3 Majors Clues [SPOILERS] Was Going To โ€œWinโ€ The โ€˜Successionโ€™ Finale
โ€” Updated on 31 May 2023

3 Majors Clues [SPOILERS] Was Going To โ€œWinโ€ The โ€˜Successionโ€™ Finale

โ€” Updated on 31 May 2023
Garry Lu
WORDS BY
Garry Lu

HBOโ€™s Succession finale anointed (and appointed) Matthew Macfaydenโ€™s Tom Wambsgans as king of the Waystar Royco empire after four season, 39 episodes, and five masterfully-crafted years of television. But despite being a dark horse throughout most of the universally-acclaimed satireโ€™s run, his ascension wasnโ€™t decided on a whim.

โ€œIโ€™m sure thereโ€™s a clever answer in terms of the dramatic narrative, like the fools in a Shakespeare play, but that would diminish them, because theyโ€™re not just comic relief,โ€ Matthew Macfadyen said of Tom and Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) during an interview with The New York Times.

And would you believe it was right under our noses virtually this whole time?

Here were the biggest indications Tom Wambsgans, the โ€œclumsy interloper,โ€ was always destined to prevail in the Succession finale and become CEO of Waystar Royco.

3 Major Clues Tom Was Going To "Win" The Succession Finale

RELATED: Can We Talk About The Jaw-Dropping โ€˜Successionโ€™ Finale Yet?

Whatโ€™s In A Name: The Wambsgans Legacy

When it comes to character names in television, there are no accidents. The surname โ€œRoy,โ€ for example, has Norman origins meaning โ€œkingโ€ with similar definitions derived from the Old French variant โ€œRey/Roy/Roiโ€ and the Indian variant โ€œRai.โ€

So why did series creator Jesse Armstrong bequeath sweet, agricultural Tommy boy with such a unique cognomen? Why โ€œWambsgansโ€?

As many have theorised, thereโ€™s a good chance the newly CEO of Waystar Royco was named after Major League Baseball player William โ€œBillโ€ Wambsganss.

The real-life Wambsganss, who was also referred to as โ€œWambyโ€ by headlines throughout his storied career, was a second baseman for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, and the Philadelphia Athletics from 1914 through to 1926.

His greatest claim to fame occurred during his time with Cleveland. More specifically, during the 1920 World Series. In Game 5, Tomโ€™s namesake completed the only unassisted triple play in World Series History, effectively taking out three opposing players in one fell swoop.

Not entirely unlike how Tom himself kicked the legs out from the Roy siblings โ€“ Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin), Siobhan / Shiv (Sarah Snook) โ€“ in the season 3 finale, eventually ascending to the Waystar throne with the full blessing of GoJoโ€™s Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgรฅrd).

RELATED: Jeremy Strong, Relentless Method Actor, Actually Tried To Drown Himself For The โ€˜Successionโ€™ Finale

Apple vs Android

3 Major Clues Tom Was Going To "Win" The Succession Finale

Back in 2020, Knives Out director Rian Johnson revealed that Apple doesnโ€™t allow villain characters to use iPhones on camera as part of the brandโ€™s aggressive image preservation.

โ€œI donโ€™t know if I should say this or not,โ€ Johnson told Vanity Fair. 

โ€œNot โ€™cause itโ€™s lascivious or something, but because itโ€™s gonna screw me on the next mystery movie that I write. But forget it, Iโ€™ll say it, itโ€™s very interesting.โ€

โ€œApple, they let you use iPhones in movies, but โ€“ and this is very pivotal โ€“ if youโ€™re ever watching a mystery movie, bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera.โ€

Itโ€™s unclear whether Apple has since revised this policy, and granted Succession doesnโ€™t exactly have any heroes or villains (simply varying shades of villainy), although itโ€™s worth noting that Tom Wambsgans famously didnโ€™t use an iPhone in season 4. In fact, heโ€™s consistently been Team Samsung.

Fun fact: in crucial parts of the series, both Kendall and Logan Roy also uses various Samsung Galaxy Ultras depending on where their characters are aligned in the story before switching to iPhones.

RELATED: Just How Rich Was โ€˜Successionโ€™ Billionaire Logan Roy?

The Curse of Print Publications

This is perhaps the most tenuous โ€œclueโ€ although weโ€™re willing to include it anyway.

In the pilot episode, Logan is almost ready to step down and hand the reins over to Kendall until he spots a Forbes cover story touting his โ€œnumber one boyโ€ as the โ€œheir with the flair.โ€ Almost as if it was a mark of death.

In the opening of the finale, Lukas Matsson flicks over a newspaper illustration of himself being puppeteered by Shiv Roy, which he insists is all in good humour; later admitting to Tom that he found her โ€œpushyโ€ among other things.

With Shiv out of the running, whoโ€™s the next best candidate? To quote Matsson himself, โ€œThe guy who put the baby insider her, instead of the baby lady,โ€ of course.


Now check out all the greatest watches that were featured in Succession season 4.

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Garry Lu
WORDS by
After stretching his legs with companies such as The Motley Fool and the odd marketing agency, Garry joined Boss Hunting in 2019 as a fully-fledged Content Specialist. In 2021, he was promoted to News Editor. Garry proudly retains a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, black bruises from Muay Thai, as well as a black belt in all things pop culture. Drop him a line at [email protected]

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