‘Succession’s’ final season: The end of the Roy empire

“If it is to be said, so it be.”

“Succession’s” fourth season — announced as the HBO juggernaut’s final run of episodes by series creator Jesse Armstrong just a month before they premiered — is barreling toward a dramaturgically explosive finale. With Waystar Royco’s GoJo deal up in the air and a major power player bidding farewell, the show is moving into its endgame at a rapid pace.

Ahead of the final season, Sarah Snook, who portrays Siobhan “Shiv” Roy, the youngest child of media tycoon Logan Roy, told The Times that she was “upset” that the show was coming to an end. “Emotionally, all of us weren’t necessarily ready to be done with the show because we love each other so much,” she said. “But everything has to come to an end and it’s smart not to let something become a parody of itself.”

Heading into the final season, viewers were left guessing how Roy siblings Kendall, Roman and Shiv would outmaneuver their father’s 11th-hour move to sell Waystar Royco to Lukas Matsson, the Swedish tech magnate played by Alexander Skarsgard. To make sense of the bloodbath, The Times’ most avid Con-heads predicted who would end up in charge of the company. Would Logan be able to secure his legacy atop the throne or would the triumvirate of Roy children (sorry, Connor) finally take him down once and for all?

As the HBO show’s final episodes make their way onto TV screens (and into all your group chats), The Times is here to help break down all the backroom deals, mergers and bear hugs “Succession” has left. Beware, spoilers ahead.