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The creepy tinkle of Nicholas Britell's theme tune. The young Roys wobbling on that elephant. The monstrous shimmer of the Manhattan skyline. It can mean just one thing: Succession is back for a fourth - and final - series. As Jesse Armstrong's tar-black satire of the super-rich approaches its end game, the stakes have never been higher. Until now, Succession has worn the mantle of the Greatest Show of Its Era with comparative ease. But, from Mad Men to Game of Thrones, even the best television lives or dies by the quality of its finale. With that in mind, here are the 12 questions Succession needs to answer. In a show brimming with backstabbing, Tom's (Matthew Macfadyen) betrayal of Shiv (Sarah Snook) at the end of series three was the deepest cut of all. Quietly spurned by his wife across the previous three seasons (with some infidelity chucked in for good measure) Tom was unable to pass up the opportunity to repay the hurt a thousand times over by selling her out to Logan (Brian Cox). He did so by leaking the plan made by Shiv, Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Kendall (Jeremy Strong) - but mostly Shiv - to oust Logan before he could sell the family jewels to loathsome GoJo (a sort of mash-up of Netflix, Spotify and Bet365) boss Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård). Shiv and Tom's marriage was already a sham. How indifferent (indeed, keen) she was to the prospect of Tom going to jail for helping cover up that MeToo scandal at a Waystar subsidiary, for instance. Now their relationship is, surely, a smoking ash heap. Which leads to the follow-up question of whether Shiv is plotting her revenge. If so, how and when might she extract it? Or, shudder the thought, will TV's most toxic Mr & Mrs give it another go? Series three ended with the unthinkable prospect of Logan Roy vacating the throne. Roy was cashing in and selling Waystar Royco to creepy tech mogul Lukas. But while the takeover seemed locked in, the credits rolled before the deal went through. Has all proceeded to plan? Are we supposed to believe Logan would calmly amble into the sunset with his pockets stuffed with euros? "I killed a kid." Kendall was a broken man when Succession took its leave. After his apparent suicide attempt in that swimming pool in Tuscany, he told Shiv and Roman about the death of the waiter at Shiv and Tom's wedding in Scotland, way back in series one. "I mean who's the real victim here? I waited three-quarters of an hour for a gin and tonic," joked Roman - a quip that helped Kendall back into the light. With Shiv panicking about the GoJo takeover, Kendall proceeded to snap out of his funk. But with the acquisition having potentially gone through, might he snap back into it? And can the cover-up over the death in Scotland continue - or will poor little rich boy Kendall finally have to pay the piper? The Roy kids suspect that Logan is having an affair with his hyper-competent PA Kerry (Zoe Winters). The smoking gun - make that a smoking smoothie - takes the form of those health drinks she's been feeding him. Connor, who's never been right about anything in his life, is alarmed that the mixture is a virility-boosting mix of maca roots, almonds and walnuts. Is Logan planning, at his age, another heir? We found out he sees Kerry as more than an assistant after he told Roman on their journey to meet Matsson that she was a "good-looking woman". "F-k it, how bad could it be?" were the words by which Connor's muse and transactional girlfriend (played by Justine Lupe) accepted his marriage proposal in Italy. A nanosecond of weakness gripped her when Connor displayed a flash of vulnerability. She had, for a heartbeat, pitied and maybe even liked him. But it was gone as soon as it had arrived, as we saw when she threw that haunted look at Kerry - another voluntary prisoner in Royland. Will Willa go ahead with the marriage? And what if Connor's Presidential campaign succeeds and he ends up in the White House? Is Willa a First Lady in waiting? As real-life American politics shows us, stranger things have happened. Logan's wife, Marcia (Hiam Abbass), is a smart cookie in a room full of perma-tanned turnips. She and Logan are estranged after he humiliated her by seemingly dallying with Holly Hunter's Rhea Jarrell (though an affair has never been confirmed). But the third Mrs Roy was at Caroline's wedding in Italy. She also has ambitions for her son from her first marriage, Amir (Darius Homayoun), who - and this isn't saying much - is at least as capable as the Roys. And so, though Marcia has recently been on the periphery, expect her to have a part to play before this tragicomedy is done. "Rom, you know dad is never gonna choose you because he thinks there's something wrong with you," Shiv told Roman when he baulked at betraying their father. Logan had extracted from Matsson a pledge that Roman would play a key part in the Waystar-GoJo takeover - and Roman half-believed the GoJo guru was sincere about it. Even during that final face-off with his kids, Logan had tried to come between Roman and his siblings. Roman held firm: but with Logan having outsmarted his children, might the neediest of his brood be tempted over to the dark side? Overseen by the hapless Tom, the Fox News-esque American Television Network has weighed in behind the Presidential campaign of far-right provocateur Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk) - whose platform Shiv describes as "aristo-populism … rape is natural, it's all red pill, baby". That Mencken will feature this season is confirmed by the trailers. But if ATN has helped spawn a demagogic monster, what will be the potential impact on the GoJo-Waystar deal - and, for that matter, on Tom? And what about Shiv, for whom left-leaning politics is a lifelong passion-slash-hobby? Cut loose from Logan, if she tries to reboot her political career, could the Mencken connection haunt her? Under the hapless exterior, Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) has a Machiavellian streak as wide and deep as any of the Roys. See, for instance, his grudge against Greenpeace, after his grandfather - Logan's brother - bequeathed "his" inheritance to the organisation. And consider how quickly he went from sheep to crocodile when Tom let him in on his betrayal of Shiv. Greg was a willing accomplice, asking up front for a corps of "Mini-Gregs" to do his bidding. For his next trick, might he bumble his way to the top? Before it became the biggest sensation on TV, Succession was pretty blasé about whether or not it wanted Logan Roy alive. His health scare was the major plot device of season one - and there seemed a decent chance he might not make it to the finale. Then Succession became a juggernaut with much of that popularity flowing from Brian Cox's pugilistic sweariness. But now that the end is nigh, one of the questions on the table is how Logan's dysfunctional family could go on without him. Will Succession finally bump off its potty-mouthed King Lear? Succession is about terrible people doing horrible things. Amid the nihilism and the black comedy, one of the few moments of humanity has been provided by the covert pseudo-romance between Roman and Waystar executive Gerri Kellman (J. Smith-Cameron). The age difference has given their dalliances a whiff of the forbidden. But if they can make peace with the taboo around her seniority and his relative youth, is this a relationship that might go places? If so, how would Logan react? He already considers Roman degenerate, with sexual problems that need "fixing". A public Roman-Gerri hook-up might push him over the brink. So here it is: the question upon which the entire house of cards is constructed. Which privileged airhead will become Logan's head heir? Smart one, Shiv? Chosen boy-turned-traitor, Kendall? Potty-mouthed freak, Roman? Or does another fate await the Roys and the media empire their father built with his bare hands? That, of course, is what we hope to discover when we tune in. Season 4 of Succession begins on Sky Atlantic/NOW at 2am/9pm on Monday March 271. Will Shiv forgive - or destroy - Tom?
2. GoJo's acquisition of Waystar - has it happened? Will it happen? Can Logan let go?
3. Can Kendall survive? Will the dead waiter come back to haunt him?
4. What is going on between Logan and Kerry?
5. Will Willa marry Connor, and is the White House calling?
6. What part will Marcia play?
7. Will Roman crawl back to Logan?
8. Logan's news network has boosted right-wing politician Jeryd Mencken. Can the Roys control their latest creation?
9. Does Greg have his fleet of Mini-Gregs?
10. Will Logan ever die?
11. Will Roman and Gerri get together?
12. Who will succeed Logan?
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