* MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD *
Just as we were recovering from the shock of Logan's death, Succession went and hit us again with another plot twist. In the latest episode, 'The Honeymoon States', before we'd even got to the opening music (a banger up there with The While Lotus theme tune), we learn that Shiv is pregnant.
Taking a call from her doctor, Shiv (Sarah Snook) gets the results of an amniocentesis: 'I wanted to discuss your results. I wanted you to be aware if you were up to it,' her doctor says. 'I won't draw it out. It's a good result. Everything looks healthy.'
The doctor adds they will be in touch to arrange her 20-week scan.
We're assuming - but we could be wrong - that Shiv's soon-to-be-ex-husband Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) is the baby's father - and Shiv was at pains to avoid him all day after that phone call.
What will the baby news mean for their divorce? Could they reconcile? Maybe it's not even Tom's! They do have an open marriage after all, and have been separated...
And how does this change Shiv's motivations moving forward? Now that Kendall and Roman have manoeuvred and sidelined Shiv - however much they claim they're all still equals - what she wants from the business and the impeding deal may have shifted.
Fans have pointed out that there have already been some clues that Shiv was pregnant. Firstly at the end of season three Shiv was drinking water at her mum's wedding reception. As some people have pointed out she toasts with water — a social faux pas someone like Shiv would know to avoid.
When she learns of Tom's betrayal, fans noted she put her hand to her stomach - which could have just been in reaction to the metaphoric gut punch she had just taken - but perhaps it was something more.
As for this season, in the previous episode at Conor's wedding she pointedly declines a glass of Champagne while boarding the wedding boat (video evidence below).
Later, when on the phone to a dying (or already deceased) Logan she says, 'Daddy, don't go please. Not now.'
Actress Sarah Snook is pregnant in real life - so the pregnancy may have been woven into Shiv's storyline to accommodate that. But some fans are feeling ambivalent about her new story arc.
Of course, Shiv being pregnant doesn't diminish her power or her ability to strategise her way to what she wants. But it does add a different dimension to her journey in this final season.
The episode five trailer doesn't reference Shiv's pregnancy news - but it does show the Roy family and Waystar gang (including Tom) seemingly out in Sweden to meet with Alexander Skarsgård's Lukas Matsson to negotiate the big sale - so could it all come out while they're over there? We've got a feeling Shiv will sit on her news for as long as possible, and keep her cards close to her chest...