Succession Star Keeps a 500-Page Document About Their Character’s Backstory

The final season of Succession is now upon us, and it has already been taking its eclectic ensemble of characters in some unexpected places. As the Roy family’s alliances begin to be drawn, some of Succession‘s supporting cast have begun to have an increased role. Among them is Kerry (Zoe Winters), the assistant of Logan Roy (Brian Cox) who has factored into the final season thus far. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Winters revealed that she has kept a massive bible of Kerry’s backstory behind-the-scenes, even before her character started having a more prominent role on the show.

“We definitely had discussions, and I spoke with [director and executive producer] Mark Mylod a lot as well about who she is,” Winters revealed. “I’m a bit of a workaholic, so I have a 500-page Word doc on Kerry. Last year, it was 400. I was speaking with a castmate, and I told them about it, and they said, “… but you don’t have any lines?””

“It was all in jest and fun,” Winters continued with a laugh. “But I do a ton of backstory. I’m a person of the theater, and I believe in developing a really rich history so that when you show up, you can come with your full story. When we were shooting the phone call scene in episode one, and Kerry is trying to get the kids to call their dad for his birthday, Mark Mylod pulled me aside and said, “Let’s talk about Kerry.” We spoke for a half an hour about the fact that she was a double-major in political science and journalism, and about her family, and blah, blah, blah … then we shot the scene with the phone call, and it’s like four lines or something, and I asked Mark, “Did you feel all of that [backstory] in there?” So, I’ve developed a rich history for her. They have given me so much room to flex and play. They’ve given me such an incredible arc. I’ve had many conversations around her journey and her relationships with people. But I’ve also done a lot of creating with who she is and what’s her spine. My big thing was, I wanted her to be something of a bad assistant.”

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.

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