The Succession S4 Pregnancy Announcement Didn't Come From Who We Suspected

Warning: this article contains spoilers for "Succession" Season 4, Episode 4 — "Honeymoon States."

Just as Logan Roy (Brian Cox) shuffled off this mortal coil, there's promise of new life on "Succession." In the opening moments of Episode 4, Siobhan Roy (Sarah Snook) — grief-stricken and staring into the middle distance — gets a call from her OB-GYN. The amniocentesis looks normal, and Shiv is almost 20 weeks along in her pregnancy.

Leave it to "Succession" to dole out back-to-back, spit take-inducing life events. For many fans and "Succession" theorists, however, the real shock was that the subject of the pregnancy announcement was Shiv and not Kerry Castellabate (Zoe Winters).

Ever since Kerry began cozying up to Logan in Season 3, fans have been theorizing that the assistant-with-benefits would become pregnant, adding another Roy heir to the fray. "We know Logan isn't enthralled with the idea of any of his four kids taking over," wrote u/El_Oso1 on Reddit. "Is fresh Roy progeny on the way?" 

Amid the series' many meandering chess moves, Kerry's ascendance from hovering assistant to Logan's most trusted advisor has been a swift straight line, and nothing would lock in forever Roy privileges quite like a child.

A Siobhan Roy pregnancy isn't entirely surprising if you recall the halcyon days of Season 3. Back then, Shiv's fertility was very much a subject of discussion, and Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) was positively raring to procreate because of some impending jail time. Shiv's attitude about the proceedings can only be described as reticent, especially when she dropped this all-timer: "I don't want to be your f****ng incubator for when you're in prison doing chin-ups and reading Knausgård." Shame those two couldn't work things out.

With all that talk of Shiv and Tom's baby plans, it's easy to forget that Kerry Castellabate spent much of Season 3 harboring an outsize interest in Logan's virility, fixing him his fertility-boosting smoothies spiked with maca root. As their relationship progressed from lowly assistant to "they're definitely doing it," Kerry began to be the steward of Logan's health (remember when she knew about his UTI?) and have unfettered access to his ear.

Kerry and Logan shippers (is there such a thing?) were likely disappointed that Shiv has been declared "Succession's" resident baby mama. Then again, some are holding out hope that Kerry's pregnancy announcement is still on the horizon. After all, she's taking Logan's death pretty hard, from her bizarre "chuckles the clown" reaction to her emotional appearance at Logan's apartment. 

A fan on Twitter seemed adamant in claiming, "She's either pregnant or has Logan's genetic material on ice somewhere..." One Redditor even predicted a double pregnancy plotline last month: "The only way I could be okay with the storyline is if Shiv were also pregnant to really tap into the theme of succession," u/DaisyJa wrote, adding that Kerry and Shiv wandering around the Waystar Royco headquarters pregnant "would be world-class television."