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Succession Creator Finally Answers Key Logan Roy/Kendall Roy Question

HBO's Succession creator Jesse Armstrong clarifies whether Logan Roy underlined or crossed out Kendall Roy's name in that pivotal scene.

Just when you thought you had mapped out all of your "What If…?" scenarios and post-finale speculation, here comes Succession creator Jesse Armstrong to offer some concrete clarity on an issue that might have some of you reworking the red threads on your "Pepe Silvia" conspiracy board. In the fourth episode of the final season, "Honeymoon States," there's that moment during Logan Roy's (Brian Cox) wake when a document was revealed that appeared to name Kendall (Jeremy Strong) as the next head of Waystar Royco. Except… there has been a question mark about whether the line on the document is underlining Kendall's name to emphasize that he's the next in line to succeed Logan – or being crossed out as a sign that Logan no longer had faith in Kendall's leadership. During a Financial Times event over the weekend, Armstrong explained that he wouldn't have been a big fan of answering the question during the season's run – but now? "If you were gonna cross out, you wouldn't start underneath, would you? Underlined!" Armstrong responded. One question down, 819 more to go…

In the following featurette, Armstrong and director & executive producer Mark Mylod discuss the Succession series finale and reflect upon the series now that it's come to an end – with a rundown of Armstrong's thoughts following:

After Shiv (Sarah Snook) lives up to her name and votes against Kendall (Jeremy Strong), GoJo CEO Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) sets Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) as the company's American CEO.

So Why Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen)? "The idea of Tom being the eventual successor, that had been something that I thought was the right ending for quite a while now. Even though he's not exactly the most powerful monarch you'll ever meet — his power comes from Matsson. Those figures that drift upwards and make themselves amenable to powerful people are around."

Roman (Kieran Culkin): "In a reductive, brutal way, Roman ends up exactly where he started. He is that guy still. And he maybe easily could have been a playboy jerk with some slightly nasty instincts and some quite funny jokes. He could've stayed in a bar, being that guy. And this has been a bit of a detour in his life, I would say."

Shiv (Sarah Snook): "Shiv is still in play, I'd say, in a rather terrifying, frozen, emotionally barren place. But she has got this kind of non-victory, non-defeat. I mean, there's gonna be some movement there. There's still a lot of that game to play out, but that's where we leave it. And it feels like it's going to be hard to progress for them emotionally, given the things they've said about each other."

Kendall (Jeremy Strong): "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. Maybe he could go on and start a company, or do a 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."

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