Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers for the series finale of Succession
Kendall left the room. In episode one ofSuccession, Kendall Roy left the room before a deal was closed to go to his father’s birthday party, and his father never forgot — and neither did the narrative —and that’s why he lost.Jeremy Strong’s iconic performance as the boy-who-would-not-be-king was one for the ages and,despite thinking he had it — he never did.
It was ultimatelyMatthew McFadyen’s Tom Wambsgans who outmaneuvered him with a slick power-play — via deference and ‘sigma’ behavior — toAlexander Skarsgård’s Lukas Matsson, the new owner of WaystarRoyco.Tom played the game properly and won,becoming the new CEO of WaystarRoyco and edging out Kendall and Roman in the kind of masterstroke Logan would have approved of. Let’s not forget, Tom skipped Logan’s funeral to work. He’d have hired him on the spot for that.
Strong spoke at great length toVanity Fairin the aftermath of the finale and expanded on the cyclical nature of tragedy built within the show, the agony he felt for Kendall when watching it — and most importantly — why he is finished withSuccession. Strong felt that, even if the show could keep going, Kendall was so defeated — and by association,the famous method actor was too— that returning to the world of corporate sharks smelling blood every minute of the day was just too much to handle.
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Kendall’s Silent Scream, and What Tom and Shiv Means to Him
In discussing where each of the Roys lands in the series finale Strong said, “It’s terrible. The patriarchy has won.” Shiv ends the series resigned to become her mother “and she’s sort of there mummified in this life with” Tom. Strong continued explaining the quiet horror in each sibling’s ending: “Roman, that smile that he gives that martini is quite terrifying. On some level, that’s what he’s really wanted. I don’t think he did want to take over. I think he wants to be at that bar, but I worry that that is a moment of the beginning of alcoholism and a descent.”
For Kendall, the tragedy of his life has come full circle. Strong recalled a similar moment from the first season, explaining how Kendall was never able to escape this fate. He said:
“For Kendall, he’s just already been there so many times. We’ve seen him lose so many times. You know, there is an episode in season one, episode six: I leave a failed coup in the boardroom. And it’s in a way almost identical to what happens here. I walk out of that room in a daze, having lost with the wind knocked out of me. I said, ‘this can’t be that. This has to be different. This is worse.’ Otherwise there’s no progression, and there’s no growth. And I think Jesse’s feeling is: there is no progression. Life is not linear that way. It’s cyclical. And that to me is sort of more tragic than anything.
For Strong, this was always the end of the line for Kendall Roy. “I was done,” he said, and while he “would’ve loved for them to keep going…if Jesse decided there was enough in the tank to keep going with them.” However, he explained that Kendall’s “arc had run its course down in Battery Park at that water. I don’t think I get up from that bench. I wouldn’t have been the actor to get up from that bench and keep going, or go back into the corporate scrum or whatever that would’ve been.”
