy, the head of one of the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerates, decides to retire, each of his four grown children follows a personal agenda that doesn't always sync with those of their siblings -- or their father.
Collected here for the first time, the complete scripts of Season One feature unseen extra material, including deleted scenes, alternative dialogue and character directions. They reveal a unique insight into the writing, creation and development of a TV sensation and a screen-writing masterpiece.
'Monstrous, near-Shakespearean perfection.' New Statesman
840 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 30, 2023
180 people are currently reading
619 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
June 20, 2023
am i giving this five stars because i have a hyperfixation? maybe. am i also giving it five stars because i think it’s one of the best pieces of television ever? definitely.
November 21, 2024
Succession is the show of all time. "You're my number one boy." not being in the script is CRAZYYYYY.
December 12, 2023
LOGAN
Kendall? You came.
And in that instant – if he could see it – Kendall would know he got it wrong. Always business first. But they hug.
I picked up the scripts because I love this TV show desperately, and I’d started seeing snippets quoted on Twitter which offered sharp insight and additional context to these characters. It’s a lovely book and I wish other TV shows would release their scripts like this: you also get some introductory background on the making-of, some glimpses behind the scenes, some interesting annotations from Jesse Armstrong along the way on where some things changed and how and why. It’s fantastic getting this insight into the writing behind the show.
The scripts themselves, too, are just sooo well-written: I can hear that distinctive banter in all of the characters’ voices, but some of the descriptive beats here are so rich and evocative and not what I would expect, going into such detail on the interiority of the characters, some signs and signals to what they were on the verge of saying or what they’re really thinking:
SHIV
I get it. You’re your own guy. It’s fine. I won’t judge.
TOM
(I think you will)
No, of course, I know that.
It’s also great revisiting season 1 in this way, now that I know what’s coming down the pike. There’s so many seeds planted along the way, little through-threads which bear through so consistently: all of the kids trying to prove themselves in their father’s shadow; Connor being perpetually sidelined and his desperate need to be liked and how he’s such a joke, but also the way he was genuinely the kids’ most reliable father figure, and how I’m oddly in my feelings about his relationship with Willa; Tom eternally toiling away and eating shit on behalf of this family and then making Greg eat shit in return, but what that means for his arc and where it’ll all go.
A lot of these characters seem like such jokes on the surface, and this show is a black comedy — so much of this dialogue is deeply funny even in plain text form — but at the end of the day, it’s a tragedy, too. Just sharp and funny and bleak and deliciously well-written.
The scripts are a fantastic way to revisit the show; highly recommended to any other Succ heads out there who haven’t read them yet. Onto the next season!
Want to read
May 4, 2023when my favourite show ends I will have no choice but buy and read ALL the scrips.
May 21, 2023
Roman roy coded
July 19, 2023
KENDALL: I'm good.
[End of discussion. They look around the event. A silence grows. The perverse desire to fuck this up bubbles up in him.]
[End of discussion. They look around the event. A silence grows. The perverse desire to fuck this up bubbles up in him.]
Read
January 15, 2024This counts because there’s so much cut/revised/alternate material in the screenplays that even having the episodes memorized they’re not skimmable reads, and I appreciate this series on a much deeper level than you do, anyway. Imminent plans to podcast and discuss these in more depth, though as always, no promises.
January 17, 2024
As a massive fan of the TV drama Succession, I’ve had my eye on getting hold of the complete scripts of the show for some time. The dialogue in the series is so fast-moving that it’s easy to miss stuff and the scripts fill those gaps. I’m reading the scripts in conjunction with watching all of the four series again. Scripts first then an episode. Both are brilliant. The exclusive introduction in this series one script from Succession creator Jesse Armstrong is a real eye opener, offering insights into how the drama is made and highlighting the undoubted talents of a magnificent cast of actors and writers. I can’t wait to read the series two, three and four scripts as I watch the shows. This is award-winning writing and acting of the highest order.
June 21, 2024
this would be even better if i understood anything about business
April 8, 2025
in case anyone was wondering why i haven’t updated goodreads in 3 months. um. succession is why
January 26, 2025
Succession you will always be famous... why did I just spend the weekend reading 800 pages' worth of scripts instead of doing any work for my degree. No regrets.
Was extremely good to see the characters' internal monologues, the stage directions, stuff that made it into the show, stuff that got cut, stuff that was clearly added ad hoc, or contributed by actors in their individual performances. Had a very fun (and distressing) time feeding my already substantial addiction.
Was extremely good to see the characters' internal monologues, the stage directions, stuff that made it into the show, stuff that got cut, stuff that was clearly added ad hoc, or contributed by actors in their individual performances. Had a very fun (and distressing) time feeding my already substantial addiction.
