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| “ | If dad didn't need me right now, I don't exactly know... what I would be for. | „ |
| ~ Kendall Roy. |
| “ | It doesn't matter what you offer; he'll never recommend this to the board. You're gonna bleed cash. He's gonna bleed cash. It will never end. And maybe, you'll kill him, but if you don't, he aims to kill you. He will go bankrupt or go to jail before he lets you beat him. He will kill you on the business and if that doesn't work, he will send people around. He will send men to kill your pets and f-ck your wives, and it will never be over, so that's the message. | „ |
| ~ Kendall Roy. |
Kendall Logan Roy, also as Ken, is the main protagonist of the HBO series Succession.
He is the second eldest son of Logan Roy, younger brother of Connor Roy, older brother and Shiv and Roman Roy, and the eldest child of Logan's marriage to Caroline Collingwood. He is the former Co-Chief Executive Officer at Waystar Royco, who vies to take over his father's place as CEO of the company, with much of the series centering on his conflict to overthrow Logan and prove his worth as a CEO.
While Kendall is the main character of the show and by far one of the most sympathetic characters in the series, due to his troubled past and abusive upbringing by his father, he is a selfish, narcissistic, self-absorbed man who spends the show committing morally dubious acts in his quest to take over Waystar, creating a large distance between himself and his family.
He is portrayed by Jeremy Strong.
Biography[]
Background[]
Kendall Logan Roy was born in England in 1980 to the media mogul Logan Roy and English aristocrat Lady Caroline Collingwood. The first son of the marriage, he has two younger siblings Roman and Siobhan "Shiv" Roy, and an older half-brother, Connor, from Logan's first marriage. As his parents divorced, he moved to New York City with his father and siblings. At the age of seven, while at a candy kitchen in Long Island, Logan promised Kendall he would take the reins of the company after his retirement. Kendall attended the all-male Buckley School, where he met best friend Stewy Hosseini. They subsequently went to Harvard University, where Kendall was part of the The Harvard Lampoon staff. During that time they would often attend parties and do cocaine together. After graduating, he spent time in Shanghai learning the fundamentals of the family business; there, he spent time with Nate Soffrelli, who would later become involved with Shiv. With his wife, Rava, Kendall has an adopted daughter, Sophie, and a son Iverson. His substance abuse issues lead to the breakdown of his marriage and a months-long stint in rehab.
Personality[]
Kendall attempts to portray the image of a calm, confident, and assertive man, similar to his father, Logan Roy. Indeed, Kendall has been portrayed as being a smug, self-absorbed, narcissistic man who acts like a teenager despite being in his 40s; this is evident in his terrible use of out-of-touch lingo, his frequent listening to rap music, his obsession with flaunting his wealth, and his use of many hardcore drugs. Despite loving his siblings, he looks down upon them, even if unintentionally, as well as having a low opinion of his father’s wife, Marcia. He’s also so obsessed with prioritizing his position at his father’s company that he neglects his own children.
However, Kendall’s mask of confidence slips very easily, revealing who he really is: a distressed, anxiety-ridden, nervous, attention-seeking, and very insecure person traumatized by his childhood with Logan, who actively seeks to take over Waystar as a means to validate himself. Despite generally being selfish and self centered, he has proven to be more caring about his family, his ex-wife, his children and people in general than Logan has, although this generally doesn’t stop him from berating and dismissing them when his own goals are at play.
His relationship with his father is by far the most complex in the series. On the surface, the two of them have something of a rivalry going on, with Logan trying to keep Kendall under his thumb and Kendall trying to resist his father and take over Waystar. As the show progresses, it shows that Kendall's feelings for his father are very complicated. He does hold love towards Logan, but simultaneously despises him for his hand in abusing him in his youth. He crumbles to his father's rule when he's at his weakest, but still tries to become better than him when he regains his will. On his father's part, Logan does seem to love Kendall, but refuses to take responsibility for his hand in shaping him into the man he is today. At the same time, Kendall's rivalry with his father pushes him to become more ruthless, stemming from Logan telling him he doesn't have the "killer instinct" needed to run Waystar. At his father's death, Kendall admits that he can't forgive his father for his actions, but still tries to emulate his father's ruthless nature in order to prove his worth as a successor.
At his core, Kendall is not an evil person, showing multiple moments of humanity and vulnerability. This is most notable in his accidental murder of the waiter, which causes him to realize his flaws and that he's not a good person. In spite of this, his manchild demeanor is arguably his biggest flaw: Even when he's finally proving himself to become Logan's successor, he slips into a narcissistic rage when his sister, Shiv, starts to turn against him by justifiably reasoning that none of them deserve to take over Logan's company, especially since Kendall's ambitions resulted in him casually dismissing the death of the waiter. By the ending of the series, his actions have possibly fully destroyed his relationship with his siblings and he loses his influence in Waystar, ending the series alone and contemplating his future. According to the creator, Jesse Armstrong, Kendall's alienation from Waystar does result in him finally growing as a person, starting and succeeding in making his own company; despite this, it never reaches the level of influence Waystar has and Kendall will always regret losing the company.
Quotes[]
| “ | The truth is that my father is a malignant presence, a bully, a liar, and he was fully personally aware of these events for many years and made efforts to hide and cover up. My father keeps a watchful eye over every inch of his whole empire. But I think this is the day his reign ends. | „ |
| ~ Kendall Roy. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Jeremy Strong received widespread acclaim for his performance as Kendall, winning an Emmy in 2020 for his role.
- Since the show's release, Kendall has been highly acclaimed as one of the greatest TV characters in recent years and of all time, with many fans ranking him with Don Draper from Mad Men, Walter White from Breaking Bad and Tommy Shelby from Peaky Blinders.
- Kendall has been compared to Michael Corleone, the protagonist of The Godfather series.
External Links[]
- Kendall Roy on the Succession Wiki
- Kendall Roy on Wikipedia
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| Succession Villains | ||
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Greg Hirsch | Jeryd Mencken | Kendall Roy | Logan Roy | Lukas Matsson | Roman Roy | Siobhan Roy | Tom Wambsgans | ||