We all knew the ending YEARS ago… if only we noticed.
Obvious ‘Succession’ finale spoiler alert: If you keep reading from here on it’s your own fault.
Our national love affair with America’s worst family ended on Sunday night when after four seasons Succession finally told us who would actually be succeeding Logan Roy. When the dust settled it was none other than Tom Wambsgans who became the inoffensive, U.S.-puppet CEO of Waystar-Royco where he’s destined to be shit on by Lukas Mattson for the next 20-30 years, and smile while it happens.
Tom was a slightly surprising, albeit wholly possible candidate among those predicted to take over — but what if I told you that we all could have known exactly how Succession would end as early as the first season, if only we did a little research.
Sophie Kihm, editor and chief of the popular baby naming site “Nameberry” posted this name-based theory on how Succession would end based on Tom’s last name — and it turned out to be 100 percent correct.
Bill Wambsganss had a relatively unremarkable Major League career, outside of the 1920 World Series. It was here that Wambsganns recorded the only unassisted triple play in the World Series. The second baseman caught a live drive, stepped on the bag to get the runner out on second, and tagged the incoming runner from first to retire the entire side and help Cleveland win the championship.
The metaphor here is pretty obvious: There were three people vying for the crown of Waystar Royco in Kendall, Shiv and Roman — and in the end Tom got them all out to win it all. There’s a regional element to this too, as Tom’s Minnesota background was often a point of mockery by the New York blue bloods of the Roy family, and in that 1920 World Series Cleveland beat Brooklyn.
So quite literally, the small, underdog midwesterner proved he belonged in the big leagues and beat the Roys singlehandedly at their own game.
