The plotting of their next move. After season 3, fans were on the edge their seats. SuccessionA familiar face shakes things up for the Roy siblings at Waystar Royco
The third season’s finale aired in December 2021 and ended with Shiv Roy (played by Sarah Snook) realizing that her husband, Tom Wambsgans (played by Matthew MacfadyenLogan Roy (played), betrayed her by reporting to him. Brian Cox). This revelation was made by Shiv and Kendall Roy (played aby). Jeremy StrongRoman Roy (played) Kieran CulkinLogan was able to sell Waystar Royco’s family business, but this was not enough. The crafty CEO changed the rules of the game by enlisting the trio’s mother, Caroline Collingwood, to help him remove their right to a super-majority vote.
Following the bombshell conclusion, some viewers are already speculating there may be more surprises in store for the new season — including a potential Shiv pregnancy. Macfadyen shared his story about how he came up with the idea for his big moment.
“We had a conversation early on before we started shooting, which outlined a possible scenario for the end. It’s a funny one, I listened to it, then forgot about it, because things might change, and whatever they want to do is great,” he said during an interview with DeadlineDecember 2021. “I wasn’t hanging my hat on it, and I was just waiting for the script to come in.”
Tom’s switch came as a shock to Shiv, but the U.K. native added that the decision was a long time coming for his character.
“It’s an accumulation — it’s a pivot by a thousand cuts. From the very beginning, he’s had to take a lot. [Shiv] speaks of an open marriage on their wedding night — it hasn’t been an easy ride for Tom, he’s had to take a lot of s–t from the brothers and from his father-in-law and everybody,” Macfadyen shared. “And then there’s the real terror of potential jail time. I think something has been flipped. But when I read the last episode, I was like, ‘This makes sense.’”
Ahead of the season 3 finale, Cox noted that while there are endless possibilities for where the Roy saga can go, the HBO Max show likely won’t last forever.
“I would say possibly two more series and then I think we’re done. It depends on the writers and it could be one more series. It all depends on what the writers think. I know they’ve got an endgame. They haven’t told us what the ending is, but there is an endgame,” the Braveheart star told GQ UKOctober 2021. “So it’s just how they get up to that endgame, whether it takes one series or two series. I think it’s going to be hard to let go of it this early. It needs to be completed in a couple more series before it can truly reach its culmination. That’s my feeling. Because its iconic nature is just hitting, I think people are going to want two more series, but they may only get one.”
Although the stars may still be in darkness, creators are visible. Jesse ArmstrongWho knows how the story will end?
“I have a pitch for where and how I think we end. It’s not immutable in respect to my colleagues, we’ll chat about it and how many seasons that plays out over,” he told DeadlineDecember 2021. “Similarly I have a pitch, I don’t want to say in public as it will take away a little bit of the fun and I want to check in with all the important people around the show to see if we all feel the same.”
While discussing possible futures for the main characters, the screenwriter added that it wouldn’t be out of the question to see the Roy siblings find some peace for themselves.
“We follow some iron rules of the show which are to try and make it feel close to the truth of a media organization of this size and structure and the psychology of people like this, and the people we created. But within that, I’d refer you again to the writers’ room — I would never exclude a possibility such as that,” Armstrong said at the time. “Yeah, the world is an extraordinary thing and I would never exclude a possibility like that [but] given where they’ve come from, it sounds like it might be a stretch. Many things are not easy. The way I approach the show is to test those hypothesis against reality and where they are, without making too early firm decisions.”
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