It has been a long time coming.
Top Boy fans have been eagerly awaiting the new season of the Netflix crime drama, with the COVID-19 pandemic leading to a two-and-a-half year gap between seasons.
Now, finally, eight new episodes are available to stream – and if you’re anything like us, you’ll have binge-watched the entire lot in no time.
Netflix is yet to officially announce the fifth season of Top Boy, but if the cliffhanger ending to the latest season is anything to go by, the odds of another outing for the Summerhouse crew are looking good.
The final episode not only paid off most – if not all – of the plot strands that had weaved their way across the new season, but also delivered an explosive final surprise that leaves the show radically transformed and will no doubt have fans desperate to know what happens next.
Below, we unpack said shocker as well as the moments earlier in the season that foreshadowed it, and we consider where Top Boy might go from here. Let’s start with the big question… (Spoilers follow!)
*Warning – this article contains full spoilers for the new season of Top Boy on Netflix*
Top Boy season 4 ending explained
Is Jamie dead in Top Boy?
!["Jamie]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2019/09/micheal-ward-1f19abc.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"micheal-ward\"")
We hate to say it, but it does appear as if Top Boy has seen the last of Jamie.
In the new season’s closing scene, Jamie (Micheal Ward) is at home with his brothers Aaron (Hope Ikpoku Jr) and Stefan (Araloyin Oshunremi). There’s a knock at the door, which Jamie leaves the dinner table to answer – their unexpected visitor is Sully (Kane Robinson), who shoots Jamie twice in the chest.
Stefan arrives in the hallway just in time to see Sully ruthlessly finish off Jamie with one final shot to the head. Sully departs, leaving a heartbroken Stefan and Aaron cradling their brother’s bloodied body.
Why did Sully shoot Jamie in Top Boy?
Put simply, Sully has never trusted Jamie – not entirely surprising, given Jamie made multiple attempts on Sully’s life while their respective gangs were at war over Summerhouse last season.
This latest season saw Jamie strike up an uneasy working relationship with his former rival – and Sully’s sometime ally – Dushane Hill (Ashley Walters), after Dushane framed Jamie for weapons possession then worked to secure his release from prison in return for Jamie working for him.
Dushane seemed to respect Jamie, even if he didn’t entirely trust him. After discovering the truth of what happened to Ats (Kieyon Cook) – more on that below – Dushane ordered Jamie to execute his friend and second-in-command Kit (Kadeem Ramsay) as a final test of loyalty, an act Jamie begrudgingly carried out.
This was proof enough for Dushane, but not for Sully, who still disliked Jamie, leading to a clash between Dushane and Sully which foreshadowed the latter’s later actions.
Stood on the balcony of Dushane’s flat, Sully is appalled when his old partner refers to Jamie as their “retirement plan” – Dushane now considers the young upstart not just an ally but also his successor as top boy of the Summerhouse estate and beyond.
“It’s like you want to be out here, on the roads, in your old age – I don’t,” says Dushane, which leads Sully to suggest that it’s time they go their separate ways.
“You got your way, I got mine,” Sully says. “And they ain’t aligning.”
!["Kane]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2022/03/SULLY-KANE-ROBINSON-dc4b8d0.jpg?quality=90&crop=715px%2C0px%2C5588px%2C3722px&resize=620%2C413" "\"Kane")
Determined to prevent Jamie from usurping him and/or Dushane, Sully took drastic action and shot his rival dead.
Though it’s surprising to see Top Boy kill off Jamie, Sully’s actions were foreshadowed by a tense confrontation between the pair when they were together in Spain in episode 6 of the new season. Sully is there to tackle a drugs supply issue at Dushane’s behest, after Dushane saved Sully from a rival gang who’d been holding him hostage – but while he owes Dushane a favour, Sully is clearly struggling to work with Jamie.
“You think I’ve forgotten?” he asks his nemesis, referring to the prior attempts on his life. “Dushane told me everything that happened in the past is done,” replies Jamie. “Dushane don’t speak for me,” insists Sully/ “So you look at me wrong, you’re done. Jamie, I swear to God, I will f**king bury you out here.”
It was only ever going to take the smallest of nudges for Sully to lash out at Jamie – Dushane crowning him his successor was the final straw. (In Sully’s defence, he wasn’t entirely wrong about Jamie, who earlier in the season had once again plotted to topple Dushane.)
Who killed Ats in Top Boy?
