Analyzing the end of Logan Roy's reign, and the Matsson Deal Through the Last Three Episodes of 'Succession'

by Darian Scalamoni

    It's been three weeks now since we've lost fictional media titan Logan Roy (Brian Cox) on Succession in its final season. It's remarkable that that's a reality and I've finally found the words to write about the gravity of what that means not only for the program at large, but ultimately for the network, HBO.

    Succession debuted back in 2018, brought on from an idea from creator, Jesse Armstrong, getting backing from the now-defunct production company formed by long-time friends Adam McKay and Will Ferrell. Fast forward to 2023, and Succession seems to be a cultural moment in television with Logan Roy's death on an airplane being the center of our viewing experience. The cast alluded to it during the after-credits "making of" portion, in just how immediate his death felt not only to the audience but also to them as characters and actors. Cox's role as Logan Roy will go down as one of the very best characters that television had to offer on a series that is filled with remarkable personalities, comic one-liners and mythology that is baked very much into our reality in corporate America.

    The third episode of Season 4, aptly titled "Connor's Wedding" followed the events of Logan's death as he was on his way to fulfill his deal with Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgard) with his team, led by double-crossing husband of Siobhan Roy, Tom Wambsgams (Matthew Macfadyen). Everything within the episode was happening in real-time with a crisis team in place, all of Logan's children being informed at different points of what was occurring as he was in cardiac arrest with the true heartbreak of none of them being present for his final moments but with a cell phone being placed next to the larger-than-life presence with three of his children doing their best to tell him to pull through while also metaphorically having a knife to his throat following his return to Waystar RoyCo. 

    Fast forward a week later (in our time as television consumers) and it feels like his shadow is looming over the show. With Logan being gone, we get reintroduced to his third wife, Marcia (Hiam Abbass) who is running things at least at the home we've seen Logan occupy since the very first episode of the series. It seems that she's selling to Logan's oldest Presidential hopeful son and newly wed Connor (Alan Ruck) but on the other side of the token (the business side), the other three children, Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) are angling for their own piece of the pie as the new CEO of a company that Logan had run for 40+ years. 

    Ultimately, despite an all-time visual of Kendal being "recommended or crossed out" as Logan's successor to the company, the sibling trio and elders of the company agree to pivot to Kendall and Roman as co-CEOs of the company, both uniquely positioned with their own ways of handling business but coming together to land the plane with the potential selling of the company to Swede tech billionaire, Lukas Matsson. 

    With this week's episode, "Kill List," we see a distinct and familiar opening that mirrors the opening of the entire series. Kendall heads to work in the company car, blasting rap music to get ready for the day he now officially gets to take over as the successor for his father, Logan. With a lot of zeroes hanging in the balance, we see Team Waystar head to Norway just days following Logan's death to meet with Matsson. Kendall and Roman are playing hardball as they want to hold onto their dad's news empire ATN, which is angling older and not as much in the modern news space, however, Lukas takes a liking to Shiv. Based on that conversation, Lukas offers way more money than the initial deal despite Roman letting words fly on how much he hates him leading to the Waystar banner being sold for $191 billion dollars. 

    The episode has many layers to it however, as we see that multiple characters are still rummaging around the company to see where they fit in. Greg (Nicholas Braun), who has long been the right hand man of Tom, now has seemingly fit his way into his self-coined "Quad Squad" of actual family members of the Roy empire with Kendall, Roman and Shiv. However, Kendall actually puts Greg in a position of power to help stir something up with the GoJo deal behind the backs of both of his siblings leading to potential to see Greg form a relationship with a new "Disgusting Brother." 

    Meanwhile, Shiv is working Lukas for his sociopathic tendencies of sending his workers frozen liters of his blood, leading him to believe she's flirting (is she though?), however, she asks Tom to dinner when they land. We can presume it could be to tell him about her pregnancy, but, honestly, it's hard to ever fully understand the dynamic that is their marriage and ultimately, might lead to them finalizing their divorce.

    I'm grateful to have been a viewer for the past 34 episodes of Succession and I'm eager to see how they wrap up the magnificent and fractured relationships of all the extended Roy family in the final five episodes.