‘Succession’ Star Arian Moayed on Gaza, Iran, and the Rich People Who ‘Run Everything’

If you were a fan of the HBO series ‘Succession’ — then do we have a treat for you. On this new episode of ‘We’re Not Kidding’, Mehdi is joined by Iranian-American actor Arian Moayed who played the scene-stealing character Stewy Hosseini on the hit HBO show.

Mehdi and Arian unpack the ways our reality mirrors the fictional world of ‘Succession’, like how pro-Israel billionaire Larry Ellison, the world’s second richest man, has bought up media companies Paramount, CBS News, and TikTok. Mehdi also challenges Arian to a new rapid-fire question game called, “Real Billionaire or ‘Succession’ Character?”

As two naturalized US citizens, Mehdi and Arian discuss the military-style ICE raids in Arian’s hometown of Chicago and the fears that many immigrant communities are feeling in the Trump era. Mehdi and Arian also get into the recent political history of Iran, including the 1979 revolution which led to Arian’s family immigrating to the US when he was a child.