Succession fans troll Elon Musk’s Starship explosion with ‘funniest’ Roman Roy scene

‘When I heard the news of the rocket launch today, I flashed back to this scene in my head,’ one said

Succession fans have found delight in how a scene from season one appeared to eerily foreshadow Elon Musk’s Starship mishap.

On Thursday (20 April), the SpaceX boss launched the company’s Starship rocket for the first time. But before the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket was able to reach space, it exploded in mid-flight. No crew were on board.

Hours following Musk’s failed launch, HBO tweeted a single photo of character Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin), staring at his reflection in a bathroom mirror, with no context.

Several fans immediately understood what the post was alluding to. “I see what you did there,” one replied.

“HBO taking a dig at the Space X launch disaster today,” a second wrote.

A third commented: “I love that I saw this and correctly assumed Spacex must’ve exploded something.”

“When I heard the news of the rocket launch today, I flashed back to this scene in my head,” another added

In season one of the award-winning comedy-drama, Roman is tasked with overseeing his father’s satellite launch.

However, in an attempt to prove himself and impress his father, Roman brushes aside all safety precautions to speed up the launch.

While at Shiv’s wedding, he ducks into a bathroom to watch the event from his phone. To his horror, before the rocket is able to take off, it explodes.

Additional viewers responded to the tweet, with one noting: “When the art precedes reality.”

“I truly believe this is one of the funniest scenes in the past 10 years of television,” another said.

Succession is currently airing its fourth and final season on Sundays at 9pm EST on HBO Max in the US and Mondays on Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK.