‘Succession’ Star Jeremy Strong Says ‘Kendall Has Logan in His DNA’

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Succession Season 4, Episode 4, “Honeymoon States.”]

Has Succession found its successor? After the latest episode, it would seem so as brothers Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) stepped in to share interim CEO duties in the wake of father Logan Roy’s (Brian Cox) death.

One thing that viewers know well enough about the Roy kids though, is that when it comes to sharing, all bets are off. Sure, the brothers approach the gig as partners and try to placate Shiv (Sarah Snook) who feels slighted by the unfolding dynamics, but it’s Kendall who appears to rise up and grab at the power his dad left behind.

Kendall’s reinvigoration following Logan’s demise has almost everything to do with a found piece of paper from his dad’s safe which includes his name. While the intention behind his name inclusion — which is either underlined or crossed out — is unclear, Kendall sees it as a sign and takes the opportunity to follow in Logan’s aggressive footsteps by the episode’s final moments.

(Credit: David M. Russell/HBO)

That aggressive side is seen when Kendall approaches Hugo (Fisher Stevens) regarding the company’s ushering in of its next phase and ultimate characterization of Logan. While Roman didn’t want to paint his dad in an ill light in order to boost Waystar Royco’s financial standing, Kendall authorizes such strategies in his brief conversation with Hugo who is at his whim after dumbly revealing ties to insider trading done by his daughter amid Logan’s demise.

So, where could this power play leave Kendall with his siblings? “It is very strong,” star Jeremy Strong recognizes of the Roy kids’ bond when Season 4 begins. “Kendall needs them. At the end of Season 3 in that dirt parking lot on the ground… he’s really barely holding it together as a person and I think they’re carrying him. It’s like a fireman’s carry. He needs to lean on them.”

As fans will recall, Season 4 kicked off with Kendall’s commitment to his joint venture in The Hundred with his siblings as well as their apparent acquisition of Pierce. “There’s new energy and it feels like something that they’re doing independently of dad that at the same time is a bit of a ‘f**k you’ to [Logan].”

With that pillar of power knocked down, Kendall’s focus on deviating from Waystar and ATN is clearly faltering as he’s pulled back into the fray. Even Frank (Peter Friedman) wonders aloud if that’s what he really wants and Kendall puts aside any doubts, he’s been waiting for this day since before fans met him in the Season 1 premiere. “Kendall has Logan in his DNA,” Strong shares. “He always has, whether he will become his father remains to be seen. But I’ve always felt that there’s a lot more of Logan in Kendall than even Kendall himself might realize. A volcanic amount of Logan in him.”

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In other words, Strong says of Kendall and his sibling ties, “How long will they fly together in a v formation before they start trying to clip each other’s wings? We’ll see.” Considering Kendall’s struggles since the show’s debut, particularly with addiction, the actor says he’s “historically has used substances to try and fill what he feels is a void in him, and that he needs something to do. He’s a mountain climber, he needs an Eiger to climb.”

Could this new position be that mountain? It’s possible. But when it comes to satisfaction, Strong notes Kendall “won’t be satisfied through acquiring stuff or through externals. I mean, that’s the whole thing, right? That’s the tragedy of it. He might think that that will work, but that doesn’t work. I personally wish Kendall had gotten on a boat to go to Greece with Naomi Pierce at the end of Season 2, and just left it all.”

Strong admits, “[Kendall] still thinks that if he gets the crown it will quell some turmoil in him and bring him some kind of peace and fulfillment. And that’s the tragedy of it. The tragedy of capitalism and the illusion of the promise of capitalism,” he says. Will Kendall’s story end in the tragedy that Strong seems to paint? Find out as the remaining episodes of Succession approach its conclusion.

Succession, Sundays, 9/8c, HBO and HBO Max