Vice Principals Series Finale: Recap & Ending Explained (2025)

Danny McBride's HBO show has a finale that is the culmination of two seasons' worth of boiling tension, and a Vice Principals recap can be helpful for all the series-long themes that are finally resolved in the last episode. Vice Principals is another David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, and Jody Hill co-creation, their second TV collaboration after Eastbound & Down. sees McBride playing another crass, angry character, though vice principal Neal Gamby is a much more vulnerable and empathetic figure than Kenny Powers. This time around, McBride is matched up against the even more unhinged Walton Goggins as vice principal Lee Russell.

The series premiered in 2016 and though it only lasted two seasons, the 18 episodes of Vice Principals managed to fit in a hilarious, tense, and at times heartwrenching story about the two vice principals at the center, both vying for the head job at North Jackson High School. At times, Vice Principals feels like Eastbound & Down with McBride's outrageous main character but this series has something much darker at its heart. Russell and Gamby are both men bitter with their lives and each other and in the final episode, Vice Principals season 2, episode 9, "The Union of the Wizard & The Warrior", their conflict comes to a head.

Related: All The Locations Where Vice Principals Was Filmed

What Happens In The Vice Principals Series Finale

In the series finale of Vice Principals, Gamby is now principal of North Jackson High School and is dating Ms. Snodgrass (Georgia King), but he's still recovering from his shooting in season 1, and the reveal that his former friend Russell was responsible. However, pursuing an investigation on his own, Russell discovers that it was Abbott (Edi Patterson) who shot Gamby. When he goes to confront Gamby, clear his name, and get his friend back, Abbott arrives and shoots both men and then returns to North Jackson to kill Snodgrass during the graduation ceremony, angry at her for being the object of Gamby's affection.

Gamby and Russell manage to survive the attack and head to North Jackson just in time to save Snodgrass, but not before Abbott releases a live tiger provided as a centerpiece for the high school graduation. Chaos ensues and Russell finds himself in front of the tiger. He bravely attempts to stop it but has his hand mauled for his efforts. It's only when Gamby returns to Russell's side and the two frenemies apologize to each other that Gamby is able to scare the tiger away.

The series then cuts to three months later to show Gamby is now the principal of a local middle school and still dating Snodgrass, Snodgrass has published a book, and Russell is the manager of a boutique. The final scene shows Gamby and Snodgrass having lunch at the mall when Russell and his new work friends sit across from them. Gamby and Russell silently acknowledge each other before devolving into a face-making contest that ends with a happy and knowing nod from both. Gamby looks away for a moment and then back only to see that Russell has left, and smiles a little sadly to himself.

Abbott Is Arrested For Attempted Murder

When Gamby was shot in the Vice Principals season 1 finale, his attacker was wearing the unsettling mask of North Jackson High School's Native American mascot. When Gamby found that same mask in Russell's car, he could only assume that Russell was the perpetrator. However, Russell discovers that Abbott planted the mask in his car and she was the one who shot Gamby, angry at him for not reciprocating her romantic feelings. She then shoots Russell and nearly shoots Gamby before rushing off to kill Snodgrass as well. To top it all off, she releases a tiger that ends up killing its trainer.

Abbott's obsession with Gamby was mainly used as a joke on Vice Principals, but throughout the series, there came growing signs that she did not find her relationship with Gamby funny at all. At the end of the show, Abbott reaches her breaking point, attempts to kill three people, causes the death of one other, and puts myriad high school students in danger. Her last scene shows police taking her away, and Gamby's attacker from last season is finally captured.

Why There's A Tiger In The School

When Russell was principal of North Jackson in the previous episode, "Venetian Nights", his ostentatious sensibilities and over-the-top showmanship are put on full display, and one of his ridiculous requests is to have a live tiger for graduation, a symbol of North Jackson's new mascot. Gamby discovers this three months later when the tiger wrangler arrives with the big cat. At first insistent the tiger go away, Gamby changes his tune when he hears the animal is already paid for. Ever the pragmatist, Gamby declares that if he's paying for a tiger, he wants the tiger, leading to its inclusion in the graduation ceremony.

Gamby And Russell Are Able To Stop The Tiger Together

The final showdown between Gamby, Russell, and the tiger takes place after the rest of the school has fled the building. Russell first confronts it alone and attempts to use a calming technique to stop the animal. Just as it appears it will work, the tiger grabs Russell's hand and rips off two of his fingers. Gamby then enters the school and sees the bleeding Russell about to be attacked by the tiger. Russell and Gamby reaffirm their friendship and, maybe for the first time in the series, admit that they do actually like each other. It's with this newfound trust and respect that Gamby is able to turn and face the tiger.

Gamby roars back at the tiger and stuns the animal enough for the two to make their escape. It might feel convoluted, but it's a way to show that both these men have been incapable of succeeding for most of their lives. However, when the two down-on-their-luck vice principals finally accept the other as a real friend, they're both more fulfilled and capable than they ever would be alone.

Snodgrass Finally Publishes Her Novel

One of the smaller series arcs in Vice Principals is Ms. Snodgrass' goal to publish her young adult fantasy novel, The Union of the Wizard & The Warrior, which is also the episode title. It's one of the ways Gamby actually gets her to fall in love with him, by believing in her novel when no one else does. At the end of the show, Snodgrass is at the mall for her very own book launch, finally succeeding at her goal. It's significant that she's also sharing lunch with Gamby, the first person to really give her the confidence to go forward with the book.

Are Russell And Gamby Friends At The End Of Vice Principals?

From the start to the finish of Vice Principals, it's never clear if Russell and Gamby are actually friends or if they are just using each other to further their own gains. In each episode, there are scenes that seem to imply they are good friends and others where it seems they deeply dislike each other. However, the end of Vice Principals makes it clear that Gamby and Russell are friends. They say as much when they're facing off against the tiger.

Ultimately, it's their final scene in the mall cafeteria that really solidifies their friendship. Sitting apart from each other, Gamby and Russell first acknowledge each other politely before making mocking faces and hand movements to make the other laugh. Behaving much like children in one of the classes at North Jackson High, Russell and Gamby have the secret jokes and wordless communication that only good friends can have. Neither one says anything to the other, but it's perfectly clear that even though they may not spend time together as they did at school, their experiences together have formed a bond between the two.

The Real Meaning Of Vice Principals' Ending

Beyond being a vehicle for Danny McBride and Walton Goggins to deliver incredibly memorable performances and laughs, Vice Principals is a thrilling and often sad look at how people can let their fixations ruin the relationships around them. Both Russell and Gamby want the principal job at North Jackson, a job that is not even particularly prestigious, and both hurt their families, friends, lovers, and especially each other in pursuit of this ephemeral goal. Neither has ever learned how to trust others and even when they first agree to work together, it's with the explicit knowledge that they will eventually turn on one another.

The Vice Principals ending shows that both Russell and Gamby could have been happy had they from the start given up the ridiculous chase to be principal. They found friendship in each other, and had they admitted that earlier, both may have discovered that the sadness they were trying to escape with the principal job could actually be extinguished by their bond. Both appear to be happy in their new roles in the final scene, indicating principal of North Jackson was never the key to their happiness. It is the friendship and acceptance of their need for one another that finally fulfills Gamby and Russell.

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