TV & Movies

Are Shiv & Tom Getting Divorced On Succession? This Easter Egg May Confirm It

The show is almost over — and they might be, too.

Sarah Snook as Shiv on 'Succession' Season 4. Photo via HBO
Claudette Barius/HBO

Spoilers ahead for Succession Season 4, Episode 1. Tom and Greg ended Succession Season 3 on a united front — but Tom’s other relationship was looking pretty precarious. As a recap: Tom betrayed Shiv by telling Logan about the Roy siblings’ plan to veto his deal with GoJo. And during the first episode of Season 4, it’s clear the act had lasting repercussions. For starters, Tom called Shiv to let her know he was hanging out with Naomi Pierce, Kendall’s on-and-off ex.

“It’s social,” Tom assured Shiv. “It’s not a sexual thing.”

However, he also referenced “terms” the pair agreed to; the couple finally has the open relationship Shiv requested back at their wedding in Season 1. Only now, she’s not very happy about it.

Tom apparently knew the end was near, even asking Logan what would happen to his place in the family (and the company) if he and Shiv were to split up. “Hopefully it won’t come to that,” he said. “But in the end, if there is just too much emotional shrapnel, I wondered what your view would be ... if that were to falter to the point of failure?” Logan didn’t seem to mind too much, though. “If we’re good, we’re good,” he said.

Macall B. Polay/HBO

When Tom and Shiv met up later, Shiv said she didn’t want to talk out their issues but seemed ready to take the next step in ending their relationship. “I think it might be time for you and I to move on,” she said, explaining that they both made mistakes. “If you’re good, we can just walk away with our heads held high and say ‘Good luck,’ yeah?”

They ended the episode lying down together and holding hands — not romantically, but like two people who just agreed to part ways. “So this is it, huh?” Tom asked.

“Yeah, I guess,” Shiv said. “Gave it a go.”

So, are Shiv and Tom getting divorced on Succession? Really?

Sadly, it seems like it. It’s not necessarily surprising, given the pair’s toxic relationship throughout Succession’s run. As Matthew Macfadyen put it to The Playlist, he might have betrayed Shiv in Season 3 — but there’s been “betrayal by a thousand cuts and endless gibes and belittlings” before that.

Sarah Snook, for her part, told Jimmy Fallon that there were Easter eggs hidden in the final season poster. “There is a thing that, once the season begins airing, it may get related back to this moment,” she said.

HBO

Might that “thing” be the fact that Tom and Shiv are standing on opposite ends of the Roy lineup, potentially signaling that they’re further apart than they’ve ever been?