Lukas Matsson Is Eating ‘Succession’ Up Whole
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The following story contains minor spoilers through Succession Season 4, Episode 5, "Kill List."
The biggest conflicts on Succession have—and always will be—those that take place within the Roy family. But while the final blows of this proto-Shakespearean saga will, of course, ultimately come down to those within the branches of the family tree, it seems like one outside force above the rest could ultimately cause a wrinkle in everyone's plans on the way to that final curtain call.
Obviously, outside forces have long managed to intervene in Roy family affairs: Stewy (Arian Moayed) and Sandy/Sandi Furness (Larry Pine/Hope Davis) have been a thorn in Waystar/Royco's side for the duration of the series, and people like Rhea Jarrell (Holly Hunter) and the entire Pierce family (led by Cherry Jones' Nan) have led to lots of business transaction drama. But it's the wild card, self-proclaimed tech disruptor Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) who may ultimately blow the family up for good.
Of course, it was Matsson who turned the family business on its head in the tail end of Succession Season 3, when a series of meetings between him and Logan (Brian Cox) ultimately resulted not in the initial approach of Waystar/Royco buying GoJo, Matsson's trendy, buzzy, and successful streaming service, but, much to the Kendall, Roman, and Shiv's (Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook) surprise, the other way around. Logan had cut a backroom deal for GoJo to acquire Waystar/Royco; he's always been looking for a killer instinct to take his company over, and while he's never seemed to see it in his kids, maybe Matsson—the unpredictable entrepreneur who plays by his own rules—has it.
By the time we get to Season 4, Episode 5, titled "Kill List," the tension between the Roy kids (and the rest of Waystar/Royco) and Matsson has reached a new high. Even before [SPOILER!] Logan's abrupt death, Sandi and Stewy had convinced the Roy siblings that there was more money to be squeezed from Matsson and the GoJo deal; by "Kill List," we see this squeeze in action at the GoJo executive retreat in Norway. That title refers to a list of Waystar executives who may or may not be retained after the acquisition goes through; and to judge, Matsson and his GoJo team want to meet all of the Waystar top dogs. As a result, we get to see the most of Matsson that we've seen yet, and, folks, he's the worst.
He's wildly rich, as we knew, but he also is constantly on a power trip, trying to get the upper hand on Roman and Kendall from essentially the first moment he sees them (he feigns condolences to them regarding Logan's passing, which at this point is only a couple days earlier, before detailing his own father's suicide; "No sorrys for Lukas?" he asks them). While this drives Kendall and especially the increasingly-emotional Roman mad, Matsson's one weak spot may be with Shiv.
As Matsson and Shiv share a drink and do a couple bumps of blow (neither of which, if you look closely, Shiv partakes in, for obvious reasons), Matsson opens up about a relationship he has with Ebba, who is GoJo's head of PR/communications; she's essentially GoJo's version of Karolina. And, as Matsson tells Shiv, he's been sending her half-liter bricks of his own solidified blood for quite a while. Shiv plays it cool and shakes it off, but she's now got a valuable chip against this asshole tech bro that could be played at some point. (Unless, of course, this is a made up story that Matsson was telling to gauge Shiv's trust. Also a possibility)
Of course, by the end of the episode, this seems to reach a moot point. Roman and Kendall both want to blow the deal up, with Roman explicitly telling Matsson that he hates him and that he never plans to sell to him after Matsson poked a sore spot about their father (who hasn't even been buried yet).
But Matsson, always one to make a power play, calls Frank to reveal his new offer for the company (including ATN, a point of contention throughout "Kill List"): $192 per share, blowing the previous offer out of the water ($144 was the success line floated earlier in the episode, albeit without ATN's inclusion). Now that Frank relayed the offer, and everyone else on the Waystar jet knows what it is, Roman and Kendall could not say no even if they wanted to. Matsson stuffed enough money in their mouths that their objection became irrelevant.
But there's still plenty of season to go—and Succession has never followed any kind of rule book. There's more to know about Lukas Matsson.
Who is Lukas Matsson on Succession?
Lukas Matsson was first introduced in Season 3, Episode 7, "Too Much Birthday," which is remembered of course as the episode where Kendall holds his big 40th birthday bash. In the early part of that episode, it's floated that Waystar/Royco is interested in acquiring Matsson's GoJo, a popular and very strong streaming service, but that the CEO himself has no interest in meeting with Logan. Roman knows he'll be at Kendall's birthday, and he goes with the intent to try to broker a deal. He's successful, telling Matsson that he'll never have to deal with Logan and can instead go through him instead.
Throughout the rest of the season, though, this snowballs; Matsson makes cryptic tweets about major money coming in soon, causing GoJo's stock prices to skyrocket and completely messing with any semblance of a deal the two companies had. Logan and Roman go to meet with Matsson, and after an initial conversation, Logan sends Roman home.
In the finale, we learn that Logan has made a backroom deal to sell Waystar/Royco to GoJo. The kids are torn apart by this, but by the time we get to Season 4, it really seems to be the best thing for all parties involved. The kids can cash out of the company with billions of dollars, which they can use to invest in whatever future failed media venture they feel like, whether it's "The Hundred" or competing with their dad with Pierce Global Media, which they win from a bidding war with their father for an agreed-upon (but not yet paid) sum of $10 billion.
But, as we've seen throughout Season 4, this agreed-upon sum was just the beginning.
Is Lukas Matsson based on a real person?
Matsson seems to be primarily based on Daniel Ek, who is the Swedish CEO and co-founder of music streaming giant Spotify. Like GoJo acquiring Waystar/Royco within the show, Spotify also seems to have the intent to expand into a broader media empire—in recent years, the company has expanded to become the home of podcasts (original and hosted), audiobooks, and in 2020 bought the multi-platform site The Ringer, which was founded by Bill Simmons.
Matsson also seems to, in part, be based on Elon Musk; when you hear about billionaires Tweeting cryptically and driving the markets into a frenzy, who else would come to mind?
Matsson is played by Alexander Skarsgård
In bringing in Alexander Skarsgård to play Lukas Matsson, Succession has the series' biggest-name guest star—and for the last 60% of the season, he's part of the main cast and included in the show's opening credits. "Alex gave us a counterforce; in a way, he takes the place of Logan," Jeremy Strong said in the "Kill List" behind-the-scenes featurette that aired on HBO following the episode. "Not just as an antagonist, but as an actor with such gravitas and power."
HBO fans should be more than familiar with Skarsgård's presence, as he first broke through as Eric Northman for 7 seasons on the premium cable's hit True Blood. He also won an Emmy for his unforgettable and terrifying role as Perry in the first season of the network's Big Little Lies, when he shared many of his scenes with Nicole Kidman. He also led the network's 2008 David Simon-helmed limited series Generation Kill.
Skarsgård has also made a major presence on the big screen; while he started his career with a hilarious and tiny role in the beginning of Zoolander, he's since become a unique and versatile actor who balances the line between lead and character actor, as well as comedy and drama. In the last year alone, he's appeared in the epic viking drama The Northman and the surreal horror Infinity Pool; before that he's led movies like Godzilla vs. Kong and The Legend of Tarzan and appeared in a supporting capacity in the Seth Rogen/Charlize Theron romcom Long Shot.
He's got two movies that could release in 2023: Lee, alongside Kate Winslet, and the Michael Shannon-directed Eric LaRue.
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