Editor’s Note: The following contains full spoilers for the series finale of Succession.Successionhas ended, and thus, the succession in question has finally been revealed. And, no – none of the three main characters came out as winners. There were so many fan theories swirling around in the days and weeks leading up to this highly anticipated conclusion that it was virtually impossible that someone somewhere on the internet wouldn’t get it right. In reality, though, the answer was, in some ways, the simplest one.Tom Wambsgans (Matthew McFadyen) was named the CEOof Waystar Royco, because the three characters at the forefront of this story were always going to lose. This story wouldn’t have been this story if it went any other way.
The Main Characters' Real Tragedy Isn’t Their Failure To Become CEO
WhileSuccessionrevolves around some objectively bad people, these characters had so much nuance and so many layers that it was difficult not to empathize with them. As a result, most fans found themselves wanting Siobhan, (Sarah Snook) Roman, (Kieran Culkin) or Kendall (Jeremy Strong) to take over as CEO or, at least, emerge from the fight in a good place. Fans who were hoping for this did not get their wish. Even worse, they had to watch these characters fight each other in some of the most vicious, backstabbing ways we’ve seen over the course of an undeniably vicious, backstabbing series.
What’s interesting, in the end, though, is what this tragedy actually means. Clearly Kendall, Shiv, and Roman didn’t get the gig of CEO and consequently, they didn’t get what they wanted and failed at achieving their goal. Did their stories end tragically, though? Interestingly, with a bit of thought about what this fairly open-ended finale would mean for an imaginary future for these characters, the character with the most tragic ending is actually the one who ended up closest to what they all wanted. And the kid whose ending in the series was the closest to happiness is the one who’sactuallythe furthest from the crown. That would be Connor Roy (Alan Ruck) – you know, theactual"eldest boy."
Roman’s wry, gentle smile in his last moments on screen show that he is back to his original self – just a bit more bruised up than before, both physically and emotionally. He’s a wealthy class clown with deep, profound emotional stuntedness and trauma to work through that he very well might never face. He’s in a bar sipping on his inappropriate crush’s go-to drink and letting his stitches re-heal. And, he’s relieved to be back where he started, because while he’d fight for the CEO role if he thought it’s what his father wanted, he didn’t want it for himself. Deep down, he knew it, Kendall knew it, and Logan (Brian Cox) probably knew it, too.Roman is the furthest from the crown, and he’s also the happiest. His ending is the least tragic because he was never going to be the king, anyway. He was always meant to be the jester.
Kendall finds himself in his final scene staring out over the water, which has followed him throughout the series, with his late father’s bodyguard close behind, surely ensuring that he doesn’t jump (though there was a version of the episode where he did try to jump). Kendall, too, lost the crown, and if he had the mental freedom to explore how much more and what better fitting possibility was now opened up to him, he might not think of this as such a failure. Yet, according to series creator, Jesse Armstrong, “this will never stop being the central event of his life, central days of his life, central couple of years of his life.” Kendall revealed earlier in the finale that Logan promised him the role of CEO when he was seven years old. In that way, Kendall was only a child when his fate was sealed that this would be a tragic end for him – not because he would never be the CEO, but because he would never have the opportunity to entertain the idea of anything else. Yes – like his siblings, Kendall has lost. Yet, there’s some wiggle room when it comes to his future. Though, he’s certainly not as free from this world as Roman seems to be.
Siobhan is the one who’s locked into a fate that is maybe the most tragic.Director,Mark Mylodexplained of the endingthat Shiv ends up in a “rather terrifying, frozen, emotionally barren place.” Shiv is the closest one to the crown that they were all after, and in many ways, this makes her ending the most doomed.She’s stuck in this cycle in spite of herself. Unlike the others, she actually played the game well enough to stay trapped.
RELATED:The Cyclical Tragedy of ’Succession’s Series Finale Explained by Jeremy Strong
Ending Up in Logan’s Shoes Is Not Winning
Ultimately, though, Kendall, Roman, and even Shiv all find themselves in a place at the end of the series finale where they can break away from this kind of psychological prison of their father’s making. They’re set for life with money and free from any direction they may feel responsible for moving in. For most people in the real world, this ending is kind of a dream come true, and it could be for these characters, too, if they could gain perspective. From the looks of their final moments, it seems like Roman is, at least, grateful for the fight to be over. As for the others, it seems more likely that they’ll find a way to keep fighting. In any event, this ending would, interestingly, be a hopeful new beginning for most people, but for characters whose brains were molded from a young age into believing that this was the only way to find success, they’ve suffered a massive loss. Within the confines of the series, this is a tragedy.
In an interview withVariety, Matthew McFadyen agreed that while the goal ofSuccessionwas to become the successor, that doesn’t mean that Tom ended up with a happy ending and that the others didn’t. He explained that Tom is “notwinninganything. I mean, that’s sort of missing the point by a million miles. Not to be literal, but it’s like, winningwhat? It’s just another move in a corporate nightmare.” Viewers have watched these players win a round or two time and time again. Really, each win was always just another part of that corporate nightmare, and while to be free from it is, in many ways, a blessing, these main characters will always see it as a failure and loss.
Viewers can tell byLogan’s funeral in the series' penultimate episodethat by most peoples' standards, ending up like Logan is far from ideal. His brother was there to expose his faults and his kids struggled to come up with something positive to say about him without the caveat that yes, he was, indeed, a bad father. And while Kendall, Roman, and Shiv can’t see it as a good thing, the ability to step directly into Logan’s infamously big shoes has been taken from them. Kendall has the opportunity to be a better father to his children, to strike out on his own, to develop a new company that might compete with Waystar Royco – whatever it may be. Roman can now sit back and relax with his martini, deliver his famous quips, and go in whatever direction actually suits him. Let’s not forget also that they are now obscenely rich thanks to their strong-arming Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård). They have the opportunity to forge their own path for the first time. For Shiv, the easiest, clearest, and most depressing option remains the same: living in the Waystar Royco CEO’s shadow.
‘Succession’sShakespearean Comparisons Come Full-Circle
Succession’s Shakespeare references go back to the very beginning, and it has often been compared toKing Lear, in particular. That alone should have been your biggest hint that this was not going to end well for the people involved. There may have been some red herrings and misleading hints about the exact details of the ending, and the episodes following Logan’s death certainly flipped back and forth so quickly and forcefully that anyone could have been the successor.
But tragedy was written in the stars forSuccession;an ending that Mark Mylod calls “inevitable” and “perfectly painful.” Yet, among the many things that makeSuccessionso interesting is what this tragic ending really means for these characters and whether the worse tragedy was what happened to these characters long before the series started. It was a fool’s errand to wish for a happy ending for our favorite awful billionaires, but we did it anyway. In the end, the seeds planted by Logan Roy within his children meant that there was never going to be happiness for the kids, no matter how things played out. The real winner of the game would be whoever manages to understand what winning really means.
