HBO hit Succession is back tonight, and the recent news that Season 4 will be the last has left fans buzzing with ideas and theories about how the show will end. One of the big questions that needs answering is, of course, who will become the successor to Waystar Royco — assuming the company even survives — and whether patriarch, founder, and current CEO Logan Roy (Brian Cox) will have to die in order for this necessary conclusion to arise. As things stand, we feel pretty secure in betting on this demise happening. Logan is in his eighties, and has been in less than ideal health for the duration of the entire series; the pilot episode saw Logan experience a life-threatening stroke, creating doubts over his longevity and setting the succession conflict in motion. Since then, he’s been subject to an increasing amount of health scares — in Season 3 alone, he struggled with his breathing while on a hike and suffered a UTI, accompanied by worrisome cognitive symptoms. It's hard to refute the fact that his death has been thoroughly foreshadowed.
Sure, maybe Logan will quit playing mind games and name a successor himself, choose to retire and allow his heir to take over while he’s still alive. But thus far, Logan has been deeply reluctant to give up his power and has expressed that he doesn’t actually believe any of his kids actually have it in them to replace him. Moreover, he appears to actively resent the idea of one of them holding the top job, and pretty much hates them as people too, so it seems unlikely that he’ll step down quietly. The question then, perhaps, is not if Logan will die, but when. It’s possible that his death is something that will be left for the last episode or so, bringing the show full circle from when he almost died in the very first installment. There is, however, the prospect that Logan will die mid-series or even earlier, and we think this is an even more compelling route for the show to take. Yes, this would mean numerous episodes without Brian Cox and his scene-stealing performance, but it would also allow the show to explore storylines that it otherwise might not get the chance to.
Logan’s Death Would Shake Up the Roy Sibling Dynamics One Last Time
The previous seasons of Succession have primarily focused on the Roy siblings — predominantly Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook), and Roman (Kieran Culkin), but also their older half-brother, Connor (Alan Ruck) — and their ever-shifting relationships. They have been allies, adversaries, and each other’s support systems, sometimes all at once. While Season 3 largely saw Kendall in opposition to Logan — and subsequently, Shiv and Roman — the trio of siblings finally came together in the Season 3 finale after it emerged that their father was agreeing to a buyout that would threaten their current and future positions within the company. They hatched a plan to invoke a clause in their parent’s divorce contract that guaranteed them a vote over company control, but before they had a chance to confront Logan, he had already renegotiated the divorce terms, effectively shutting them out. This will likely strengthen their allegiance to one another going forwards as they begin to realize the sheer extent of Logan’s puppetry over them.
So for now, they have a common enemy — but what if Logan dies, especially without naming a successor? In a perfect world, their grief and love for their father would unite them and help them understand that there are more important things to life than power. A more realistic scenario is that this would disrupt their already fragile rekindling and see them turn against each other even further. As so far, the conflict between the siblings has been highly driven by Logan’s machinations, it would be fascinating to see how he continues to influence them in death and whether, for better or worse, this would be a turning point for the Roy kids.
We Would Get to See How Other Waystar Employees’ Careers Are Impacted
Beyond the Roy siblings, Logan’s death would leave a mark on almost every single character on the show. Shiv’s husband, Tom Wamsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) and Cousin Greg Hirsch (Nicholas Braun) have always been a fan-favorite pairing, but in Season 3, they developed into major players in the show’s corporate politics. As it stands, following Tom’s betrayal of Shiv and “proposal” of sorts to Greg, the duo is firmly on Team Logan, and will be enjoying apparent job security when Season 4 begins. Both of them have been shown to be somewhat lacking when it comes to specific skills and qualities, and are essentially nepotism hires — Logan’s death could plunge their careers into uncertainty as he remains their most solid link to Waystar. Obviously, they’re in the Roy siblings’ bad books, potentially leaving them with no solid friends except the tenuous loyalty they share with each other.
There’s also everyone else on the Waystar payroll — Frank (Peter Friedman), Karl (David Rasche), Hugo (Fisher Stevens), and particularly Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron). This group has for the most part remained loyal to Logan, or focused on Waystar itself rather than personal attachments. In the Season 3 finale, Gerri firmly established herself as being on Logan’s side, crushing Roman — and fans will know that describing their relationship as complicated would be putting it lightly. Logan’s death would allow us to see the supporting cast’s true feelings for the Roy family and perhaps reveal some hidden intentions towards Waystar, maybe even resulting in some of them making power grabs of their own.
It Would Allow the Roy Siblings to Confront Their Trauma
It goes without saying at this point that the Roy siblings are heavily traumatized. While their mother played a part through her own poor parenting, this trauma is undeniably rooted in Logan’s abuse and the toxic family dynamic. Logan raised the siblings after the divorce and groomed them to be successors to Waystar while simultaneously not giving them the tools to competently succeed at this; they are extremely entitled as a consequence of their privileged upbringing but aren’t exactly the best business people. Logan also constantly manipulated, gaslit, and abused his children — mostly verbally and psychologically, although physical abuse has been implied. He has baited them with the role of CEO, and with his own love and affection, which he massively withholds most of the time. His own dysfunctional relations with the people in his life have left the siblings without a model for healthy connections.
This has affected each of the Roy siblings in different destructive ways, rendering them unlikable, but totally compelling. Kendall is a negligent father with severe mental health and substance abuse issues. Things went from bad to worse in the Season 1 finale when he accidentally committed manslaughter at Shiv and Tom’s wedding; Logan subsequently blackmailed Kendall, asking him to either call off his takeover of Waystar or go down for the crime. Shiv, on the other hand, has fought to prove herself as the only woman in the Roy family her entire life and was played heavily by Logan in Season 2 when he promised the role of CEO to her before publicly retracting it. She adopts a tough, harsh persona, and takes advantage of Tom, having cheated on him in the past before asking for an open marriage on their wedding night. Roman is perhaps the most explicitly bullied by Logan, who hits him in Season 3 and often attacks him with homophobic slurs (despite Roman not being openly queer); Roman has struggled with issues regarding vulnerability, intimacy, and his sexuality, often cowering to Logan and appearing to actively fear him.
Logan’s death would be the perfect opening to explore whether the Roy siblings can escape his clutches once and for all and actually work towards healing, giving us a chance for a slightly more hopeful ending.
Logan’s Death Is the Big Test That Waystar Needs
Arguably the most intriguing thing about Logan’s death would be the opportunity for audiences to see whether Waystar can actually survive without him. When his death seemed imminent in the show’s pilot, the company’s stocks plummeted, and since then it’s gone through a fair few trials and tribulations, such as the cruises department scandal that revolved around the cover-up of sexual abuse within Waystar. Its future isn’t guaranteed — and it would definitely be somewhat cathartic for viewers to watch the downfall of a major media conglomerate that resembles Murdoch’s empire. Equally, even if the company does survive, its future may not lie within the Roy family, and Logan’s death would force the Roy siblings to demonstrate whether they are truly cut out for the role of CEO. Thrown into the job without his guidance — and manipulation — to steer them, they would be made to navigate some pretty unfamiliar territory.
While there are many potential ways that the show could conclude, we believe that if we don’t get to see Logan’s death and its aftermath, we’ll feel slightly robbed — there are just so many interesting directions that the characters and Waystar could go in. Thankfully, Succession hasn’t let us down so far, so we’re certain that we can expect a satisfying ending, no matter what Jesse Armstrong and co have in store -- and Nicholas Braun clearly agrees.