Trouble Is Brewing in the 'House of Guinness' Trailer

The trailer for Netflix's lavish new period drama House of Guinness is here, and if it looks a bit like a historical take on Succession, well, that's probably on purpose. The latest series from the wildly prolific creator Steven Knight, the mind behind such popular dramas as Rogue Heroes, A Thousand Blows, and Peaky Blinders, the story behind the famous beer company is right in his wheelhouse as a storyteller. From complicated family dynamics and class issues to gang violence, there's a lot that will feel familiar if you've watched any of Knight's previous work before, even if you know relatively little about the Guinness family, Irish history, or the business of making beer in general.

Set in mid-nineteenth-century Dublin and New York, the series begins with the death of Benjamin Lee Guinness, the man primarily responsible for turning the family's beer brewery into a household name. His shadow has always loomed large over his four children, but never more so than at the hour of his death, when the future of his empire is divided between them and they'll have to each find their own ways to live up to (or live with, in some cases) their family's birthright.

The trailer features everything from sibling rivalry and lavish balls to street-level brawls as various groups of protestors express their displeasure about the Guinness family's treatment of its workers and rally support for Irish independence. In fact, the clip looks compelling enough that we can probably forgive the fact that its last shot completely mistranslates the Latin of the Guinness family motto*.