That shocking Succession finale plot twist was predicted by King Lear, and probably a baseball player

A few weeks ago, when Succession’s final season was just about to start, we analysed Logan Roy’s character as a modern-day King Lear. It turns out that Succession showrunner Jesse Armstrong might have actually pulled a page or two out of Lear as the show’s awe-inducing finale ends with a plot twist that very closely mirrors the end of Shakespeare’s renowned tragedy. 

First pointed out by Twitter user and student Whit Miller (@Whit_theWhit), the similarities between the Succession finale and King Lear’s third act are impossible to miss. 

Needless to say, you should stop reading if you have still not watched Succession (which you can stream now on JioCinema).

ALSO READ: Succession Finale Review: A bitter crown betrayal rounds off 4-season battle for Logan Roy's throne

Here’s a massive SPOILER ALERT. You have been warned. 

The Roy Empire has a new king

So, as Armstrong weaved the final threads of the Roy family saga in Succession, it’s the Logan Roy’s belittled and emasculated son-in-law Tom Wambsgans who gets the last laugh as the head of his business empire. In the course of four seasons, viewers often discussed and debated which of the Roy siblings would get the throne but as it turns out, the man who was treated like a jester slyly rose up the ranks to become king. 

The King Lear theory

Tom can try his best to be a charming extrovert but when it comes to actual work, he is one of the first people to get a panic attack. With European billionaire Lukas Matsson actually pulling the strings, Tom can be best described as a puppet ruler, an opportunist blessed with luck on his side.

Such a lucky opportunist was coincidentally named Tom as Miller pointed out in his tweet less than a week before the finale’s airing. He pointed out that at the end of King Lear, all of the titular monarch’s daughters die with the kingdom actually passing to Albany, husband of Lear’s eldest daughter Goneril. Albany, however, chooses to share the empire with Edgar, an outsider in the royal family. 

Edgar spends most of the time in the play disguised as a beggar named “Poor Tom”. Well, Tom is not so poor anymore!

Throughout Succession, Tom had been treated like an outsider in the Roy family even though he desperately tried to get his hands on Logan Roy’s empire by any means possible. 

As Miller explained in his tweet, his theory was that GoJo’s acquisition of Waystar RoyCo gets the green light and Matsson (Albany in this case) shares his newly-acquired empire with the outsider known as Poor Tom. 

Succession had always brimmed with Shakespearean undertones. This fan theory that eventually came true bears further testimony to this theatrical comparison. 

People are replying to the viral tweet with shocked responses and praises for Miller’s prediction. One particular Twitter user even asked, “My brother in Christ, did you have dirt on Jesse Armstrong or something?” 

The Baseball Player theory

Another interesting fan theory that is trending after the finale is that Tom had to outsmart the three Roy siblings as he borrows his peculiar name from a baseball player. Yes, however strange it might sound, Wambsgans is an actual surname and Bill Wambsgans was a real-life baseball player dating all the way back to the 1910s and the 1920s. 

While Wamsbgans was not an all-time legend like Babe Ruth, he cemented his name in baseball history as apparently the only Major League baseball player to get an unassisted triple play. Basically, this means that Wamsbgans single-handedly got three separate players out. 

Succession’s Tom too pulled off a surprise run to the last mile while three leading players faced the dirt of the field. 

Does this mean that Armstrong and his fellow writers purposely named Tom after this baseball player? Was he teasing Succession’s plot twist in front of our eyes all this time?

*cue in Nicholas Brittell’s music for shock value*