'Succession' star Jeremy Strong reveals the story behind Kendall Roy's expression in HBO hit's final scene
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The character of Kendall Roy, played by Jeremy Strong, experiences a heartbreaking climax of his tumultuous journey in the suspenseful series finale of 'Succession'. Strong sheds light on Kendall's expression in the climax scene, which poignantly expresses the awful course his life has taken.
Strong who was "gutted" by the ending which was "painful" to watch likens Kendall to the mythological character Icarus and adds that Kendall metaphorically flew as near to the sun as possible. “Kendall goes in a sense Icarus flying as close to the sun as he possibly can. And we’ve seen this character attempt again and again to sort of summit this mountaintop and fall ass-backward down to the bottom of the lowest ravine,” Strong said to host Kara Swisher on the 'Succession' podcast as per Hollywood Reporter.
'He’s lost his father, he’s lost his morality'
“I felt that the journey through this was winding the bow back as far as it could possibly go to reach its final target, which is someone who has finally lost everything. He’s lost his father, he’s lost his morality. He’s lost in a sense his soul. He’s lost his brother and sister, he’s lost his children. He’s lost love, and he’s lost his ambition, which is a defining thing in his life," said Strong.
When filming the fourth and concluding season of the Emmy-winning HBO series, Strong recalled a statement from Armstrong that was included in the stage direction during "Connor's Wedding," just after Kendall and his siblings learn that their father Logan (Brian Cox) has passed away.
“‘Kendall finds himself. He’s looking down towards the Statue of Liberty, at this moment, the sharp tip of the spear of American history and this colossal loss that the worst thing has happened and the world is off its axis, and at the same time, he’s still there. And he doesn’t know if he might be a wraith or a superbeing,'” Strong mentioned the line. He went on saying, “This idea of the wraith and the superbeing was something that I think was at play the rest of the season. Episode 10 starts with Kendall surmounting his superbeing, he’s in the ascendency. And when that finally fails and the full catastrophe is sort of upon him, then at the end he is that wraith walking through Battery Park and I think facing the end.”
'This will never stop being the central event of his life'
When unpacking the ending on HBO’s official 'Succession: Controlling the Narrative' feature after the episode, creator Jesse Armstrong explained, “They don’t end. They will carry on. But it’s sort of where this show loses interest in them because they’ve lost what they wanted, which was to succeed in this prize their father held out.” Armstrong said Roman ends in a “reductive, brutal way” as he drinks at a bar, Shiv ends in a “terrifying, frozen, emotionally barren place” in her non-victory as CEO Tom’s wife, and for Kendall, “This will never stop being the central event of his life, central days of his life, central couple years of his life. Maybe he could go on and start a company or do a thing, but the chances of him achieving the sort of corporate status that his dad achieved are very low, and I think that will mark his whole life.”
