Who will “win” in the “Succession” finale? Don’t count out these extreme dark horses

As Succession gearing up for the grand finale, fans are making their final bets on the outcome. No, literally. Johnny Avello, DraftKings Director of Races and Sportsbook Operations crunched whatever numbers one can crunch about a fictional show(opens in a new tab)and have smart money predictions for you:

Yes, the company will likely be sold to GoJo, according to Avello. As for the more boring question of who will rule (since exactly what they will rule over depends on the answer to the first question), the most boring answers, in descending order of probability, are Shiv Roy at 5-2 odds, followed by Kendall , and then Roman. If you’re looking for a lottery game, go with Cousin Greg. At 50-1 odds, he’s not the one to bet your house on, but if you’ve got the money to risk, a Greg payout could be huge.

But here’s the beauty of fiction: Literally anything can happen. Kendall’s son Iverson could become CEO if the writers want it. Hell, there’s no law that says showrunner Jesse Armstrong can’t have Logan come back from the dead, or have aliens materialize and take over Waystar Royco.

But somewhere between “boring” and “completely, unsatisfying out of left field,” are the dark horses. Tom, Frank and Gerri are some examples of CEOs who would all make for some pretty wild choices, as well as probably great TV. But it doesn’t take much to imagine these scenarios.

So here are three extreme dark horses. Neither of these are likely, but I offer them as hypotheticals anyway, because if nothing else they show how much fun TV writers can have if they really cut loose.

Peter Munion

If you’re not a Munion stan, you might need a reminder that Caroline Collingwood’s rather pathetic, social-climbing husband Peter (played by Pip Torrens) even exists. After all, part of his character is that he is easy to overlook. It was in extremely bad taste for the Roy siblings’ new stepfather to announce himself at Logan’s funeral by saying “daddy’s here!” But it was true in a way, and what if it suddenly became sickeningly truer?

Of course, at the end of Season 3, you’ll remember that when the siblings tried to wrest control of the Waystar from Logan, the old man’s grip on the wheel was maintained by making some kind of appeal to his ex-wife Caroline. Their divorce settlement had once kept the Roy Family Holding Company – which owns 36 percent of Waystar – under the control of the siblings. But after renegotiating the divorce, the ex-couple froze the siblings out so the sale could go ahead.

With Logan dead, according to my math, Caroline is in control – even if she isn’t own — 36 percent of Waystar. One of the current CEOs of Waystar Royco has just been trampled and the other is preparing to wage a boardroom war against his sister Shiv. However, all this turmoil can be resolved and the GoJo sale can go ahead if Caroline just uses her significant voting power to put in another CEO. And given that Waystar’s last Wall Street coup was driven by Living+, a new type of retirement home, bringing in someone with experience in that area would certainly help, because other board members would have to vote for that person.

Well, it’s worth noting that Caroline happens to be married to the managing director of Lavender Park Care Homes, a chain of UK retirement homes: our old friend Peter Munion. Another victory for awkward stepfathers.

To be sure, assuming Jeryd Mencken, with his America-first mindset, does indeed become President of the United States, British Peter could never be promoted to CEO of GoJo, which would become Waystar’s parent company in this scenario. But assuming Shiv’s desire for that job is just a fantasy, and Matsson has other, bigger plans, Peter’s taking over as Waystar CEO will make him seem like the winner of the show anyway.

Lawrence Yee

Rob Yang and Kieran Culkin in “Succession”
Credit: Photograph by Peter Kramer/HBO

The media landscape was a little different back then Succession debuted in the summer of 2018, and the importance of Lawrence Yee (Rob Yang), founder and CEO of Vaulter, reflected that. BuzzFeed and the other online media organizations that inspired Vaulter were latest big news(opens in a new tab) and perceived as a threat to older companies such as News Corp. But that trend reversed during Successionhas run, and now the idea of ​​a figure like BuzzFeed’s Jonah Peretti or Vice’s Shane Smith fully taking over a large conglomerate like Waystar is laughable.

But seen in that light, Lawrence Yee’s return might be the funnest possible outcome. If Succession universe mirrors our own, Yee’s entire corner of the media business, not to mention his own completely defunct company, would quickly become an afterthought between Season 1 and today. But lest we forget, Yee once had the ability to actually vote in Waystar board meetings, and he planned to use that ability to terrorize the Roy siblings – especially Kendall.

“You just invited me into the chicken coop,” Yee said at the end of the pilot, “and without Daddy around to protect you, I’m going to eat you all. One by one.” He never did, but what if he just bided his time? There’s no easy way to make the math for this work given the show’s existing plot twists, but if we assume something has been brewing in the background — probably some kind of plot by the devious Sandy and Stewy — it might read as plausible.

Despite the need for a sweaty, last-minute exposition dump, having Yee pop up in Kendall’s face like a jump scare towards the end of the last episode would have been worth it. Imagine Kendall shrinking to a small puddle as the final credits roll.

Colin

Scott Nicholson at the season 3 premiere
Credit: Photo by Lexie Moreland/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images

As Logan’s bodyguard, general fixer of Waystar’s problems, and the company’s best at absorbing human misery, Colin’s presence is haunting. As Logan sat across from him at dinner the day before he died, his mind couldn’t help but wander to the subject of death, because Colin (Scott Nicholson) is a reminder of the literal and figurative corpses that have paved the way for the Logan family’s blood-soaked success. During Kendall’s brief moment as an anti-Logan gadfly, when he arrived at the Waystar office to throw his weight around, Colin appeared only to mutter, “I know you” — and we know what Kendall saw when Colin said these words: the face of Andrew Dodds, the Scottish waiter whose death Kendall is partly responsible for.

Colin doesn’t even have a last name. Except he is married(opens in a new tab) and has a religious father, we know nothing of his backstory. But he know everything. From their conversation at the funeral, Kendall has now hired Colin to do for him what Colin once did for his father Logan, and no doubt Kendall would love to think that by acquiring his father’s “best friend” and right hand man, he is becoming more like him. But what he’s really doing is cozying up to the grim reaper who can, when he wants to, sink his scythe into Kendall’s back.

If there was ever a real moral reckoning to Waystar, Colin would probably be one of the first to be convicted, prosecuted and generally seen to suffer. But so far, Colin doesn’t seem to be pulling a Cousin Greg – he doesn’t keep a ledger of the dark favors he does for others so he can use them as currency. In fact, Logan’s death seems to have left a huge, gaping hole in his life, and he’s searching for answers, including a visit to a psychiatrist. Therapy is time well spent, and it can especially benefit Colin if, in the midst of all that reflection, he has awakened to the power he has.

When they are awake, an inaudible whisper in the ear of every Roy and Roy acolyte, and control could be Colin’s once and for all. And okay, this one definitely isn’t happening, but it’s worth keeping Colin’s uncanny potential in mind as we head towards a finale where the only certainty is that something going to shock us.

The series finale of Succession aired on 28 May at 9 PM ET on HBO and Max.(opens in a new tab)