What happens when an attempt to preemptively thwart a coup ends up sparking one instead?  

This is precisely the predicament Rupert Murdoch faces after a Nevada court blocked his efforts to alter the family trust, preventing him from handing control to his son Lachlan.  

In his bid to secure Lachlan’s leadership of his powerful media empire and safeguard Fox News’ conservative stance, the 93-year-old media mogul may have inadvertently brought his other three eldest children—James, Elisabeth, and Prudence—closer together.  

The unfolding drama within the Murdoch family, bearing uncanny similarities to the hit series *Succession*, has captivated onlookers. Yet, Rupert’s misstep in consolidating power might have propelled the situation into uncharted territory.  

The adage goes, “If you come at the king, you best not miss.” But what happens when *you* are the king—and you miss?

In a blistering 96-page ruling denying the bid to amend the family trust, Nevada probate commissioner Edmund J. Gorman Jr. said that Rupert and Lachlan had acted in “bad faith” with their “carefully crafted charade” to “permanently cement Lachlan Murdoch’s executive roles” within the Murdoch media companies.

“The effort was an attempt to stack the deck in Lachlan Murdoch’s favor after Rupert Murdoch’s passing so that his succession would be immutable,” Gorman concluded. “The play might have worked; but an evidentiary hearing, like a showdown in a game of poker, is where gamesmanship collides with the facts and at its conclusion, all the bluffs are called and the cards lie face up.”

He added: “The court, after considering the facts of this case in the light of the law, sees the cards for what they are and concludes this raw deal will not, over the signature of this probate commissioner, prevail.”

But how exactly did we get here?

Simple. Brotherly rivalry. Much as his fictional counterpart Logan Roy did throughout the acclaimed HBO series that was unsubtly based on his media empire, Rupert has spent years pitting his oldest children against each other as he searched for the heir apparent to the family business.

And just like the Roys of Succession, the Murdoch kids have taken turns being ostracized by their father or seated beside him at his throne, ready to take over when the day comes.

Currently it’s Lachlan’s time to be the favored son while James is out of the fold.

After decades of building a multinational media behemoth that included newspapers, movie and TV studios, and book publishers, Rupert decided to launch a right-leaning version of CNN in 1996. He hired Roger Ailes to run Fox News, which soon became the top-rated cable news channel in the United States.

By the mid-2000s, both James and Lachlan had taken on important roles within the family empire. James was sent to the UK to manage News Corporation’s ever-growing digital investments, while Lachlan stayed in New York alongside his dad, tasked with running Fox Television stations and publishing the New York Post.

Lachlan butted heads with Ailes and eventually gave his dad an ultimatum in 2005: the Fox News chief or his eldest son. Rupert chose the man who had made his cable network into a conservative news powerhouse, prompting his son to resign angrily and pack his family up for Australia.

He would not return to the family business for nearly a decade, instead trying to build his own media fiefdom, which included buying Nova Radio, a series of FM radio stations.

With Lachlan suddenly gone, James found himself being groomed for glory.

When his father achieved his lifelong dream of buying the Wall Street Journal in 2007, James was promoted to running Murdoch’s television and news operations in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Scandal, however, ground James’ upward trajectory to a halt.

Reporters at the News of the World and the Sun—two British tabloids owned by Murdoch—had been hacking the phones of celebrities and royals for years and James found himself squarely in the middle of the controversy. Alongside his father, James was dragged before the British Parliament and forced to testify about his knowledge of the hacking scandal.

With lawsuits growing and the possibility of prosecution hanging over James’ head, Rupert shuttered News of the World in 2011. James would eventually resign as the executive chairman of News Corp’s British newspaper division. He was also forced to step down as chairman of BSkyB, prompting the Murdochs to abandon their takeover of the British telecom giant.

James would slink back to North America after his inept handling of the fallout leaving him publicly diminished and embarrassed. And the hits kept coming.

Because of the illegal phone taps, shareholders wanted the Mudochs to completely separate the tainted newspaper brand from the rest of Fox’s properties. This resulted in Rupert being forced to split News Corp from his Fox entertainment brand while buying back a large portion of stock.

And James was damaged goods.