Read
January 15, 2025and in that instant - if he could see it - kendall would know he got it wrong. always business first.
finding out "you're my number one boy" wasn't in the original script has ruined my life. brian cox when i find you.
there is so much brilliant characterization in this that gives you more insight into the characters' motivations, especially the roy siblings and their perception of logan/how they desire approval and validation from him in different ways. jesse's note at the beginning puts so much into context for the overall themes of the show, a reality that is unfortunately more relevant now than ever. there are so many small moments that are paralleled later in the show or that hint at what was always going to happen, even as early on as episode 1.
i'm so excited to continue with these and rewatch the first season. well worth a read if you're a fan of the show!
something's going to happen. it's not going to be the same forever.
December 5, 2025
Succession created by Jesse Armstrong - Winner of nineteen Emmys, nine Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and a Grammy, and that may be just for the first season… it was called 'The most thrilling and beautifully obscene TV there is…' by the Guardian, and since they air it again on HBO here, I am looking at some of it, nevertheless, if you want to read more notes on films, there are more than five thousand posts on features from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists, along with reviews of magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time and other web pages on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... maybe you have some comments
9 out of 10
I have watched Succession, how could one avoid taking a look, with all that buzz, but I have started near the end, so now that HBO is including the first season in its program – it is on HBO 3 here – I think I will see some of it
It is just before I go to sleep, at about 22, according to the summer time, and 21, if we look at the new scheme – alas, I start the day after less than six hours, and then I wake up during this ‘sleep’ three or more times – and it does not feel as such a massive chef d’oeuvre 'Monstrous, near-Shakespearean perfection.'
They are too horrible, that could be an objection, Macbeth https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... does not have all the angels on stage, Hamlet and dramas describe tragedies, murders, I just mean that many of those in Succession are loathsome
The Murdoch empire has been the main inspiration, apparently, and they are not the gentlest folks we meet; they have been responsible for the rise of Orange Woland and MAGA aka GAGA, so how can anyone be worse than that? Well, they have scions that would like their media empire to be more balanced
Expect the bad guy has won, from what I have read, the company will be controlled by the son who is right wing (if the others were/are indeed more to the left, I am not sure) and thus we will see the same crap on their channels, something I just watched a few minutes ago is a case in point, how they keep defending a monster
I will be off the rails from here, so let us just say that Succession is good, I do find it fabulous – so back to what I was saying above: this heinous administration has launched a war on drugs, bombing boats near Venezuela, claiming these are carrying drugs, and they target ‘narco terrorists’, it may sound justified on Fox
Only it is not: in a democracy, you have suspects, they are taken to court, their guilt is proved, a judge or jury has a sentence, or they may be absolved, and then there is prison time, there is no death penalty for drug dealing, but what happens in the Caribbean is abominable, even if those are mules, they should not be just executed
The disgusting news of the last days (well, some of them, that stupid cock sucker, Bubba we hear was the one) show the ex-president of Honduras has been pardoned by the same ghoul, after being sent to jail for 45 years, for…sending tons of cocaine to the US, as Rory Stewart was saying on his podcast, in jest but he was accurate:
‘We have to kill you, or else you enter the justice system and then this contemptible leader will have to pardon you’, on top of this, we have the coverage of Biden, how sleepy he was, terrible, and then now, as their favorite shows he is not up to it, asleep, absent, they just change the tune, the paradigm of the hypocrite
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
9 out of 10
I have watched Succession, how could one avoid taking a look, with all that buzz, but I have started near the end, so now that HBO is including the first season in its program – it is on HBO 3 here – I think I will see some of it
It is just before I go to sleep, at about 22, according to the summer time, and 21, if we look at the new scheme – alas, I start the day after less than six hours, and then I wake up during this ‘sleep’ three or more times – and it does not feel as such a massive chef d’oeuvre 'Monstrous, near-Shakespearean perfection.'
They are too horrible, that could be an objection, Macbeth https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... does not have all the angels on stage, Hamlet and dramas describe tragedies, murders, I just mean that many of those in Succession are loathsome
The Murdoch empire has been the main inspiration, apparently, and they are not the gentlest folks we meet; they have been responsible for the rise of Orange Woland and MAGA aka GAGA, so how can anyone be worse than that? Well, they have scions that would like their media empire to be more balanced
Expect the bad guy has won, from what I have read, the company will be controlled by the son who is right wing (if the others were/are indeed more to the left, I am not sure) and thus we will see the same crap on their channels, something I just watched a few minutes ago is a case in point, how they keep defending a monster
I will be off the rails from here, so let us just say that Succession is good, I do find it fabulous – so back to what I was saying above: this heinous administration has launched a war on drugs, bombing boats near Venezuela, claiming these are carrying drugs, and they target ‘narco terrorists’, it may sound justified on Fox
Only it is not: in a democracy, you have suspects, they are taken to court, their guilt is proved, a judge or jury has a sentence, or they may be absolved, and then there is prison time, there is no death penalty for drug dealing, but what happens in the Caribbean is abominable, even if those are mules, they should not be just executed
The disgusting news of the last days (well, some of them, that stupid cock sucker, Bubba we hear was the one) show the ex-president of Honduras has been pardoned by the same ghoul, after being sent to jail for 45 years, for…sending tons of cocaine to the US, as Rory Stewart was saying on his podcast, in jest but he was accurate:
‘We have to kill you, or else you enter the justice system and then this contemptible leader will have to pardon you’, on top of this, we have the coverage of Biden, how sleepy he was, terrible, and then now, as their favorite shows he is not up to it, asleep, absent, they just change the tune, the paradigm of the hypocrite
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
June 27, 2023
la manera en la que he anotado este libro como si fuera yo que sé un libro de autoayuda o un ensayo sobre el issue más serio que os venga a la cabeza... amo tanto a mis little kids que leer aunque sea esas 10 frases de diálogo perdidas, me llena de un gozo indescriptible, y me permite conocer una historia que admiro tanto a unos niveles mayores... soy una friki no apsa nada
June 13, 2023
INT. LOGAN’S APARTMENT – BATHROOM – DAY
In the bathroom: the pathetic clean-up.
