Could Succession pull off a Game of Thrones with its series finale?

Succession has been a big hit and definitive proof that nobody does it like HBO. As it rapidly approaches its series finale, many of us have the same questions about it as we did about Game of Thrones. The show started off with a question that the title itself reflects. For five years now, the question has been: Who will succeed Logan Roy in leading Waystar Royco?

Game of Thrones kicked off a similar way, and by the end of it, we weren’t quite impressed. Bran Stark was the king, and not many fans saw it coming. To this day, infact, it haunts many of us, and it’s possible that HBO could be heading for a similar subversion with Succession. Could Succession pull off a Game of Thrones with its series finale?

Could Cousin Greg win it all?

"What unites people? Armies? Gold? Flags? Stories. There's nothing in the world more powerful than a good story. Nothing can stop it. No enemy can defeat it. And who has a better story than Cousin Greg?" Getting a strong feeling this is how #Succession ends. pic.twitter.com/2CfWBbIuRu

— Palash Volvoikar (@whipalash) May 15, 2023

Cousin Greg becoming the CEO of Waystar Royco actually wouldn’t be as much of a subversion as Bran Stark’s ascension. Succession has set it up much better, with bits here and there which can be interpreted as foreshadowing.  I’m not going to point to the hundreds of theories floating right now which point out these bits, but there’s plenty of setup for it to happen.

Cousin Greg has had a habit of finding himself in the most privileged conversations in Succession. He’s a lurker, and he has shown his ability to leverage information time and again. He is, also, at the end of the day, a Roy. However, he’s been set up to look like an outsider who makes his way in.

Succession could very well show us cousin Greg ending up as the CEO of Waystar Royco. But it won’t be nearly as jarring as “Who has a better story than Bran the Broken?” The writing on Succession has accommodated for the possibility of Greg winning it all. The writing on Succession has accommodated for the possibility of any of the main characters winning it all.

The Wambsgans play

This theory about Tom in Succession is wild. 👀 pic.twitter.com/xoOXJV90iF

— Christina Garnett (@ThatChristinaG) May 25, 2023

To further my point: An interesting theory popped up recently that discussed the possibility of Tom Wambsgans being the successor.  The names in Succession all have a meaning, as this Reddit thread has explained. Roy means King, Logan derives from Gaelic for ‘little hollow,’ making his name mean ‘Hollow King.’ Kendall means royal valley, and is also a potential nod at Ken doll from the Barbie universe. Siobhan means ‘God shows favor’, but shortened to Shiv, it stands for a knife. Roman could very well allude to Rome, which is known for being spectacular, and also falling. And Greg comes from gregorein, which means ‘to be awake’ and ‘to be watchful’.

The interesting bit is what Tom Wambsgans means. The surname sticks out, and according to the theory, it refers to an MLB player, Bill Wambsganss, who is known for a baseball play where he took out three players at once, unassisted. It may very well be possible that that’s exactly what Tom does in the finale, and ends up as CEO, with Greg, well, Gregging for him into eternity.

It’s all about the execution

Game of Thrones’ fatal flaw turned out to be rushing the show towards the end, and not setting up the Bran reveal well enough. Succession hasn’t made that mistake despite having had only four seasons. The show has left the succession suspense open until the finale, but whatever comes will likely feel organic and well-explained.

Succession in its entirety is a much more polished HBO series than Game of Thrones turned out to be, despite having similar themes and endgame. No matter what happens in the finale, now, it will forever go into the history books as one of the finest HBO series of all time. Especially if the Disgusting Brothers end up on the top.

So yes, Succession could pull off a Game of Thrones with its finale. And I mean really, actually, pull it off well.

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