Then again, Kendall isn’t the only one with skeletons in his closet. If Shiv brings up the waiter, Kendall can bring up the time she intimidated a witness from coming forward about the sexual assaults on the cruises. It’s unlikely either of them will ever face jail time over these incidents, but it can certainly damage their social standing at a time where they can’t afford many setbacks.
The other possibility is that the deal goes through, Matsson gets control of the company, and he simply chooses to not appoint Shiv. Fans throughout this season have speculated that Matsson’s been playing Shiv, a theory only bolstered by Matsson’s subtle refusal to straightforwardly agree to putting Shiv in charge. In “Church and State” he tells Shiv he’s down with an “American CEO,” and Shiv clearly thinks he referring to her, but what if he isn’t?
There’s a fun theory out there that Matsson’s planning to install Greg the Egg as his American puppet CEO. It sounds ridiculous, but is it? Matsson’s appeared to have taken a liking to Greg in recent episodes, and it’s not like “Succession” hasn’t alluded to the possibility already. As serious as the show gets at times, it’s also part comedy, and this is the funniest possible ending the show could pick. It’s like Bran being named King at the end of “Game of Thrones,” except this show wouldn’t try to convince viewers we’re supposed to be happy about it.
The more likely development would be that someone completely outside the Roy family would get the role instead, someone like Stewy or Gerri, who have competent, straightforward qualities that Matsson would likely appreciate. Whoever Matsson picks, there are a million more stable options than one of the Roys.