Roger Ailes. | AP Photo/Jim Cooper After Ailes It’s almost impossible to imagine Fox News without its creator and guardian, Roger Ailes. Almost.

“One man has established a culture for 1,700 people who believe in it, who follow it, who execute it,” Rush Limbaugh said of his close personal friend and fellow conservative media mogul, Roger Ailes, introducing him at a Boy Scout awards dinner in 2009 . “Roger Ailes cannot do everything. Roger Ailes is not on the air. Roger Ailes does not ever show up on camera, and yet everybody who does is a reflection of him.”

Last week’s bombshell allegations of sexual misconduct by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson against Ailes have prompted the almost unthinkable question among close watchers of the network (and the Rupert Murdoch global media empire of which it is a crucial part): What would Fox News look like without Roger Ailes?

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It’s not yet even close to twilight for Fox News’ Sun King. It’s important to remember that charges like Carlson’s have been leveled before, and handily deflected.

For those who defend the mastermind of Fox News, which against many odds will endure as one of Murdoch’s most successful and audacious expeditions in a career that has been full of them, he is simply an obvious target for such accusations.

And even when charges like these are brought against less famous (and less hated) figures, broadly speaking, the likelihood that this will end with a jury of Carlson’s peers finding that Ailes did the things Carlson accuses him of is at least no greater than they are in most such cases — slim.

Ailes’ defenders, along with more objective Kremlinologists of parent company Twenty-First Century Fox, will further point out that Ailes is the architect of a success in a global media conglomerate that needs successes now, and that he is a long-trusted deputy of Murdoch, a man who ferociously protects his long-trusted deputies even in cases of abject public scorn and embarrassment .

But: There are some reasons to expect that these accusations will not go away as quickly as previous ones have. Carlson’s lawyers and press people say that Carlson is not gunning for a settlement that could depend on her agreeing to stop all public airing of her accusations against Ailes.

Though plaintiffs at this stage of such a case must say that, there are several elements to the strategy her team has pursued so far that make sense only if you are pushing hard for a jury trial, something that could be disastrous for Fox News and for Ailes even if the verdict goes against Carlson, as it threatens to air for the general public any number of things about the inner workings of a network that keeps its cards close to the vest.

It’s been noted as well that Carlson has significantly more wealth than many who would bring such charges against their former employers, married as she is to one of the richest agents in sports , Casey Close, whose client roster includes Derek Jeter and Clayton Kershaw.

But aside from what may happen with the case, there is also the question of just how strong the support for Ailes will be inside the C-suites of Twenty-First Century Fox in 2016. There, a parallel storyline, difficult to penetrate from the outside, has taken shape over the last year.

At 85, Murdoch has slowly, some might say reluctantly, been restructuring his company to make way for its next generation of leaders. Last summer, after many fits and starts, he positioned his two sons to lead Twenty-First Century Fox, naming James Murdoch its CEO and Lachlan Murdoch its co-executive chairman, a title that he shares with Rupert.

An immediate question was whether Ailes would submit to direction from Murdoch’s sons or insist on reporting directly to the father with whom he conceived and built Fox News over two decades, at great risk in the early years and to great financial and political rewards in later ones.

When Fox News anchor Stuart Varney reported on the sons’ promotions, he read a statement on air that said Ailes would continue to report directly to Rupert, not to James and Lachlan. According to New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman, author of a best-selling unauthorized biography of Roger Ailes (which he and the network have dismissed as gossip), Ailes had asked Fox News executive Bill Shine to write the statement and then give it to Varney to read.

Echoing the statement, Ailes told Variety that he expected to continue to report directly to Rupert.

This prompted Twenty-First Century Fox to release an official statement clarifying that, in fact, Ailes would report to James and Lachlan. In a subsequent statement, Fox clarified its position again, saying that Ailes would also report to Rupert Murdoch, making him the only executive at the company to retain a line on the org chart to the mogul. Nonetheless, the early statements suggested a difference of opinion between the Murdochs and Ailes, even if, in the end, Ailes maintained his relationship to Rupert. And they underlined the difficulty of knowing from the outside how much of Ailes’ fate is in the sons’ control.

Last week, Ailes found himself in a similar situation. On Wednesday evening, hours after Carlson sued him for alleged sexual harassment and wrongful termination, Ailes released a defiant statement, calling Carlson’s allegations “false” and the suit “offensive.” But minutes before Ailes’ statement was released, Twenty-First Century Fox released its own statement — which promised an “internal review” to investigate the allegations.

Outside counsel has reportedly been retained to conduct the review under the direction of the Murdochs. In the memory of many who have observed the corporate culture of Twenty-First Century Fox and other Murdoch companies, the statement was a novelty. “Unprecedented,” one former senior executive told Sherman . “It’s not Rupert’s style to investigate internal issues.”

The reason it could make a difference in who really controls the company now is a long history of reports that the relationship Ailes enjoys with Rupert is exclusive to him among the Murdochs.

The Murdochs have been fighting speculation for some time about a rift between the brothers and Ailes. Days before James and Lachlan’s promotions went into effect last year, Ailes signed a new multiyear contract with Fox.

In 2001, when the New York Post received an anthrax-coated letter, Lachlan — then the publisher of the Post, and deputy chief operating officer of News Corp. — wanted to quietly handle the situation to prevent alarm; Ailes, though, had a different idea, reportedly telling Fox News producers and staffers at the top of his lungs that the company was under attack. When Lachlan confronted Ailes about disrupting his plan in front of Fox News staffers, Ailes reportedly met with Rupert, threatening to resign over the disagreement. (Murdoch folded, the story goes, and Ailes signed a new contract with the company.)

A few years later, Lachlan dramatically exited News Corp. over long-standing disagreements with Ailes and other News Corp. executives loyal to his father.

James’ handling of the phone-hacking scandal at the now-defunct News of the World was, to some, an indication that he was out of touch with the more pressing problems on the ground floor of the operation.

In private, Ailes sharply criticized James for his handling of the phone-hacking scandal, reportedly calling him “a fucking dope.” James resigned as chairman of the holding company of the News of the World and a year later left his executive chairman position at News Corp. and his chairmanship of BSkyB, the biggest pay-TV broadcaster in the U.K.

Back in 2010, Matthew Freud, Murdoch’s former son-in-law and a top PR executive in Britain, told The New York Times’ David Carr , “I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes’ horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corporation, its founder and every other global media business aspires to.”

If the sons find the embarrassments of the ongoing litigation with Carlson too much to bear (and it’s just possible that the courts will order the matter into a private arbitration, as Ailes’ lawyers are asking them to do), there would seem to be a lot less personal connection to Ailes staying their hand than there is with their father.

On the other hand: As the list of Fox talent coming forward to defend Ailes grows — Sean Hannity, Maria Bartiromo, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Judge Pirro, Greta Van Susteren, Brit Hume, former anchor Kiran Chetry — it must simultaneously occur to the Murdochs that many who make Fox News what it is feel they owe their careers and their livelihoods to Ailes, and may not stand for his removal.

Baltimore Sun critic David Zurawik, speaking on Brian Stelter’s Sunday-morning talk show “Reliable Sources” on CNN, painted the problem in stark terms:

“This is his channel. It's built on his ego, and when you ask about stepping aside, they can't let him step aside unless he's going to run it like a manager who's ejected from the game and runs it out of the club house. They will fall apart if he's not in the lead. … Everyone I have ever talked to over there has almost a personal Roger Ailes story, and they're personally loyal to him. Everything about it, the culture of that network, seems to me to be his personality. It's a great triumph that he gave this little startup the swagger and this arrogance to become what it is.”

As the internal investigation continues, the network is sure to be undergoing a self-evaluation too. How would the network function without Roger Ailes? Can it? And what if there is a talent exodus following him out the door. Can Fox News survive without Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly? Without Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity? And so on.

Let’s say that it all goes against Ailes. His reputation damaged to a breaking point by mounting accusations, and an internal investigation that does not satisfactorily counter them. Somehow, the Murdochs have gained the trust and loyalty of the bulk of the talent in the building. The Murdoch sons give him the boot. What would happen next?

