The Guardian

From President Connor to Shiv the human time bomb Who will win Succession?

Stuart Heritage

WI’m a member of Team Tom but he’s a walking catastrophe. If he isn’t stabbed to death by the Shiv, I’ll be staggered

hen Jesse Armstrong announced that the upcoming season of Succession would be the last, you probably felt a wave of palpable excitement and dread. Excitement because there will finally be a succession, and we’ll get to see which of the Roy family (or not) will gain control of Waystar Royco. But dread because, Christ, we’ve seen the pain these people can inflict on one another. As season four begins, here’s a ranking of the main cast, from least to most emotionally devastated.

Logan Roy Last season, Logan Roy revealed the closest thing he has to an ideology. “Life … is a number on a piece of paper,” he told his son Kendall. “It’s a fight for a knife in the mud.” As season four begins, his hand is firmly on the handle, and the blade is dripping with blood. Thanks to some slippery navigation by Tom, it seems as if Logan might have definitively won Succession. He seized control of the company. He brutally dispatched his children. He is the lion in winter. The season four trailer sees him prowling and growling on the shop floor, seemingly unbeatable. Is this how the show will end? Almost definitely not. Quite honestly, it’ll be a miracle if he makes it out alive. But for now, the man is on top.

Tom Wambsgans While we’re talking about things that definitely won’t last, let’s enjoy this moment of Wambsgans triumph. In the dying breaths of season three, we learned that Tom had been tipping off Logan about his children’s planned mutiny. He’s in Logan’s inner circle now, and ostensibly the favourite to succeed him. As a proud member of Team Tom,

I am thrilled about this, but come on now. The man is a walking catastrophe. If he isn’t stabbed to death by the Shiv, I’ll be staggered.

Greg Hirsch The true Succession connoisseur knows that Greg is going to win. The show is going to end with him standing atop a pile of bodies, holding Logan’s severed leg in the air like He-Man’s Power Sword. But we’re not quite there yet, so Greg’s ascent is still hidden in the background. He’s currently a member of Team Tom, though in a deeply noncommittal way, which is risky. But when the winds change, he’ll still find a backroad to success.

Gerri Kellman For much of season three, it looked as if Gerri – thanks to her weird romantic entanglement with Roman – was going to align herself with the siblings in an attempt to oust Logan from his beloved Waystar Royco. And yet, as the cards fell, she chose to back the boss, rejecting Roman’s plea for help with a cold insistence that “it doesn’t serve my interests”. This would put her back in the hot seat to succeed Logan, but a Hail Mary profession of love from Roman could change everything.

Connor Roy Now we have Connor Roy, the Chaotic Neutral of the Roy clan. The siblings’ plan to dethrone Logan hinged on their mother. As a half-sibling, Connor was shut out of this. Anything could happen this season – scandal, implosion, death – yet Connor will still be bimbling away, witlessly attempting to be the next president. Oh God, is he going to end up as president?

Roman Roy Given the state of 2021’s finale, the main Roy siblings are at the bottom of this list. But Roman arguably finds himself in the best place. Yes, his father has shut him out. Yes, his mother washed her hands of him. Yes, Gerri betrayed him. But for better or worse, Roman is going into season four as a fully formed person. By far the most intriguing part of the trailer is Logan imploring Roman to come back to the Waystar fold. This will be the truest test of his mettle.

Siobhan Roy There’s a good chance Shiv will explode this season. She starts out furious with her father, but arguably even more furious with her husband Tom. She used the most violent language in the season three finale – literally telling her mother: “You just slit our throats” – and things seem likely to ramp up from there.

Kendall Roy Who else could it be? The key scene from the most recent episode involved him sitting in the dust, broken beyond words. The episode before that, nobody knew if he was dead or alive. Kendall has always seemed too delicate for the family business, and the paternal betrayal could send him down the dark road to oblivion. Or it could spur him on to beat his father once and for all. God, I can’t wait.

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2023-03-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://guardian.pressreader.com/article/281509345421712

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