Shout Out / Succession

• There are numerous references to Jesse Armstrong's previous work:
  • Peep Show:
    • S01E10, "Nobody Is Ever Missing": At Shiv and Tom's wedding, Greg pulls up Tom on his behaviour with "That wasn't very wedding-y". In Peep Show S07E05 ("Seasonal Beatings") Jeremy replies to Mark's angry outburst on Christmas Day with "That wasn't very Christmassy".
    • S02E07, "Return": One member of the investigation committee is named Stefan Strauss. This is also the name of a senior JLB Credit executive in Peep Show S06E01, "Jeremy At JLB".
    • S02E10, "This Is Not For Tears": Philippe Layton is played by Angus Wright, who previously played Angus Maynard in series 7 of Peep Show.
    • S03E01, "Secession": Shiv tells Lisa "I'm in a fucking fuck-pie here". In Peep Show S03E01 ("Mugging") Mark tells Jeremy "Don't pull me into your emotional fuck-pie!"
    • S03E06, "What It Takes": When Greg asks if trying to influence the choice of the next US President is constututional, Tom mocks him with "You wanna call a referee? Is there an ombudsman in the house?" This is a reference to Peep Show S09E04, when Jeremy makes a toothless threat to report Mark to "the ombudsman".
    • S04E01, "Rehearsal": Greg describes Logan's intimidating presence at the ATN offices as "Like Jaws, if everyone in the ocean worked for Jaws". In Peep Show S06E06 ("Das Boot") Mark gets frustrated as he tries to explain "'The shark isn't called 'Jaws', Jeremy, the film is called 'Jaws'.
    • Peter Munion is referred to as "The Seat Sniffer", a nickname also used for Jeff in Peep Show
    • "The Disgusting Brothers" is a nod to Mark and Jeremy's self-chosen nickname "The El Dude Brothers". In both shows one "Brother" is greatly amused by the moniker while the other is clearly embarrassed by it.
  • The Thick of It:
    • Peter Munion's name is a nod to Peter Mannion MP. Both characters are also mockingly referred to as "Peter Onion".
    • In "Honeymoon States" (S04E04) Connor tells his half-siblings "Mi casa su casa" before closing the door in their faces. In ''The Thick Of It" Malcolm Tucker tells Steve Fleming "See ya later, my door's always open" immediately before slamming it after him.
    • In "Church and State" S04E09 Tom is shown reading a newspaper article analysing the timeline of ATN's election night debacle and worrying about how he and the other main players come across. This is reminiscent of the Thick Of It episode "Spinners and Losers", which ends with Emma reading an article on the "Winners and Losers" from the Party's leadership crisis and informing Ollie that he has been declared a "Loser".
    • In "With Open Eyes" S04E10 Kendall calls Stewie "Stew-pot". This is also a nickname "The Fucker" uses for Stuart Pearson in The Thick Of It.
  • In the Loop:
    • Karl is played by David Rasche, who played Linton Barwick in In The Loop.
    • S03E01, "Secession": The Roy siblings gather in a child's bedroom full of toys for a secretive meeting to plan their strategy against Logan. In In The Loop Karen Clark and General Miller sneak into a child's bedroom full of toys for a covert meeting on military strategy.
    • S04E01, "One Percent": Gerri tells Karl: "Well, I don't know what the news is and it's beyond my purview and I'm walking away." In In The Loop Judy tries to explain to Malcolm that an issue is "well within my purview" and Malcolm berates her for the use of that specific word.
• Some rapid-fire Star Wars references in “Lifeboats”, with a bit of foreshadowing, as the revealed to be evil in so many ways Waystar is compared to the death star, Kendall is called Darth Vader (who was the manipulated dragon to Palpatine/Logan) and Ambiguously Bi Tom is labelled C3PO. “Prague” also has Kendall trying to convince himself (and Dust) that he’s the “rebel alliance,” not like evil Waystar.
• Episode 6 of Season 1 is titled "Which Side Are You On?" after the Florence Reece song by the same name. A version of the track plays over the episode's ending.
• Logan calls Greg "an Ichabod Crane fuck".
• Kendall refers to his position at Waystar as being carried around in Logan's pocket like Stuart Little.
• At various points in the show, Kendall is referred to as "Yuppie RoboCop" and Ken.W.A..
• Tom is called "the cunt of Monte Christo".
• Frank quotes Shakespeare's Coriolanus.
• Tom calls Greg "his little R2 unit" and "the talented Mr. Greg".
• Jesse Armstrong confirmed that all the references to children’s books in season three were to show that Connor, Kendall, Shiv and Roman are ultimately still children, and how they’re treated from then to now hasn’t changed.
• Jesse Armstrong compared what Logan does to Kendall in season two, just making him completely lobotimised and defeated to The Manchurian Candidate. Kendall and Shaw also are pretty similar, arrogant and hard to like, but easily cowed and submissive.
• As well as a ton of references to King Lear, Armstrong took from The Celebration, with the pilot being the same name, Michael going off to military school like Roman, and the father telling Christian what else was he for with Kendall admitting to Shiv the same thing.
• The Happier Home Movie subversion credits are a direct reference of the opening scenes of The Game (1997).
• "Willa Ferreyra" is a shout-out to Succession's executive producer Will Ferrell.
• At one point, Kendall refers to himself as "Little Lord Fuckleroy".
• The single protestor holding up a placard reading “ROY CUNT” upon the Roys’ visit to Logan’s childhood home in Dundee in SE02E08 is inspired by Janey Godley’s “TRUMP IS A CUNT” sign◊ that she brought to her one-woman protest of Donald Trump’s visit to Turnberry Golf Course in Ayrshire.
• The final episodes of all the seasons are all named after lines from the poem "Dream Song 29" by John Berryman.