As Succession gears up for its large finale, followers are making their ultimate bets on the result. No, actually. Johnny Avello, DraftKings’ director of race and sportsbook operations crunched no matter numbers one can crunch a couple of fictional present(opens in a brand new tab), and has the sensible cash predictions for you:
Sure, the corporate will possible be offered to GoJo, in keeping with Avello. So far as the stickier query of who will reign (since precisely what they’re going to reign over relies on the reply to that first query), probably the most boring solutions are, in descending order of probability, Shiv Roy at 5-2 odds, adopted by Kendall, after which Roman. In the event you’re on the lookout for a lottery ticket guess, go along with Cousin Greg. At 50-1 odds, he isn’t the one to stake your own home on, however when you’ve got some cash to threat, a Greg payout could possibly be large.
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However this is the gorgeous factor about fiction: Actually something can occur. Kendall’s son Iverson might be CEO if the writers will it. Hell, there is not any legislation that claims showrunner Jesse Armstrong cannot make Logan come again from the useless, or have aliens materialize and take over Waystar Royco.
However someplace between “boring” and “completely, unsatisfyingly out-of-left subject,” are the darkish horses. Tom, Frank, and Gerri are some examples of CEOs who would all make for slightly wild decisions, in addition to in all probability nice TV. However it does not take a lot to think about these eventualities into existence.
Right here, then, are three excessive darkish horses. None of those are possible, however I am providing them up as hypotheticals anyway, as a result of, if nothing else, they present simply how a lot enjoyable TV writers can have in the event that they actually lower themselves free.
Peter Munion
Pip Torrens and Harriet Walter in “Succession”
Credit score: {Photograph} by Macall Polay/HBO
In the event you’re not a Munion stan, you could want a reminder that Caroline Collingwood’s slightly pathetic, social-climbing husband Peter (performed by Pip Torrens) even exists. A part of his character, in spite of everything, is that he’s straightforward to not discover. It was unhealthy style within the excessive for the Roy siblings’ new stepdad to announce himself at Logan’s funeral by saying “Daddy’s right here!” However it was true in a way, and what if it out of the blue grew to become queasily more true?
On the finish of Season 3, you may in fact recall that when the siblings tried to wrest management of Waystar from Logan, the previous man’s vice grip on the steering wheel was maintained by making some form of attraction to his ex-wife Caroline. Their divorce settlement had as soon as stored the Roy Household Holding Firm — which owns 36 % of Waystar — underneath the management of the siblings. However after renegotiating the divorce, the ex-couple froze out the siblings so the sale might go forward.
With Logan useless, in keeping with my math, Caroline controls — although she doesn’t personal — 36 % of Waystar. One of many present CEOs of Waystar Royco has simply been trampled, and the opposite is making ready to wage boardroom warfare in opposition to his sister Shiv. All this turmoil might be resolved, nonetheless, and the GoJo sale can transfer ahead if Caroline simply makes use of her appreciable voting energy to seat one other CEO. And provided that Waystar’s newest Wall Road coup was pushed by Residing+, a brand new kind of retirement residence, it should definitely assist to usher in somebody with expertise in that space, as a result of different board members are going to want to vote for this individual.
Welp, it is value noting that Caroline occurs to be married to the CEO of Lavender Park Care Properties, a sequence of British retirement properties: our previous buddy Peter Munion. One other win for awkward stepdads.
To make certain, assuming Jeryd Mencken, along with his America-first mindset, does actually turn out to be U.S. president, the British Peter might by no means be promoted to CEO of GoJo, which might turn out to be Waystar’s dad or mum firm on this state of affairs. However assuming Shiv’s need for that job is only a fantasy, and Matsson has different, greater plans, Peter’s ascendancy to the place of Waystar CEO would make him appear to be the winner of the present anyway.
