“Succession” came to a close on Sunday night so read on to find out who ended up on top after the battle for Waystar-Royco came to an end…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
From the very start of “Succession” the question at the heart of the series was who would sit on the throne once Logan Roy was gone?
The show actually started with a peaceful transition of power as Logan planned to hand over the keys to his kingdom to his son Kendall Roy but then at the last minute, he opted to remain in power just before suffering a massive stroke. From that second moving forward, every single character on “Succession” was seething at the opportunity to seize power while Logan ultimately decided his legacy should be left on a massive sale by getting rid of Waystar-Royco because he ultimately didn’t believe any of his children were fit enough to lead.
It turns out in the end, Logan’s wishes were posthumously fulfilled.
So Who Ended Up in Charge of Waystar-Royco?
That would be none other than Tom Wambsgans.
His succession happened after much handwringing, backstabbing and last second deals as Lukas Matsson secured the votes from the board of directors to close out his purchase of Waystar-Royco to officially take over the company. With Matsson in charge, he named Tom as the new CEO as the transition of power was completed.
But how exactly did we end up there without a single Roy child left at the company their father founded?
When the episode started, Shiv Roy was feverishly working the phones to confirm she had the votes to back Matsson’s purchase while simultaneously blocking her brothers from potentially screwing up the deal. All signs pointed towards Shiv being cemented as CEO — the American leader of a company now owned by a Swede with a family name to back her up.
The only problem was Matsson was starting to realize that Shiv was going to butt heads with him over whatever ideals he planned to implement. Shiv is nothing if not strong willed and she would absolutely take charge as the new CEO over Waystar-Royco. That’s exactly what Matsson doesn’t want.
Matson needs somebody that he can control and a person who will yield just enough power to carry out his orders without question.
Despite a few cracks in the armor, Shiv still believes she’s destined to take over so she flies to Barbados to parlay with her brother Roman, who disappeared after their father’s funeral and his emotional breakdown in the face of saying goodbye to him forever. Of course, Kendall got wind of this move and decided to follow her to Barbados because he needed Roman’s vote if he had any hope of stopping Matsson at the 11th hour.
While the Roy children were in Barbados, Matsson took Tom out to dinner and he made the ATN leader sing for his supper in an impromptu pitch meeting about why he should remain with the company once power changed hands. Tom sold himself but more importantly he deferred to Matsson as the real person in charge, which was exactly what he wanted to hear.
When he was first discussing a delegation of power and the possibility of Tom sticking around after the sale, Shiv effectively doomed herself when telling Matsson that her husband would “honestly suck the biggest dick in the room.”
Matsson never wanted a partner — he wanted a puppet and Tom has never faced any moral dilemmas with somebody pulling his strings so long as the checks always cleared.
Down in Barbados, the Roy children continued to squabble and fight while trying to convince a very damaged Roman on which way he should vote. Just when it looked like it really didn’t matter because Shiv was siding with Matsson, Kendall got a call from Cousin Greg with the information about a change in direction for the new CEO.
While he didn’t give up Tom as the choice, Greg told Kendall that Matsson was souring on Shiv, which was exactly the information he needed to turn his sister around.
Sure enough, Kendall broke the news to Shiv and she later confirmed it independently, which meant she could either continue siding with Matsson and lose any role she might have in the company or team up with her brothers to stop the sale from going through. Another fight ensued but in the end, Kendall and Shiv backed Kendall as the new choice to crown as king.
The next day back in New York, Connor Roy was handing out his dad’s belongings in a gruesome post-funeral fire sale while discussing plans for Willa to stay behind to work on her play while he prepared for a new post as the ambassador to Slovenia.
Unfortunately that’s when Connor got some more bad news — word out of Wisconsin is that the votes will swing for Daniel Jimenez and he’ll end up being elected president, which means Jeryd Mencken’s short reign as king will come to an end very soon. In other words, Connor isn’t going to be ambassador and Willa is just going to have to put up with him as a stay at home husband.
The visit to their dad’s old penthouse does give the kids a chance to take on a home movie shot recently that showed Logan naming off all of the losers of every presidential election in history with Frank, Carl and even Gerri joining in with limericks and songs. Kendall, Roman and Shiv shed a few tears to see their dad so joyful even if none of them were around to witness it.
With that, the group heads back to Waystar-Royco for the final vote with Kendall preparing to celebrate because he has his siblings behind him and after convincing Stewy to join them, it appears that the GoJo purchase will die on the vine.
That is until the voting begins and with six votes for the sale and six votes against, it all comes down to Shiv, who suddenly decides to excuse herself from the table.
In an office with only the Roy children, Shiv decides that she can’t back Kendall as the new king — she has no faith in him actually running this company and for that reason alone, she won’t vote in favor of killing the sale. To make matters worse, Shiv also brings up Kendall actually killing somebody on the night of her wedding — a confession he made to his brother and sister a season ago.
Flailing and watching his dreams wash down the drain, Kendall gets desperate and says he was lying about that waiter who drowned in a car after he was trying to score drugs. It gets even uglier when Roman declares that Kendall’s kids aren’t even biologically his children, which ends up with those two getting into a physical fights.
As tensions boil over, Roman finally reiterates exactly what their father told them during the last time they all sat together in the back of a karaoke bar ahead of Connor’s wedding. Logan told his children as much as he loved them, they were not serious people — and Roman finally agreed.
“We are bullshit. You are bullshit. You’re fucking bullshit. I’m fucking bullshit. She’s bullshit. It’s all fucking nothing. I’m telling you this because I know it. We’re nothing.”
~ Roman Roy
The final vote from Shiv puts the tally over the top as the sale is completed with Lukas Matsson purchasing a controlling interest in Waystar-Royco.
In the aftermath of the sale, Tom is officially introduced as the new CEO.
Now in charge, Tom starts making plans for the future while taking on Karolina as his new head of PR while all but firing Hugo on the spot. He plans to keep Gerri around because she gets it but Frank and Carl will be gutted — “I really don’t need those two old cunts on my shoulder.”
As for Greg — he wastes no time sidling up to Tom, who calls him out for his betrayal but then puts a sticker on his head — the same ones Connor was handing out so people could tag pieces throughout Logan’s house to receive from his will — and he says “I got you.”
Yes, the disgusting brothers are back.
When it’s all over, Roman ends up alone at a bar having a drink — truth be told, he was never really meant for this life and his few years chasing power at his father’s feet will probably be forgotten.
As for Kendall — broken and out of his father’s company — he ends up staring out at the ocean, flanked by Colin — the same bodyguard and fixer that stood by Logan in his final days. During his final plea to his brother and sister, Kendall exclaimed that he was groomed for this position at Waystar-Royco and nothing else because that’s all he’s ever wanted.
Kendall never really aspired to attain his own greatness. He was just following the leader to what his father initially wanted for him. But we’ve learned through four seasons that while Kendall is capable of pulling out a few good speeches and he may even make a few smart, strategic moves on chessboard, he was never really capable of becoming king.
And finally there’s Shiv — who ends up waiting in a car for Tom, who arrives after his appointment as CEO. The two don’t talk but Tom eventually extends out a hand and Shiv places hers in his. It’s not exactly love but it’s never been about that for these two but somehow they continue circling each other in orbit.
Now apparently they’ll remain together as Tom ascends to the throne while Shiv prepares to become a mother for the first time.
And with that, “Succession” comes to an end.
It was a remarkable series — most certainly an all-time great — with a truly befitting ending because if there’s one thing four seasons of this show have taught us, the Roy children were a lot of things but neither Kendall, Shiv or Roman were actually fit to succeed their father.
Now none of them will.
