Succession’s penultimate episode aired on Sunday night (and on Monday in the UK), leaving fans on tenterhooks for how the story of the Roy family will be wrapped up in the eagerly anticipated season finale. But what if there was more story to come?
Chatting to Vanity Fair, Kieran Culkin, who plays Roman Roy, revealed that the show’s creator Jesse Armstrong had spoken to him about potential season five storylines. He explained: “Jesse described to me the whole season before we shot.
“I asked him one question and when he answered it, I said, ‘Well that sort of sounds like the end of the show.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, it does.’ But then he just threw up three different ideas for a season five that he claimed were off the top of his head. I was like, ‘I’m just speaking my mind here. But those all sound like really awesome.’”
Discussing the ending, he continued: “It feels like an ending, but it also feels like there could be more. So it made me understand his struggle. He struggled with it all season while we were shooting. He was like, ‘Really? This is the end. But I’m not sure.’ He didn’t tell us [it was the last episode] until we did the table read for the last episode.”
The synopsis for the last ever episode of Succession reads: “Ahead of the final board vote on the Waystar-GoJo deal, Kendall and Shiv try to shore up their opposing interests… and get a fix on the whereabouts of a physically and emotionally bruised Roman.” Eek!
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In the penultimate episode, Roman had a very public breakdown at his father’s funeral which resulted in him provoking a crowd of protesters, while Shiv and Kendall went after becoming the CEO of Waystar & Royco in two very different ways. While Shiv has teamed up with Matsson against her siblings, Kendall attempted to convince the newly elected President to stop the GoJo deal from going through.
Discussing the episode, one person wrote: “You know a show is bound to become a classic when every episode you keep telling yourself cast members have new clips to show off at the Emmys. My god is Kieran Culkin killing it this season of Succession,” while another person added: “The way shiv, Conner, and Kendall Roy got up immediately after Roman Roy asked them for them too. God this scene had me sobbing my eyes out. Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook, Jeremy Strong, and Alan Ruck deserve all the awards.”
A third person wrote: “Even by Succession standards, that episode was absolutely brutal. Congratulations to Jesse Armstrong, Mark Mylod, Nicholas Britell, all the incredible cast members and every single person involved. Truly an episode for the history books.”
Who will end up on top in the Succession finale?
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