Rupert Murdoch Turns 95 as Netflix's Dynasty: The Murdochs Drops — Lachlan Is the Heir, and Three Siblings Lost Everything
Rupert Murdoch just turned 95. Netflix just released a four-part docuseries about his succession battle. And the real-life outcome of that fight — settled in court last September — already makes Succession look restrained by comparison. Three of his six children walked away with nothing. One got everything.
Dynasty: The Murdochs Is Now Streaming — No Family Cooperation Required
Netflix is reuniting with the creative team behind its record-breaking documentary Harry & Meghan to tackle another polarizing family empire. Dynasty: The Murdochs premiered March 13 — two days after Murdoch's 95th birthday — and promises a distinct edge: access to thousands of pages of documents, emails, and text messages that have never before been seen on television.
The four one-hour episodes are directed by Liz Garbus and flesh out the sparring siblings like a game board. The central question the series poses is stark: is a dynasty a family or a business? In the Murdoch case, the answer turned out to be one, not both.
None of the family members agreed to be interviewed. Garbus built the series entirely from documents and outside sources — which, given what those documents apparently contain, may have been the right call.
The Settlement: Lachlan Gets the Empire, Three Siblings Get Cut Out
The real-world resolution that the docuseries examines is not fiction. Following the resolution of the Murdoch family trust matter in September 2025, three of Rupert's six children — Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch, and James Murdoch — ceased to be beneficiaries of any trusts that hold shares in News Corp. and Fox Corp.
The shares are now largely held through LGC Holdco, owned by the remaining beneficiaries: Lachlan Murdoch, Grace Murdoch, and Chloe Murdoch. Rupert got exactly what he wanted — a clean transfer of editorial control to Lachlan, with no coalition of siblings able to override him.
As the fate of fictional Waystar RoyCo played out on Succession, a real-life business rivalry heated up — and it was that HBO series that reportedly sparked the Murdoch heirs into figuring out how they'd actually handle their father's succession before he died.
Murdoch at 95: Still the Richest Patriarch in Media
Rupert Murdoch celebrated his 95th birthday on March 11, 2026. As of March 13, his combined fortune — now calculated to include Lachlan's holdings under LGC Holdco — sits at a figure that increased by approximately $5.5 billion following the trust resolution in December 2025.
The empire he built from a single Adelaide newspaper in 1952 now spans Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, The Sun, The Times of London, HarperCollins, and Sky News Australia. For more than seven decades, that empire shaped politics, culture, and public discourse across multiple countries. At 95, Murdoch is chairman emeritus — the title, not the power.
The Book Behind the Current Conversation
The docuseries is not the only Murdoch project landing this month. Journalist Gabriel Sherman — who has covered the Murdoch family for nearly two decades — released a new book, Bonfire of the Murdochs, chronicling the protracted public battle for control of the family business. Sherman appeared on NPR's Fresh Air in February to walk through the family's internal dynamics in detail.
A review from The Conversation described Sherman as an outstanding journalist — while questioning whether the shortest Murdoch biography yet had anything genuinely new to add to the existing record. Fair point. The documents in the Netflix series may answer that question faster than the book does.
Dynasty: The Murdochs — all four episodes — is streaming now on Netflix.
