‘Succession’ Creator Gives Insight Into The Fate Of The Characters

OMG. Y’all. The series finale for Succession. What a rollercoaster.

The last two episodes were probably my favorite episodes of the whole series, and I pretty much don’t think I took a breath during the entire thing.

There will be spoilers ahead. You have been warned.

In the finale, we finally got the answer to the question that has been burning pretty much the entire series: Who is going to take control of Waystar Royco?

In the end, it was GoJo who took the reins of Waystar Royco, thanks to a last-minute snap decision on the part of Shiv, who completely stabbed her brother in the back with her vote.

Lukas Matsson took over, and appointed Tom as the American CEO of the new conglomeration.

I mean, we should have seen that one coming. After all, according to Shiv’s own admission, Tom would “honestly suck the biggest dick in the room,” and that’s exactly what Lukas wanted.

The idea of Tom being the eventual successor, that had been something that I thought was the right ending for quite a while now — 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.

Jesse Armstrong, Succession series creator

But, what happens now? What’s next for Kendal, Shiv, and Roman?

Jesse Armstrong, the show creator, took to Controlling the Narrative on MAX to discuss what will become of the sibs.

I thought about all their stories — You know, they don’t end. 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 this prize that their father held out.

Jesse Armstrong, Succession series creator

In a reductive, brutal way, Roman ends up exactly where he started — He is that guy still. And he maybe easily could have been a playboy jerk with some slightly nasty instincts, and some quite funny jokes. He could’ve stayed in a bar, being that guy. And this has been a bit of a detour in his life, I would say.

Jesse Armstrong, Succession series creator

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.

Jesse Armstrong, Succession series creator

For Kendall, this will never stop being the central event of his life, the central days of his life, central couple of 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.

Jesse Armstrong, Succession series creator

There you have it. It’s not really a happy ending for the sibs. But then, that’s what their life has always been. Promises that weren’t kept and control just an arm’s length away.

I’m really going to miss the show. Where do we go from here? Maybe I’ll binge watch FUBAR on Netflix.