In the bathroom: the pathetic clean-up.
January 17, 2024
Seeing Kendall suffer from the consequences of his actions even though they were very much preventable 😭😭😭
May 10, 2025
Ruthless, brutal, brilliant, and painfully funny. Revisiting Succession on the page is both a pleasure and a pressure cooker. The sharpness of the dialogue, the precision of each line, and the emotional gut punches hit just as hard (if not harder) without the buffer of performance. It’s a masterclass in character-driven writing and proof that this series remains one of the most impeccably crafted dramas of our time. Reading it? A delightfully stressful reminder of why it’s one of my all-time favorites.
Read
February 7, 2025“I’m honest, I’m just like, ‘Yeah I like your face, can I come on your face?’ which is why I am drowning in pussy and you’re not even fucking your wife. I’m sorry. Them’s the facts.”
———
“I get it, but, if you don’t allow it I’m going to punch Tom in the face and rip my shirt open and take a fucking dump on the ground here and go apeshit because she’s the woman I love.”
———
“I get it, but, if you don’t allow it I’m going to punch Tom in the face and rip my shirt open and take a fucking dump on the ground here and go apeshit because she’s the woman I love.”
Want to read
July 18, 2023holy fucking shit i need to get my hands on these books shaking screaming sobbing you don’t understand
December 26, 2024
shoot me and it’ll hurt less
January 30, 2025
i would die for jesse armstrong
Read
February 2, 2025Yum yum yum yum THANK YOU AIDAN
March 11, 2024
Stewey Hosseini you will always be famous
June 15, 2023
-WHY DO THEY CUT SO MUCH GOLD (i know there's probably very good reasons but idc idc)
-annotated the shit out of this, ascended to new levels of succession girlification
-5 fav episodes in no particular order: celebration by jesse armstrong, i went to market by georgia pritchett (georgia i love you), austerlitz by lucy prebble, prague by jon brown and nobody is ever missing by jesse (ofc)
-annotated the shit out of this, ascended to new levels of succession girlification
-5 fav episodes in no particular order: celebration by jesse armstrong, i went to market by georgia pritchett (georgia i love you), austerlitz by lucy prebble, prague by jon brown and nobody is ever missing by jesse (ofc)
Want to read
February 15, 2025It's not a want, it's a need
December 23, 2023
You mean to tell me “you’re my number one boy” wasn’t initially in the script???!!!! I feel off-balance.
(When u see me at Barnes and Noble buying season 2, 3 and 4…..no u didn’t)
(When u see me at Barnes and Noble buying season 2, 3 and 4…..no u didn’t)
June 9, 2024
tbh it goes without saying that anything for succession im giving 5 stars a few things of note though:
1. it was so fun to see the bones of the show and how elements like acting and editing and maybe last min changes influenced the episode and honestly reminds me part of why i love collaborative art forms
2. bc at the time of writing there was no score, it was also fun to see the songs the writers chose while writing various scenes
3. i feel like some scenes were probably cut for time but i liked the extra crumbs of plot i got to actually read there were times i had to pause to read some scenes that didnt make it, just added some extra flavor
overall, im gonna keep this up s2 is next
1. it was so fun to see the bones of the show and how elements like acting and editing and maybe last min changes influenced the episode and honestly reminds me part of why i love collaborative art forms
2. bc at the time of writing there was no score, it was also fun to see the songs the writers chose while writing various scenes
3. i feel like some scenes were probably cut for time but i liked the extra crumbs of plot i got to actually read there were times i had to pause to read some scenes that didnt make it, just added some extra flavor
overall, im gonna keep this up s2 is next
August 29, 2023
Season one isn’t my favourite but for me even from the pilot alone it’s worth five stars, without even mentioning the finale. It also has some insane characterisations that make you instantly feel fully immersed in the world of Waystar Royco.
March 21, 2024
“You’re so fucking jealous aren’t you? You’re so fucking jealous of what you’ve given own your kids. And you can’t….you can’t work it out”
will go down as one of the most compelling seasons of television ever. kendall roy is the most interesting character to ever be on screen! that’s my #1 boy!
will go down as one of the most compelling seasons of television ever. kendall roy is the most interesting character to ever be on screen! that’s my #1 boy!
August 23, 2023
can’t lie, i think it would be better to watch rather than read
Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews