Kieran Culkin on Why Roman’s Wife and Kid Disappeared From ‘Succession’: ‘They Were Toying With Roman’s Sexuality’

SPOILER ALERT:This interview discusses gargantuan plot developments in Kill List, Season 4, Episode 5 of Succession, now streaming on HBO Max.

Kieran Culkin hasnt yet watched this weeks episode of Succession because hes traveling and doesnt like watching things on his laptop. Having wrapped filming only six weeks ago, and with upcoming episodes still in post-production, Culkin isnt even sure how the gripping story of this family dynasty will end.

The April 23 episode Kill List was written by Jon Brown and Ted Cohen and directed by Emmy winner Andrij Parekh (for Season 2, Episode 3, Hunting, aka the boar on the floor episode), showcased one of Romans most emotionally driven scenes throughout the four seasons of Succession. In its tension-filled 60 minutes, Culkin demonstrated his abilities as a dramatic actor during a heated exchange with streaming media giant CEO Lukas Matsson (played exquisitely by Alexander Skarsgrd). In the scene on the Norwegian mountaintops, Matsson insults Roman and Kendall (Jeremy Strong), the newly minted co-CEOs of Waystar Royco, as they try to Scooby Doo their way out of the GoJo deal the board desperately covets.

After the GoJo honcho tarnishes Roy patriarch Logans (Brian Cox) name, the grief building inside Roman since his fathers very recent death comes to a head: He confronts Matsson, telling him theyll never sell their media empire to him. (By the end of the episode, though, Matsson regains the upper hand for now.)

The day after Kill List aired, Culkin spoke with Variety about filming this weeks episode, what happened to the kid Roman appeared to have in the series premiere of Succession and his plans to submit for lead drama actor for this years Primetime Emmys.

Are you sad Succession is ending?

Its all sorts of feelings, but I havent processed it yet. We just finished shooting six weeks ago, and theres been a lot of press since then, and Jesse Armstrong is still editing. It still feels like were making it. Jesse told us at the seasons start that he thought this was the last one. And then he explained the entire season to me. When he finished, I said, Well, that kind of sounds like the end, and he goes, Well, it could be, but and then he just spat out three ideas that he said were just off the top of his head, and that were all brilliant ideas for a fifth season. He had said something to the effect that Succession has a question that begs an answer. And by the end of the season, he gave them the answer.

It wasnt until we did the table read for the last episode that he told us it was ending. While Jesse was telling us, and some people were crying in the room, he goes, But its been a wonderful experience. And, you know, and I think that this is how it has to end unless maybe there is a way forward. He did it after we were finally absorbing the information. Then he pulls it back and says, Maybe there is a reality where it could be oh, maybe never mind. I dont want to take your goodbyes away from you.

It probably would have been great if we did another, but maybe not. I dont know. All I knew was I could trust Jesse Armstrong to make that call.

HBO Succession S4 Graeme Hunter How did you prepare for that emotional scene with Alexander Skarsgrd on the mountaintop?

People wont know this, but I sat up on the counter before we sat down for this interview, and you said to me, Oh, thats just like in the scene. And I was like, Oh, they used that take.

I didnt plan on it [jumping on the wall]. Maybe some takes werent working. It wasnt about threatening him, or trying to make him feel threatened. It was more that he was unhinged. And I didnt know what I was going to do. Getting him to listen to me was harder, until I could actually get in his face hes gargantuan.

One take they didnt use is there was one where Lukas goes and pees on the rock. He has this little pouch for fake pee, and on one of the last takes, I went up and just unzipped and tried to pee next to him, which wasnt in the script. I couldnt pee, and then I remembered that it had been established that Roman couldnt pee in front of other men. So then I just started peeing next to him, and as I was peeing, I started going into the scene, and he had this little smirk, the full Matsson smirk.

Do you think people think what you do with Roman is easy because hes sarcastic and has a lot of one-line zingers?

Brian Cox would say things like: People dont get it. They think were circus monkeys.

They dont realize the hard work that goes into this thing. Theres internal stuff. People think, Something snarky, and be funny. Roman has a hard time communicating. Thats his way of expressing his discomfort.

At the end of Episode 3, after Shiv leaves and Kendall watches Dad come off the plane, it was initially written that Roman says, I cant go on. Im not getting on that plane. I cant do it. And he asks Kendall, Are you gonna do it? He says he is, and then I get in the car and leave. I bumped into Jesse after that draft came out. I said I felt like I couldnt just leave. For whatever reason, I think in my gut that he needs to see it.

So Jesse let me shoot two versions of it. That was such an important thing, to be able to speak up for my character. It seemed small, but they were willing to do that for me.

As we head into the finale, I have a question about your wife and kid we saw in the pilot episode. Where are they?

Not his kid. Not his wife, either. It was in the pilot, and after it was picked up, it was his girlfriend, and she had a child. Im 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 Romans sexuality is and we dont know what it is. But it put something in my brain, and I was like, OK, but Im married and have kids? They were toying with the idea that shes aware that you have sort of hangups sexually when it comes to monogamy, and might be more fluid, but we dont know what that is yet.

Is it true you auditioned for Cousin Greg?

No, they sent me to read for Greg, and I knew I wasnt Greg. I read the first element and knew thats just not me. Whats fun about that is I thought the writing was good enough 10 pages in and just kept reading, which I dont normally do. Then the character Roman walks in and says, Hey, hey motherfuckers, and then I was like, hes fun, and kept reading.

And then I asked: Im wrong for Greg, so thats a pass, but I dont want to pass. Can I read for Roman? The response I got back was theyre not reading for Roman yet. And I said, Can I do it anyway? My agent at the time was like, yeah, go ahead, play the game. So I picked three scenes, put myself on tape, and sent it in.

This interview has been edited and condensed.