Warning: This Succession finale explained article contains major spoilers (obviously)
After four seasons, 39 episodes, and five years of the finest modern television HBO has gifted the masses since The Sopranos, Jesse Armstrongโs deliciously Shakespearean Succession honoured the long-held promise of its very name.
In the wake of all the devastating emotional violence, comedic slap fight violence, and backstabbing galore, Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfayden) was installed as the American CEO of the Waystar Royco empire โ which had officially been acquired by Lukas Matssonโs (Alexander Skarsgรฅrd) tech giant GoJo โ thereby living up to part of the claim the former ATN president was a โclumsy interloper.โ
So how did we get here?
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Succession Finale Explained: An Autopsy On The Waystar Royco S***show
The Wambsgans shall inherit the Waystar
As some of you may have noticed, weโve recycled this subheading from our Succession finale predictions article (itโs just far too appropriate in this case).
Granted, we had our doubts about Tommy Boy. But in retrospect, it makes perfect sense.
When Lukas Matsson mentioned he was open to the idea of a US CEO to appease president-elect Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk), and to run the day-to-day of Waystar Royco while he Elon Muskโd his way through life, he never explicitly named Siobhan โShivโ Roy (Sarah Snook). Which shouldโve been the first red flag.
Of course, as everyone but poor Shiv herself had anticipated, her flimsy alliance with the Swedish billionaire collapsed when it mattered the most. Lukas began auditioning for the role of CEO as soon as the most unqualified Roy boarded a private jet to appeal for the vote of her brother Roman (Kieran Culkin) to greenlight GoJoโs acquisition of Waystar. And thatโs when everything became perfectly clear.
Lukas Matsson wasnโt looking for a partner as Shiv had so naively assumed. Lukas Matsson was in search of a puppet or, to borrow his own distinct verbiage, a โpain spongeโ to endure what he had neither the patience nor the stomach for. Thatโs where Tom Wambsgans comes in. Sweet, agricultural, human punching bag Tom. Equal parts yes man. Equal parts ruthless, blunt corporate instrument.
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โIโm sure thereโs a clever answer in terms of the dramatic narrative, like the fools in a Shakespeare play, but that would diminish them, because theyโre not just comic relief,โ Matthew Macfadyen himself explained of Tom and Cousin Gregโs (Nicholas Braun) triumph during an interview with The New York Times.
โBut theyโre not the cold, hard, screwed-up Roys โ they havenโt suffered at the hands of Logan like the siblings have. Theyโve got a different energy.โ
This exact outcome had been teased all throughout season 3, particularly in the closing episode wherein Tomโs dedicated service to Logan Roy and betrayal of the Roy siblings (including his own wife Shiv) was rewarded with an embarrassment of riches. Never underestimate a man with an inhuman ability to eat s**t and a malleable โeunuchโ of a lackey whose talent lies in self-preservation.
MacFayden added: โI mean, the whole world of Succession is absurd. The corridors of power are absurd. Greg and Tom are on the broader end of that.โ
โKendall is uber serious, hilarious in his seriousness. We dip into farce. But itโs a mistake to think that they donโt care โ they care just as much as the others. We played everything like life and death.โ
The tragedy of Kendall (AKA Sisyphus Roy)
As an overarching narrative, Succession offered so many twists and turns that we forgot about the one consistent through-line: it was never going to be Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong). In fact, it was never going to be any of the Roy siblings who, as Logan once said, are not โserious people.โ But more on this laterโฆ
Think about it. We were practically told from the very beginning. Logan comes to realise that despite all the grooming, all the private school and Harvard education, his โnumber one boyโ was ill-suited for the posting of Waystar Royco CEO. No killer instinct. No stomach for what was required. And most importantly, he wasnโt Logan.
Once you realise Kendall isnโt the hero of this story, and recontextualise the bigger picture knowing heโs destined to do nothing more than push a boulder uphill while screaming about his so-called birth right, it becomes painfully clear.
Incidentally, fans were almost treated to an alternate ending which wouldโve effectively punctuated both the heartbreaking journey of Kendall Roy and his semi-existential relationship with water.
โAs scripted, it was meant to end with an aerial shot where we see Kendall walking, and we see Colin following him. I begged [series creator Jesse Armstrong and director Mark Mylod], โCan we go to the water? I want to keep walking,โ Jeremy Strong revealed to Vanity Fair.
โWe ended up at the bitter end of Battery Park, facing the water. Iโd never seen waves like that in the East River. It felt biblical. And there was this terrible clanging on some scaffolding nearby. We didnโt know what we were looking for, but something profound happenedโฆ The water was calling to me. It felt right to all of us.โ
Strong continued: โListen to the John Berryman poem that Jesse has named these finales after. John Berryman himself died by suicide, jumping into the frozen river.โ
โI tried to go into the water after we cut โ I got up from that bench and went as fast as I could over the barrier and onto the pilings, and the actor playing Colin raced over. I didnโt know I was gonna do that, and he didnโt know, but he raced over and stopped me.โ
โI donโt know whether in that moment I felt that Kendall just wanted to die โ I think he did โ or if he wanted to be saved by essentially a proxy of his father.โ
Slime puppies donโt have spines
Thereโs not a whole lot to elaborate upon with the Roman Roy of it all.
As heโs steadily proven across all four seasons, but particularly over the past few episodes from the โfiringโ of Waystar Royco General Counsel and mentor Gerri Kellman (J. Smith-Cameron), backing out of the Living+ investor presentation, to the moment he publicly crumbles at his fatherโs funeral, he isnโt Logan Roy. And heโll never be Logan Roy.
Signing away the family media conglomerate and GTFO-ing is quite possibly the happiest ending he couldโve ever hoped for.
Survival of the Shivvest
Similar to Kendall, weโve been so distracted by subplots and whatnot that weโve conveniently forgotten Shivโs actual function in this modern adaptation of King Lear.
At face value, Shiv was in pole position to become Waystarโs next CEO after the events of the penultimate episode โChurch and State,โ but history has a funny way of repeating itself with the Roy family, and having famously fumbled her audition for the top job in season 2 and 3, she lost possession of the ball at the five-yard line. Again.
Itโs like we said before. Shivโs purpose/arc in Succession was never to be a legitimate candidate in the race to replace Logan โ itโs to serve as both an obstacle and direct opposition to Kendall, culminating in that gut-wrenching boardroom scene that reminded us just how pathetic the Roy siblings are.
In a deserved act of poetic justice, when the husband sheโs long deemed โbeneathโ her prevails as the new King of Waystar, Shiv comes crawling back to him with tucked tail, pregnant belly, and the deeply uncomfortable knowledge that sheโs no longer the alpha in this shamble of a marriage.
โMaybe she doesnโt choose Tom over her brothers. Maybe she just canโt stomach her big brother,โ explained Matthew Macfadyen.
โItโs not a binary choice. She just looks at Kendall and thinks, โI canโt.โ I donโt think she made a rational decision. And then thereโs this beautiful stage direction that Jesse wrote in the script of Tom and Shiv in the car. He talks about two bombs being transported.โ
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