!["Jaq]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2022/03/top-boy-ats-462fc9b.jpg?quality=90&crop=244px%2C36px%2C1337px%2C891px&resize=620%2C413" "\"top-boy-ats\"")
The new season of Top Boy opened with the death of Ats (Keiyon Cook), former friend to Stefan who betrayed his pal by joining Dushane’s crew and helping to frame Jamie by planting a bag of guns in his flat.
Ats was killed off-screen between seasons, with his body being found in a skip, and the mystery of who was responsible for his death played out across the latest batch of episodes.
It was revealed in episode 6 that Ats was killed by Dexter (Micah Loubon), who was working for Kit – furious at Ats for having betrayed Jamie and his brothers, Kit wanted to teach the teen a lesson and so ordered Dexter to “scare” him, but in the resulting scuffle, Ats tried to grab Dexter’s knife and ended up sustaining a fatal stab wound.
When Dushane’s crew learn of Dexter’s involvement, Kit murders Dexter in an attempt to cover up his own part in Ats’ death, but Dushane grows suspicious and later has the truth confirmed to him by Jamie, after Kit confesses all to his friend. Dushane wants revenge for the killing of Ats and orders Jamie to execute Kit to prove his loyalty, which Jamie does – only to himself be killed by Sully just hours later.
What is wrong with Dushane in Top Boy?
!["Ashley]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2022/03/TB_401_Unit_00172_RT-de87e86.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"Ashley")
One plot thread that isn’t resolved this season concerns Dushane’s health – across the eight episodes, we repeatedly see him suffering from heart palpitations. In episode 7, he asks Sully if he’s ever experienced something similar, his heart “just pounding for no reason” while he’s doing “normal s**t – cooking, driving”.
We never find out what’s wrong with Dushane – is he experiencing panic attacks, or symptoms of some other kind of affliction? If Top Boy returns for another season, it seems certain this storyline will be revisited, particularly given Dushane’s stated desire to leave the streets behind and go legit.
What will happen next?
!["Stefan]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2022/03/TB_401_Unit_00733_RT-36acf49.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"Stefan")
Jamie’s death is bound to have huge consequences in any potential new season of Top Boy.
Most obviously, Sully’s actions will put him and Dushane back at odds after the latter had handpicked Jamie as his heir apparent, but any future episodes will almost certainly look to explore the impact that their brother’s death will have on Stefan and Aaron. Will young Stefan be pulled further into a murky criminal underworld as he seeks revenge for Jamie’s murder, and will studious Aaron, who always refused to be involved in Jamie’s criminal activities, now end up following a similar path? We can’t see Aaron taking those exams now…
A question mark also hangs over Tia (Conya Toccara), Stefan’s friend who arrives at his flat mere seconds after Jamie’s murder, even passing Sully in the corridor as he departs. The camera lingers on Tia and Sully as they pass each other and Tia doesn’t run to help when she hears Stefan’s screams, instead walking calmly into the flat – was she somehow involved in the plot to kill Jamie?
Earlier in the season finale, Tia had got Stefan mixed up with a rival gang, with Jamie arriving just in time to save his brother. Perhaps this gang were involved too, joining with Sully to stand against Jamie?
Dushane, Sully and company were also pitted against psychopathic Liverpudlian gangster Curtis (Howard Charles) this season – the abusive Curtis was eventually killed by his pregnant girlfriend Lauryn (Saffron Hocking), with Sully ordering Curtis’ sister and the rest of her gang to return to Liverpool and never return to London. Will they take heed of Sully’s warning, or will they be back for revenge against Lauryn and her sister Jaq (Jasmine Jobson)?
There’s certainly no shortage of story to be explored if/when Top Boy returns.
Read more about Top Boy:
- Top Boy recap: What happened in Summerhouse and the Netflix revival
- Where is Top Boy filmed? Location guide for Netflix’s season 4
- How to watch Top Boy in order on Netflix
- Top Boy cast: Meet the stars of the Netflix series
- Top Boy season 4 review: On storming form in most ambitious season yet
- Top Boy’s Ashley Walters reveals if Ra’Nell will ever return to the series
The new season of Top Boy is streaming now on Netflix – visit our guide to the best series on Netflix, read more of our Drama coverage or find something to watch now with our TV Guide.
The latest issue of Radio Times is on sale now – subscribe now to get each issue delivered to your door. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times podcast with Jane Garvey.