DALLAS, TX.- Succession’s series finale aired May 28, yet it will never be one of those TV shows that fades to black and vanishes altogether. Both line-quoting obsessives (“You can’t make a Tomlette without breaking some Gregs”) and curious latecomers will forever flock to Jesse Armstrong’s series about the dysfunctional, doomed Roy family, which The New Yorker once called “a brilliant tragedy-satire of the corporate élite.” The HBO® Original is as revered among creators and critics as it is by viewers: Succession boasts 27 nominations in the 2023 Emmy® Awards (14 for its cast alone!) and racked up a record-setting nine TV-show nods at the 2023 Golden Globes®. And as GQ noted only days after Tom and Shiv coldly clasped hands while Roman drank and Kendall sank, “the show’s place in the TV Hall of Fame has been cemented for some time now.”
It’s also time for Succession — or, at least, many of its most familiar props, set decorations and quiet-luxury outfits — to take its place in the homes of its biggest fans, which is to say, anyone who’s ever spent a moment in Logan’s Manhattan townhome, the offices of waystar|ROYCO and ATN, a Brightstar Adventure Park, the Vaulter digs, Daniel Jiménez and Jeryd Mencken’s presidential campaign offices or, most of all, the family’s lavish retreats. They’re selling you things you want at a fair price. You know what comes next.
On Jan. 13,
Heritage Screenbid, in conjunction with HBO®, holds a very special pre-Emmy® event: the HBO® Original Succession Showcase Auction featuring hundreds of items spanning the pilot to the finale.
“This is a singular opportunity for fans to own something iconic from one of their favorite characters or sets,” says Heritage Screenbid’s Managing Director Jax Strobel. “Who wouldn’t want to own the ludicrously capricious bag or a pair of Kendall or Greg’s sunglasses — or, for that matter, all of it? And, of course, who ever imagined they could play their own game of Boar on the Floor, complete with prop sausages? Truly, there is something for everyone who loved this show, which is anyone who watched a second of Succession.”
Browsing this auction is akin to stepping into the Roys’ endless closets full of fashion that merely whisper wealth; it’s brand-name bingo, four seasons’ worth of coveted, craveable clothing available in a single sitting. Tom Ford. Alexander McQueen. Suit Supply. Brioni. Canali. Tod’s. Filson. And on and on and on it goes.
For instance, fans, not to mention the obsessives for whom Succession Fashion was an Instagram must-follow, can step into Kendall’s Lanvin sneakers, which he self-consciously slipped on during Season 1’s “Prague” to make him feel “nice and loose” before his condescending, ill-fated meeting with founders of an art start-up. They can don Connor and Willa’s wedding-day ensembles worn in front of a smattering of attendees on a tragic day during Season 4. They can dress up like Tom Wambsgans, in a nice Canali suit, when he chokes on Gil Eavis’ questions in the Season 2 episode “DC.”
Or they can hide behind Kendall Roy’s Oliver Peoples sunglasses worn throughout Season 1 or slip into one of Shiv Roy’s Max Mara ensembles, like this beige beauty from “The Munsters,” which comes with a coveted Hereu tote bag. The fine fashion on display here is seemingly endless, a litany of luxe broken in by the Roys or their toys, their friends and their foes — like, say, Lukas Matsson, whose closet full of “gorpcore” finds its way into this auction in the shape(less) of that Needles multicolored mohair shawl-collar sweater with technicolor Nikes to match or that metallic velvet bomber jacket that sold out everywhere the moment he showed up to the “Tailgate Party.”
But the most iconic outfit from Succession might be its most simple — and, for a time, its most challenging to find.
That would be Roman’s little-boy ensemble from “With Open Eyes,” the series finale. There was seemingly nothing special about the children’s T-shirt Roman wears upon slinking to his mother’s Barbados retreat; once, it could be bought for $14 a two-pack at Walmart. Yet the moment Kieran Culkin stepped on screen at the beginning of the long goodbye, it became coveted and iconic. Hence, GQ’s lengthy piece on “The Deeper Story Behind Roman Roy’s Walmart T-Shirt in the Succession Finale,” which notes that all the clothes chosen for each character, each scene, each moment are “deliberate and clever, and very much in on whatever invariably sad joke the script is telling.”
This outfit shouts its sad joke loud and clear: the Doderick dog costume worn by Cousin Greg in the first episode during his brief tenure being assaulted by kids as a Waystar parks mascot. Fret not: The outfit no longer smells of weed, vomit and despair.
One would be wise to browse this auction while carrying the two-handled, check-patterned $3,000 (!) Burberry tote Cousin Greg’s date Bridget brought to Logan’s birthday party to kick off Season 4 — otherwise known as “The Ludicrously Capacious Bag,” which is just one offering among several items, including her floral Sandro dress, in this coveted lot. Like almost everything in this auction, this wasn’t just a prop, but A Very Special Something that launched a thousand think pieces, including this one from The Cut, which went on and on about the bag, why Bridget would bring it and why it resonated with viewers.
After this auction, one can dress like a Roy and live like one ... or die like one. Among this auction’s numerous must-haves are Shiv’s note that she read to the media upon Logan’s death and Roman’s pink notecards for the eulogy for his father he couldn’t deliver. Here, as well, is a small stack of programs made for (spoiler alert?) Logan’s funeral in the series’ penultimate episode “Church and State.” It’s a masterclass in sarcasm, from the grumpy photo of Logan to the use of Proverbs 12:19 (“Truthful lips endure forever, the lying tongue, for only a moment”) to the eulogy that fills the back (“Though Logan scaled such lofty heights in public life, he remained a humble individual, prioritizing his work, his family and his faith”). Everything about Succession was coated in dark humor, even its fine print, like Logan’s birthday card to Roman with the command that he “cash out and ...,” well, you know the rest.
Look no further than the magazine covers, including the cover of Forbes that celebrated Kendall as “The Heir With the Flair” and the issue of New York with the entire family on the cover above the headline, “The Crack Up: The Roys And the Fracturing of America.” Here, too, is the issue of Vanity Fair that seemingly caused Lukas to dump Shiv, depicted as his puppet master, for her estranged husband, Tom. Fans can also compete for Kendall and Tom’s waystar|ROYCO ID badges and everything that remains from the ATN offices, from coffee cups to framed show posters (including one from The Choir) to the awards that cluttered Logan’s office.
There’s even large signs bearing the moniker waystar|ROYCO, where, according to Roman, they “do hate speech and rollercoasters.” There’s also a production-made version of the scorpion in amber Tom presented to Shiv for being “such a foxy little minx,” another dark joke that spawned a dozen essays about life, love and Russian proverbs.
As Tom says in the show’s final episode, “I give the customer what he wants.” And who could want anything more than what’s in the January 13 HBO® Original Succession Showcase Auction?
