Succession Actor Admits They Filmed a More Tragic Ending for Their Character in Series Finale

Dating back to the series premiere of Succession, few characters have endured as much emotional duress as Jeremy Strong’s Kendall Roy, some of which was the product of his own making and some of which was the result of those closest to him betraying and manipulating him. The series finale finally brought a resolution of Kendall’s quest to an end in a fulfilling way, but despite that conclusion, Strong himself noted that he filmed one scene of his character’s sendoff in which his future would have been sealed a bit more definitively, but admits that the version creator Jesse Armstrong used was “better.”

WARNING: Spoilers below for the series finale of Succession

The final episode of the series saw Kendall earning the endorsement of siblings Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) to become the CEO of Waystar-Royco, only for Shiv to have a change of heart and vote against Kendall. This caused Kendall to lash out against his siblings, cementing their change of heart against him, and his final scene shows him walking alone and sitting on a bench to look out over a body of water. Strong noted on the Succession Podcast that, in one take, he climbed over a barrier, implying he was willing to end his life.

“I sat on the bench, and it always to me felt like there was nowhere — there’s no coming back from this,” Strong recalled. “And I looked at these waves and it was so windy that day and so cold and there was some piece of metal clanging and it was this terrible sound, and I sort of couldn’t bear it. And I stood up and walked slowly to the barrier that was set up there and climbed over it and I didn’t really know what I planned to do, and the actor playing Colin [Scott Nicholson] saw me and ran and stopped me from doing it.”

In retrospect, Strong deferred to the decisions made by the series creator.

“I mean, I’m sure Jesse’s choice is better,” the actor confessed. “I think you see the intentionality in the character.”

More than just the overall trauma of the corporate greed and backstabbings Kendall faced throughout these four seasons, he also was involved in the death of a waiter in the Season 1 finale, with his involvement entirely covered up thanks to his father Logan, and Kendall also struggled with substance abuse for a majority of the series. In Season 2, one episode saw that jump-prevention glass was installed on top of the Waystar-Royco offices, a place Kendall often visited, while Season 3 had an episode in which Kendall fell asleep in a pool, resulting in both audiences and characters thinking Kendall tried to kill himself. 

Given these instances, with Kendall permanently being severed from his father’s company, it’s easy to see how the character would consider self-harm in the series finale.

The Succession series finale is now streaming on Max.

What do you think of this alternate ending? Let us know in the comments!