Succession finale explained: Does Roy family get closure in the end?

Succession came to a close after a 5-year-long run, with 39 episodes across four seasons. During the course of these last five years, viewers saw the journey of the Roy family. While it started with a race among the siblings to secure their father’s favour and eventually capture the reins of the legacy media company, Waystar Royco, the show also gave a deeper view into the Roys as individuals and as a unit. 

Fans saw Logan Roy and his children switch allegiances, face extraordinary problems and confront each other in the most moving and ugliest of ways. However, the unprecedented nuance and complexity of the characters kept viewers hooked through thick and thin. Instead of closure, Succession offered twists and turns which left fans wanting more.

Succession remains one of the most beloved shows by fans and critics alike, and to say the least, the finale has been a deeply moving experience for most. However, the Succession finale left loose ends that were hard to digest but also left the door open for a possible spin-off, or more. 

Kendall did not, in fact, win in the end

Succession’s very first episode started with Kendall (Jeremy Strong) marching into the office to close a deal ahead of the announcement that he was going to be the next CEO of Waystar Royco. The rest is history. In the finale, Kendall tried once to get Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Shiv (Sarah Snook) together in order to kill the GoJo deal. However, Siobhan and Roman both oppose him, which led him to leave in utter defeat. It’s especially painful after the revelation that Kendall fostered the dream of helming Waystar Royco since the age of 7. 

Roman is back where he started

When we first meet Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin), he is arrogant, funny and incapable of genuine expression of emotions. However, his character had moments of clarity, power and development. The finale points him in a completely different direction again. Roman is backing Kendall because of Siobhan, but as soon as Shiv is flakey, so is Roman. He expresses his lack of belief in Kendall during the GoJo vote, and it is revealed that he was also jealous of him. This builds up resentment and Kendall’s subsequent defeat which the two essentially planned to avoid, brings Roman to the same state he was previously. His last appearance on screen featured him enjoying a drink with a smirk on his face. 

Shiv’s sabotage of Kendall leaves her none the wiser

Siobhan Roy had started working with Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) after knowing the fact that both Kendall and Roman wanted to tank GoJo’s buyout of WaystarRoyco. However, she tells Lukas that she wants to be the CEO at Waystar, which he doesn’t like because Shiv is hard to be controlled. After her husband Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) is declared the new CEO of Waystar, Shiv is left with nothing in her hand. Despite this and her extremely turbulent relationship with Tom, the two go back home hand-in-hand. 

Tom’s succession is a betrayal of the Roys

It’s true that Succession’s realism is perhaps its greatest pull for the viewers. Despite this, fans have stood by the Roy siblings, for better or worse, for the last 5 years. The tragedy of Tom winning over Kendall, Shiv or Roman is a betrayal of the characters that viewers were the most exposed to. It must be stated, however, that Tom remained unwaveringly functional for the sake of Waystar Royco even in the most extreme of situations. It is the key reason why Lukas elected him to be the CEO, though others might view it in the sense that Tom makes the perfect puppet for Lukas. 

Cousin Greg almost made it to the top 

Greg Hirsch (Nicholas Braun) had always been an underdog in Succession. He is a cousin of Kendall and his siblings, and his grandfather Ewan Roy (James Cromwell), a more enlightened, pacifist counterpart to Logan Roy, did not approve of his affiliation with them. Regardless, Greg partnered with Tom in the beginning, and their goofy and unlikely duo proved to be a success in the end. However, Greg asks Tom for a more improved position where he doesn’t have to serve as a right-hand man to him anymore. This is not in the cards for Greg, as he betrays Tom by telling Kendall about Shiv’s sudden dissociation from Matsson. While most people would have liked his victory, Greg ultimately stayed in the side-character stop.