‘Succession’ reveals Logan’s successor – but with a twist

Christopher Rosen
Updated ·4 min read
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The following post contains spoilers about “Succession” Season 4, Episode 4, “Honeymoon States”

No one person could replace Logan Roy and so “Succession” gave the job to two. During Sunday’s episode of “Succession,” “Honeymoon States,” the Waystar Royco board of directors split leadership of the company between Logan’s (Brian Cox) sons, Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Roman (Kieran Culkin).

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In typical “Succession” fashion, the decision wasn’t made easily and could have thorny repercussions going forward. Directed by Lorene Scafaria – the “Hustlers” filmmaker who directed last season’s Kendall banger “Too Much Birthday” – “Honeymoon States” took place during Logan’s memorial service and included numerous twists and turns of allegiances. Following the unexpected death of their father, Kendall, Roman, and Shiv (Sarah Snook) had forged an alliance perhaps for the first time in their adult lives. But after an old letter Logan wrote before his death was unearthed with Kendall listed as the elder man’s successor, the siblings’ connection began to fray – particularly because Kendall had such an antagonistic relationship with his dad before Logan’s death and especially because Kendall’s name was either underlined for emphasis or literally crossed off because of his behavior. (It looked like a cross-off to us.)

“I don’t even think it’s Kendall saying, ‘I’m going to take the lead here,’” Strong said in a post-show interview posted by HBO. “I think it’s Kendall saying, ‘Let’s call this what it is. I am the lead here.’”

But despite his place on the Logan letter – which we’re reminded frequently holds no legal weight – Kendall seemed to want to keep his brother and sister in the loop. He agreed to include Roman, a Waystar COO, as his co-lead but kept Shiv at arm’s length. 

“What I love about the writing is, it’s left for the reader to interpret,” J. Smith-Cameron, who plays Gerri on the show, said in the HBO production material. “To Kendall, it looks like, ‘Definitely, he meant for me to take over.’ To someone else, it looks like a grocery list that [Logan] has half struck through.”

But perhaps the confidence boost of Logan’s potential approval was enough for Kendall. Toward the end of the episode, he made a move ripped out of the Logan playbook: Kendall went behind Roman’s back and used knowledge of a potential legal headache for communications guru Hugo (Fisher Stevens) to enact a smear campaign against his dead father in an effort to boost his and Roman’s bona fides to the public.

“Kendall does something quite Loganish, which is he’s keeping his options open,” creator Jesse Armstrong said in the HBO backstage video “I don’t think at this point he has decided that he’s gonna push aside his siblings. I think what he finds unbelievably annoying is their unwillingness to face facts. He’s not super duplicitous at the end when he suggests they go with the more aggressive PR plan. The fact that Kendall makes a solo move doesn’t negate the possibility of him and his brother working together.”

“Honeymoon States” was another major episode for the Roy family and not just for the succession drama. In the episode’s cold open, it was revealed that Shiv is pregnant, presumably with Tom’s child. The pregnancy was not directly referenced for the remainder of the episode but will likely have huge implications going forward.

Watch a preview of next week’s episode below.

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