Succession Star Explains Why Two Characters Disappeared After Pilot Episode

The fourth and final season of Succession is currently underway, and its surprising plot twists are only gaining more and more attention each week. The hype of the HBO show's last hurrah is making some fans look back at its earlier episodes — including one detail that didn't stick around past the pilot episode. In a recent interview with Variety, Succession star Kiernan Culkin explained why a woman and child who were seen with his character, Roman Roy, were inexplicably cut out of the show after its first episode.

"Not his kid," Culkin explained. "Not his wife, either. It was in the pilot, and after it was picked up, it was his girlfriend, and she had a child. I'm wearing my real wedding band in the episode. I was excited about the idea of having a kid, and the kid was like 7 or 8. It was a little disappointing, but I think the idea was that it would just give them more freedom to play with the character. They had mentioned to me, even before we shot the pilot, about questioning what Roman's sexuality is — and we don't know what it is. But it put something in my brain, and I was like, "OK, but I'm married and have kids?" They were toying with the idea that she's aware that you have sort of hangups sexually when it comes to monogamy, and might be more fluid, but we don't know what that is yet."

What is Succession Season 4 about?

According to a synopsis officially released by HBO, in the 10-episode Season 4 of Succession, the sale of media conglomerate Waystar Royco to tech visionary Lukas Matsson moves ever closer. The prospect of this seismic sale provokes existential angst and familial division among the Roys as they anticipate what their lives will look like once the deal is completed. A power struggle ensues as the family weighs up a future where their cultural and political weight is severely curtailed.

Succession stars Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kiernan Culkin, Alan Ruck, Matthew Macfadyen, Nicholas Braun, J. Smith-Cameron, Peter Friedman, David Rasche, Fisher Stevens, Hiam Abbass, Justine Lupe, Scott Nicholson, Zoë Winters, and Jeannie Berlin. Returning cast members for Season 4 will include Dagmara Domińczyk as Karolina Novotney, Alexander Skarsgård as CEO Lukas Mattson, Arian Moayed as Stewy Hosseini, Juliana Canfield as Kendall's assistant Jess Jordan, Annabelle Dexter-Jones as Naomi Pierce, Hope Davis as Sandi Furness; and Cherry Jones as Nan Pierce.

Why is Succession ending?

In an interview last month, series creator Jesse Armstrong corroborated comments some of the series' stars had hinted that Season 4 could be the final run for the series. Season 4 is just over a month away from debuting on HBO.

"We could have said it as soon as I sort of decided, almost when we were writing it, which I think would be weird and perverse," Armstrong explained. "We could have said it at the end of the season. I quite like that idea, creatively, because then the audience is just able to enjoy everything as it comes, without trying to figure things out, or perceiving things in a certain way once they know it's the final season. But, also, the countervailing thought is that we don't hide the ball very much on the show. I feel a responsibility to the viewership, and I personally wouldn't like the feeling of, "Oh, that's it. guys. That was the end." I wouldn't like that in a show. I think I would like to know it is coming to an end. And, also, there's a bunch of prosaic things, like it might be weird for me and the cast as we do interviews. It's pretty definitively the end, so then it just might be uncomfortable having to sort of dissemble like a politician for ages about it. Hopefully, the show is against bullshit, and I wouldn't like to be bullshitting anyone when I was talking about it."

"It's been a bit tortured, and I felt unexpectedly nervous about talking to you, because it's all theoretical until this point, and I have tried to keep it theoretical for a whole number of reasons," Armstrong said elsewhere in the interview. "Who knows about the psychological reasons, but the creative ones were that it felt really useful to not make the final, final decision for ages. You know, there's a promise in the title of "Succession." I've never thought this could go on forever. The end has always been kind of present in my mind. From Season 2, I've been trying to think: Is it the next one, or the one after that, or is it the one after that?"

The fourth and final season of Succession airs Sundays on HBO.