Succession Creator Breaks Down Shocking Series Finale Ending

Succession came to an end on Sunday night, wrapping up its award-winning, four-season run with a tense finale that revealed the future of Waystar-Royco. After an entire episode of back-stabbing, secret phone calls, and last-ditch business deals, Succession fans got the chance to see who actually took over for Logan Roy, and what became of all the Roy siblings. Following the episode, creator Jesse Armstrong took some time on the “Controlling the Narrative” featurette on MAX, explaining why a certain person was put in charge. WARNING: This article contains spoilers for the series finale of Succession! Continue reading at your own risk…

Tom Wambsgans ultimately took over as the American CEO of Waystar-Royco, following Lukas Matsson and GoJo’s acquisition of the company. A last-minute change of heart from Shiv caused the deal to go through, leaving Kendall and Roman on the outs. She didn’t get the job either, but her husband did.

Armstrong explained after the episode that people like Tom are very real, and always around, hanging on to coattails and saying “yes” until they end up in positions of power.

“The idea of Tom being the eventual successor, that had been something that I thought was the right ending for a while now,” Armstrong explained. “Even though he’s not exactly the most powerful monarch you’ll ever meet — his power comes from Matsson. Those figures that drift upwards and make themselves amenable to powerful people are around.”

Armstrong went on to address the future of Shiv, Roman, and Kendall. None of them ended up taking over for their father, which was their shared goal from the very beginning of the series.

“I thought about all their stories. You know, they don’t end,” the creator said. “They will carry on. But it’s sort of where this show loses interest in them because they’ve lost what they wanted, which was to succeed — which, you know, was the prize their father held out.”

“In a reductive, brutal way, Roman ends up exactly where he started. He is that guy still. And maybe he could’ve been a playboy jerk with some nasty instincts and some quite funny jokes,” he continued. “He could’ve stayed in that bar, being that guy, and this has been a bit of a detour in his life I would say. Shiv is still in play, I’d say, in a rather terrifying, frozen emotionally barren place. But she has got this kind of non-victory, non-defeat. I mean, there’s gonna be some movement there. There’s still a lot of that game to play out, but that’s where we leave it. And it feels like it’s going to be hard to progress for them, emotionally, given the things they’ve said about each other.

“For Kendall, this will never stop being the central event of his life, the central days of his life, the central years of his life. Maybe he could go on and start a company or do a thing. But the chances of him achieving the sort of corporate status that his dad achieved are very low. And I think that will mark his whole life.”

What did you think of the surprising Succession finale? Let us know in the comments!