Lawrence Yee
Rob Yang and Kieran Culkin in “Succession”
Credit score: {Photograph} by Peter Kramer/HBO
The media panorama was just a little completely different again when Succession debuted in the summertime of 2018, and the significance of Lawrence Yee (Rob Yang), founder and CEO of Vaulter, mirrored that. BuzzFeed and the opposite punching-above-their-weight on-line media organizations that impressed Vaulter had been breaking main information(opens in a brand new tab) and perceived as a risk to legacy companies like Information Corp. However that pattern reversed throughout Succession‘s run, and now the concept of a determine like BuzzFeed’s Jonah Peretti or Vice’s Shane Smith, totally taking on a significant conglomerate like Waystar is, effectively, laughable.
However when considered in that gentle, Lawrence Yee’s return could possibly be the funniest attainable final result. If the Succession universe mirrors our personal, Yee’s complete nook of the media biz, to not point out his personal totally defunct firm, would have quickly turn out to be an afterthought between Season 1 and as we speak. However lest we neglect, Yee as soon as had the power to really vote in Waystar board conferences, and he was planning to make use of that capacity to terrorize the Roy siblings — particularly Kendall.
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“You simply invited me into the hen coop,” Yee stated on the finish of the pilot, “and with out Daddy round to guard you, I am gonna eat you all. One by fucking one.” He by no means did that, however what if he was simply biding his time? There is no straightforward technique to make the mathematics of this work given the prevailing plot machinations of the present, but when we assume one thing’s been cooking within the background — possible some sort of plot by the devious Sandy and Stewy — it might, possibly, learn as believable.
Regardless of the necessity for a sweaty, last-minute exposition dump, having Yee pop up in Kendall’s face as a leap scare towards the tip of the ultimate episode could be value it. Simply think about Kendall shrinking into just a little puddle as the ultimate credit roll.
Colin
Scott Nicholson on the premiere of Season 3
Credit score: Photograph by Lexie Moreland/Selection/Penske Media by way of Getty Photographs
As Logan’s physique man, normal fixer of Waystar’s issues, and the corporate’s go-to absorber of human distress, Colin’s presence is sort of a haunting. As Logan sat throughout from him at dinner the day earlier than he died, his thoughts could not assist however wander to the subject of dying, as a result of Colin (Scott Nicholson) is a reminder of the literal and figurative corpses which have paved the trail to the Logan household’s blood-drenched success. Throughout Kendall’s temporary second as an anti-Logan gadfly, when he got here to the Waystar workplace to throw his weight round, Colin confirmed up simply to mutter, “I do know you” — and we all know what Kendall noticed when Colin stated these phrases: the face of Andrew Dodds, the Scottish waiter whose dying Kendall is partly chargeable for.
Colin does not actually have a final title. Apart from the truth that he is married(opens in a brand new tab) and has a non secular father, we do not know something about his backstory. However he is aware of the whole lot. As of their dialog on the funeral, Kendall has now employed Colin to do for him what Colin as soon as did for his father Logan, and little question Kendall would like to assume that by appropriating his father’s “finest pal” and right-hand man, he is turning into extra like him. However what he is actually doing is cozying as much as the grim reaper who can, any time he needs, sink his scythe into Kendall’s again.
If ever an actual ethical reckoning got here to Waystar, Colin would in all probability be one of many first to be condemned, indicted, and usually made to undergo. However up to now, Colin does not appear to be pulling a Cousin Greg — he isn’t protecting a ledger of the darkish favors he does for others so he can use them as forex. In actual fact, Logan’s dying appears to have left an enormous, gaping gap in his life, and he is on a seek for solutions, together with visits with a psychiatrist. Remedy is time effectively spent, and it may gain advantage Colin particularly if, amid all that reflection, he is woken as much as the ability he has.
As soon as awake, an inaudible whisper within the ear of each Roy and Roy acolyte, and management could possibly be Colin’s as soon as and for all. And okay, this one’s undoubtedly not taking place, nevertheless it’s value protecting Colin’s eerie potential in thoughts as we head towards a finale the place the one certain factor is that one thing goes to shock us.
The sequence finale of Succession airs Could 28 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.(opens in a brand new tab)