Succession finale ending explained: how did Succession Series 4 Episode 10 ‘With Open Eyes’ end?

A full explanation of how the Succession finale ended, for those who want to leave the series with open eyes
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This piece (obviously) contains detailed and immediate spoilers for the entirety of Succession, up to and including the series finale ‘With Open Eyes’.

Succession has ended. Someone has, finally, succeeded. But it’s always been a show with a lot of moving parts, and in turn a lot of questions about where each of the different players might end up. How did the GoJo/Waystar deal pan out? Who is the CEO of whatever remains of the family company? Will any of the siblings ever be on speaking terms again? 

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Here’s everything you need to know about how Succession finally ended.

What happened to Lukas Matsson?

Alexander Skarsgård as Lukas Matsson in Succession (Credit: HBO)Alexander Skarsgård as Lukas Matsson in Succession (Credit: HBO)
Alexander Skarsgård as Lukas Matsson in Succession (Credit: HBO)

The episode opens with the two sides of the deal making last minute preparations, trying to shore up their position and ensure that they win when the Gojo takeover reaches the Waystar board: Shiv working to pass Matsson’s acquisition through, Kendall determined to spike it and retain family control – his control – of the company. They’re each hovering around six votes, lobbying for the deciding seventh, trying to find their brother Roman and win him to their side ahead of the crucial boardroom meeting.

In the background, Matsson’s doubts about Shiv seem to be creeping in – he needs an American CEO to make his takeover of Waystar more palatable to President Elect Jeryd Mencken, yes, but there’s nothing that says it needs to be her. With media coverage of the deal painting Matsson as Shiv’s puppet, Matsson starts to wonder if he’d instead benefit from a yes man who’d follow his instructions to the letter rather than a woman with her own ideas and opinions about how the company should be run…

What happened to Tom?

Tom spends most of the episode concerned that Matsson’s takeover of Waystar would lead directly to him losing his job as head of ATN. After an evening attempting to schmooze Matsson, Tom is caught off guard by a different suggestion: if the deal goes through, should Matsson make Tom CEO? Recognising the situation as one the Roy siblings had never been in – a job interview – Tom pitches himself as someone who would keep costs low and profits high, not just competent but willing and able to simply take instructions and act as figurehead. Not for the first time, Matsson seems impressed by Tom.

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Afterwards, Greg overhears Matsson and his associates discussing the choice not to make Shiv CEO. He calls Kendall – currently in Barbados with Shiv, each trying to buy his board vote – and warns him of the change to Matsson’s plan.

What happened to Roman?

Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy in Succession, holding a martini (Credit: HBO)Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy in Succession, holding a martini (Credit: HBO)
Kieran Culkin as Roman Roy in Succession, holding a martini (Credit: HBO)

Shaken after his father’s funeral and injured after his tangle with anti-Mencken protestors, Roman is staying with his mother in Barbados, wearing a child’s t-shirt and looking like he’s regressed thirty years. He’s unconvinced by his siblings’ attempts to lobby him to their side, seeming almost like he might not vote at all – it’s only Greg’s news that Matsson intends to install someone else entirely that that moves Roman to action, eventually grudgingly agreeing to support Kendall’s ascent to Waystar CEO. The three siblings leave Barbados wearing all-black, looking like they’re dressed for their own funeral.

Immediately before the vote, Roman starts to have doubts again, almost breaking down entirely when he catches a glimpse of his quasi-mentor Gerri Kellman. Why shouldn’t he be CEO? Kendall reaches out to support Roman, pulling him into a tight embrace – too tight, though, not comforting him but crushing him, popping the stitches on Roman’s face, literally reopening an old wound to leave Roman too insecure to meaningfully challenge Kendall. When it reaches his turn to vote, Roman gives his support to Kendall.

What happened to Shiv?

Shiv – who supported Kendall after learning Matsson had passed her over in favour of Tom – is the last to speak in the boardroom. As the deciding vote, though, she’s struck by sudden indecision: can she really anoint her brother this way? Shiv walks out suddenly, and Kendall and Roman follow her to an adjoining office for one last argument.

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Kendall blows up on her, insisting on what he views as his birthright – “I am the eldest boy,” he shouts, in full view of the assembled Waystar executives – and physically assaulting Roman as the argument continues. For a hundred reasons and none, that seems to decide things for Shiv once and for all. Does she see her father in Kendall? Is she fearful for her own position? Does she really think Kendall isn’t up to it? Does she think she could benefit from installing Tom as CEO? Does she simply not want to let her brother take the one thing their father always loved? Shiv votes to approve the GoJo deal, and Waystar leaves the Roy family once and for all. 

What happened to Kendall? 

Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy in Succession Season 4 Episode 10 'With Open Eyes', holding a piece of tape (Credit: HBO)Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy in Succession Season 4 Episode 10 'With Open Eyes', holding a piece of tape (Credit: HBO)
Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy in Succession Season 4 Episode 10 'With Open Eyes', holding a piece of tape (Credit: HBO)

As Tom makes his first moves as CEO – dismissing Hugo, promoting Gerri, preparing to fire Frank and Karl, telling Greg he loves him – Kendall leaves the Waystar offices. He makes the same lonely walk through New York that Logan did in the series premiere, isolated from his family and alienated from anyone who could’ve been a friend, accompanied only by his father’s former bodyguard walking ten paces behind him.

In the final scenes of the show, we see each sibling one last time. Roman orders a drink at a bar alone, smiling slightly as he realises he’s finally free. Shiv rides in the back of a car with Tom, trapped hand in unlovable hand with her husband who now more than ever resembles her father. Kendall sits by the waterfront, looking out in the river, completely dead inside. Succession ends. 

What happens next?

Speaking on the official Succession podcast, series creator Jesse Armstrong offered a few details as to what he imagined might happen to each character next. “I thought about all their stories,” Armstrong said. “They don’t end. They will carry on. But it’s sort of where this show loses interest in them because they’ve lost what they wanted, which was to succeed —this prize that their father held out.”

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“In a reductive, brutal way, Roman ends up exactly where he started,” he continued. “Shiv is still in play, I’d say, in a rather terrifying, frozen emotionally barren place. She has got this kind of non-victory, non-defeat […]it feels like it’s going to be hard to progress for [Shiv and Tom], emotionally, given the things they’ve said about each other.”

“For Kendall, this will never stop being the central event of his life, the central days of his life, central couple of years of his life,” Armstrong concluded. “Maybe he could go on and start a company, or do somethinga thing. But the chances of him achieving the sort of corporate status that his dad achieved are very low. And I think that will mark his whole life.”

Jeremy Strong, meanwhile, described an alternate version of the ending to Vanity Fair, explaining what he thinks happened to Kendall next. “I got up from that bench and went as fast as I could over the barrier and onto the pilings, and the actor playing Colin raced over […] I don't know whether in that moment I felt that Kendall just wanted to die—I think he did—or if he wanted to be saved by essentially a proxy of his father.”

“To me, what happens at the board vote is an extinction level event for this character. There's no coming back from that”, Strong continued. “Kendall is trapped in this sort of silent scream with Colin there as both a bodyguard and a jailer.”

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Succession is currently available to watch in full as a boxset via Sky Atlantic and NOW TV. You can read more of our Succession coverage here, including Katie Conaglan’s review of the series finale ‘With Open Eyes’.

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