It’s been a long year and a half without Succession. Too bad the series is ending, and we’ll have to go the rest of our lives without any of the Roys in the picture.
Alas, the show must go on. But what, exactly, is going on? It can be hard to remember.
The most recent season of Succession premiered in late 2021. Though Succession is fun to rewatch, it’s quite the time-sucker, with episodes coming in at around an hour. Three seasons of 10 episodes will run you around 30 hours—you’re going to need an entire day and a few extra hours of non-stop Succession viewing if you want to catch up on everything ahead of the final season.
Not to worry. We’ve got you covered. Ahead of the Season 4 premiere of Succession, here’s everything you’ll need to remember about the Roys and their twisty Waystar Royco saga.
The Siblings Tried to Overthrow Waystar
In the finale of Season 3, Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook), and Roman (Kieran Culkin) discover a clause in Logan’s (Brian Cox) divorce with their mother, Caroline (Harriet Walter), that gave them a trump card in the family business. Logan is not allowed to make a sale without his children’s approval, and as he tries to bring in investor Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård), the CEO of streaming service GoJo, the kids revolt.
On the night of their mother’s wedding, the children venture over to their father’s place to inform him that they are pushing back against being bought out by GoJo. In doing so, they’ll push their father out of the company. Seems like a good deal for the siblings, who all want to be CEO, right? Wrong.
Tom Outsmarted All of Them
After a season’s worth of shitting on her husband, revenge finally comes for Shiv. After Shiv tells Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) about the siblings’ ability to push Logan out of the company, Tom sides with Logan instead of his own wife. He brings Greg (Nicholas Braun) back to his team as an “attack dog” (instead of the cousin taking Kendall’s side) and informs Logan of the ongoing revolution.
Logan calls Caroline to renegotiate the terms of their divorce, pushing the kids out entirely. The kids are screwed. Finally earning the support of Logan for betraying his wife (the “killer instinct” Waystar needs), Tom now has a chance to take over Waystar Royco—if his wife doesn’t divorce him out of the family first, that is.
Shiv and Tom Are On the Rocks
Shiv and Tom have had a wobbly three seasons together. Now, though, they’re really in the trenches. On their wedding night in Season 1, Shiv asked Tom to have an open marriage. Somehow, they survived that. But Tom completely betraying his wife and taking over her father’s company? That’ll kill a marriage.
But Tom Has a Buddy in Cousin Greg
Thankfully, Tom bolsters his army with faithful Greg. Tom has abused Greg in the past—leading Greg to take Kendall’s side in Season 3 of the show—but the two are back together by the end of last season’s finale, partnering up to take down the siblings.
Cousin Greg Is Trying His Hand at Flirting
Thanks to some advice from Kendall and more of the Roy family, Greg has been flirting his way around the board of Waystar Royco. Freshly broken up with Comfry (Dasha Nekrasova), Greg sets his sights on a woman who’s eighth in line for the Luxembourg throne. Get it, Greg!
And Logan May Be Flirting With an Assistant
The Roys have game. Still, whenever Logan is sleeping with someone (other than his wife Marcia), we never see that directly. Instead, we hear murmurs—like when he was flirting with potential CEO Rhea Jarrell (Holly Hunter).
This is the case at the end of Season 3, where Logan is rumored to be sleeping with assistant Kerry (Zoe Winters), who is taking natural supplements to increase her fertility. Could Logan be trying to plant a new successor in his assistant, fearful of his children taking the reins?
Connor and Willa Are Engaged
If Kerry doesn’t yield a new Roy successor, perhaps Connor (Alan Ruck) and call girl-turned-partner Willa (Justine Lupe) will have a child. The pair get engaged at Caroline’s wedding—a wedding, the perfect place to pop the question—and teasers show their ceremonies are coming up in Season 3. What’s a season of Succession without a wedding?
Oh, and Connor Is Running For President
As if planning a wedding wasn’t enough, the eldest Roy child is also working on his campaign. Connor is running for the Republican Party on a “no tax” campaign. Good luck with that.
Still, Waystar Endorsed a White Supremacist For President
Connor’s own father couldn’t even be bothered to endorse him in the election. Logan instead opted to use ATN to support white supremacist scumbag Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk), a congressman who uses charisma to appeal to ruthless voters. That election plot may rear its head in the final season, too.
Waystar Tried to Acquire Pierce
By way of Kendall’s on-again, off-again girlfriend Naomi Pierce (Annabelle Dexter-Jones), the Roys attempt to acquire PGM (owned by the Pierces) in Season 2. Though they get close to securing a deal—which would ward off a takeover by Sandy Furness (Larry Pine) and Stewy (Arian Moayed)—Nan Pierce (Cherry Jones) turns them down. Kendall still hangs around Naomi, another byproduct of extremely wealthy media families.
But the Company Is Too Shady for Them
Nan turns down Logan because of an ongoing investigation into Waystar Royco’s cruise line, in which women were sexually assaulted, mistreated, and maybe even killed while working for the company. Greg and Tom cover up the corruption, but a long New York magazine exposé puts the company under fire.
Kendall outs his father at the end of Season 2 as a criminal fraud. Still, that cruise line dilemma is lurking in Waystar Royco’s skeleton closet.
Kendall Is Still (Kind of) a Murderer
The only reason Kendall holds off on spilling the cruise line beans is because his dad has more dirt on him. At his sister’s wedding in Season 1, Kendall uses a caterer to get drugs and drive him around, and the caterer ends up driving their car off a bridge into a pond. Kendall escapes alive, but he leaves the caterer to drown in the car.
While Logan offers to cover up the murder, there’s a big catch: Kendall must abide by his rules. Kendall doesn’t. In Season 3, it’s revealed that a podcast is telling stories about the Roy family, and promises to spill on the dead caterer. If Kendall continues to rebel against his father, some jail time might be in order.
Succession premieres Sunday, Mar. 26 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
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