Lachlan and James, now back at the company’s headquarters at 1211 Sixth Ave., have not so far made a deep mark on the place or meddled with the day-to-day operations. That stands in sharp contrast to Ailes, who, even more so than the Murdoch patriarch, prefers to be elbows-deep in the fray, guiding news coverage, making editorial decisions and even calling Republican politicians and officials to curry their favor and persuade them to appear on the channel. Ailes, a former Republican operative, has always been keen to harness the political power of Fox News; reportedly, he told executives in 2010 that he wanted to elect the next president of the United States.

James is no socialist, but his politics are firmly to the left of Ailes’. He is friends with Al Gore’s daughter, his wife once worked for the Clinton Foundation, and he donated $2,300 (the maximum possible individual donation) to Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign and more than $1 million to the Clinton Foundation. A 2003 New York Times article described him as “steadfastly liberal.”

Unlike his father and Ailes, though, James seems uninterested in making political statements with his publications.

“I don’t let my politics get involved in my business,” he said during the Cannes Lions festival last year.

“I can speak for myself — my politics are a private matter. I've never spoken about them publicly. I have some things I get involved in, but ultimately my job and our job here is about being able to maintain, create and grow a platform that has a diversity of voices,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in October .

His brother Lachlan, though more politically conservative than James, also seems uninterested in continuing his father’s tradition of mixing right-wing politics with the media business. During the same THR interview, he said that Fox is not and should not be a reflection of his, or his father’s, political views.

“I disagree with some of the premise of the question in that while externally people have combined the company with our father's personal opinions, which are super interesting, or his politics, they're actually not always the same,” he said. “We have a huge number of creators in this business, on this lot, a huge number of journalists and editors around the world who have nothing to do with his politics or his thoughts. They make entirely their own decisions.”

For Lachlan and James, not mixing business with politics might have been a reason that they, unlike their father, would never have built Fox News in the first place. But the belief inside the building is that Fox News’ rightward slant is an essential component of its success as a business. Ailes’ departure would still leave them with the most successful and most watched cable news channel in the world. Turning it into CNN or SkyNews would likely be a terrible idea. Letting Fox be Fox is the surer course.

If the sons are business first, expect them to keep things much the way they are.

There was some support for this theory in their joint interview with THR in October, in which both James and Lachlan lavished praise on Ailes.

“We both talk to him all the time. The business he's built, and the channels he's built, are terrific. We have a huge regard for him, and he's done a great job,” Lachlan said.

“We have a good relationship with Roger, and it's been a long one. Listen, Fox News is an incredible franchise. We think they're doing a great job. … Certainly, from my perspective, he just signed a new contract, and we're really pleased with that, and we hope he stays for as long as he wants,” James said.

While the Murdoch boys may not want to use Fox News as a political weapon, they still appreciate the vast profits it delivers Twenty-First Century Fox. That alone is reason enough to not change the formula too much.

A clue to the future of Fox News after Ailes may lie in the channel’s top executive team, which saw a shakeup of its own in April.

Fox News now has three editorial units, and the head of each reports to Ailes. Each of the men that lead the respective units could potentially succeed Ailes at the channel.

Bill Shine oversees the channel’s opinion programming, prime-time programming and Fox Business Network. Prime-time and opinion are the beating heart of Fox News, making Shine a strong internal candidate to succeed Ailes.

Jay Wallace oversees news and editorial, including the channel’s news shows and newsgathering.

Michael Clemente, who previously ran Fox’s news and editorial unit, was shifted to a new unit overseeing long-form specials, although in his new role Clemente has less oversight over the channel's day to day operations than Wallace or Shine.

If Ailes were to depart, elevating any of those three would minimize boat rocking. But even if not, you can expect them or trusted deputies who know how to run Fox News much the way it has been run since its launch nearly 20 years ago to be pretty well able to guide the company into the future.

In fact, the irony of all of this may be that Ailes did his job too well.

“According to sources, the fact that Fox’s ratings held steady during Ailes’ leave of absence last year over a health scare has given the Murdochs confidence that Fox could endure in the post-Ailes era,” Sherman reported last year , after James and Lachlan were promoted.

Building something that can endure beyond your own years is surely a part of Rupert Murdoch’s thinking about his businesses. Helping Ailes along to this point of view may well be a part of his sons’ thinking. But no matter what happens, love it or hate it, Fox News as we know it, as Ailes and Murdoch conceived it 20 years ago, is probably here to stay.

Alex Weprin contributed reporting to this article.