Jeremy Strong wanted Kendall Roy to die at the end of Succession

❘ Published: 2023-05-31T10:57:01

Actor Jeremy Strong wanted Kendall Roy to drown at the end of Succession – indeed he even tried to kill the character while shooting the show’s final scene.

Hit drama Succession has come to an end, meaning we now know who wears Logan’s crown, and sits on the Roy throne.

You can read our review of the final episode here, while we’ve got a detailed breakdown of the finale here.

But Jeremy Strong – who played Kendall Roy in the series – had a very different ending in mind for his character. One that he very nearly enacted. Spoilers ahead…

Jeremy Strong wanted Kendall Roy to die at the end of Succession

Succession ends with the Roy siblings losing control of the family company, with the final shot of a distraught Kendall gazing at a freezing cold New York river. The show then cuts to black.

“To me, what happens at the board vote is an extinction-level event for this character,” Strong tells Vanity Fair. “There’s no coming back from that… Listen to the John Berryman poem that [showrunner] Jesse [Armstrong] has named these finales after. John Berryman himself died by suicide, jumping into the frozen river. I tried to go into the water after we cut – I got up from that bench and went as fast as I could over the barrier and onto the pilings, and the actor playing Colin raced over.”

“I didn’t know I was gonna do that, and he didn’t know, but he raced over and stopped me. I don’t know whether in that moment I felt that Kendall just wanted to die – I think he did – or if he wanted to be saved by essentially a proxy of his father.”

Why river jump became safety issue

Jeremy Strong has become known for his method style of acting, but going off-script to kill Kendall – and potentially himself – is extreme, even for him.

In an interview with Variety, Succession director Mark Mylod says of the incident: “There was a safety element, obviously, with Jeremy going into frigid water. The first thing to do was actually make sure he was safe. Once we got him back over the railing, we were able to safely continue with the moment because both actors were still in it.”

Succession Seasons 1-4 are available to stream on Max and Sky now. Check out more coverage below: