‘I can fix him’: an analysis of Succession’s Kendall Roy

‘You’re my number one boy.’ – Logan Roy

The opening scene of Succession seems to tell us everything we need to know about Waystar Royco CEO Logan Roy’s (Brian Cox) troubled son Kendall (Jeremy Strong). Chanting along in the backseat of his private car to The Beastie Boys’ “An Open Letter to NYC” and relentlessly punching the seat in front of him in time with the beat, he seems to be just another spoiled rich kid. And, for the most part, that is an accurate way to describe Kendall and the other Roy siblings.

However, Kendall’s character goes far beyond any entitled and arrogant stereotype previously depicted in television, making him one of the most intriguing and complex characters of modern media. Many viewers on social media use the increasingly popular phrase ‘I can fix him’ to describe their feelings towards Kendall, indicating that he is perceived as flawed, but not completely lost. So then, what truly makes Kendall Roy a standout character, not just among the Succession ensemble, but within television as a whole?

Whilst he seemingly embodies quintessentially ‘masculine’ ideals of power and control, his true character is a multifaceted conflict of vulnerability, insecurity, and guilt

Kendall’s surface level character appears to be defined by a relentless drive for power, intense micromanagement, and a desire for control, all of which stem from a perpetual craving for approval from his father. However, as its name suggests, the drive for power is the cornerstone of Succession’s entire story, and dominates the narrative of every character, not just Kendall, so how can he truly be a standout from this perspective?

A valid fragment of Kendall’s personality that one may point towards is that as the audience spends more time with him, we realise that whilst he seemingly embodies quintessentially ‘masculine’ ideals of power and control, his true character is a multifaceted conflict of vulnerability, insecurity, and guilt. Kendall is not your stereotypical ‘macho man’ or rich kid CEO-wannabe, and his cloaked, complex, and emotional personality adds a level of intrigue and depth to his character. Although Kendall is not the first male TV lead to add a layer of nuance to what it means to be a man. Many shows, including The Sopranos and Breaking Bad, have used their male leads effectively to explore the lives of ‘unorthodox’ men, meaning that just because Kendall shields his true personality, this isn’t a ground-breaking development in television.

What is astoundingly well achieved is how the audience watches the developments in Kendall’s psyche, as the mask is slowly pulled back to reveal his true self. The most significant external factor on Kendall’s life is his relationship with his father, Logan. From the outset, it is clear that Logan accentuates the competitive atmosphere of business and uses this as a parenting method, leading to all four of his children, particularly Kendall, yearning for their father’s approval. In the very first episode, we see Kendall’s desperation to prove his worth by overseeing the complex acquisition of a rival tech firm, and we see his despair as Logan announces that, for the foreseeable future, Kendall will not be given the role of CEO.

His character is unlike any seen before or since, built upon ideas of the purpose and utility of masculinity in both contemporary society and the upper echelons of corporations

The relationship between Logan and Kendall is a captivating portrayal of toxic parenting, with Logan consistently attacking Kendall’s self-esteem, whether that is calling Kendall’s rehab centre “the nut house” and mocking his road to recovery, or by attempting to scapegoat him for the covering up of a business scandal at the end of Season 2. Kendall, so desperate to prove himself to his father, eventually goes so far as to incorrectly claim that he is Logan’s “eldest boy” as a valid reason for him becoming CEO. Of course, Kendall is not actually Logan’s eldest son, as that is his half-brother Connor, but since Connor is the only Roy sibling from a different mother, he is often overlooked in comparison to the other three.

However, Kendall’s parental issues don’t just stem from his father, they also come from his own children, Sophie and Iverson. Kendall is portrayed as an absent father, not as overtly abusive as Logan was, but evidently passing a lot of abandonment issues onto his children. He even admits that he isn’t a good father (ironically, something that Logan never did), and states that ‘maybe the poison drips through’ with regards to the hereditary toxicity within the Roy family. It is revealed that Sophie is actually adopted, and Iverson was conceived using a sperm donor, undermining their legitimacy in Kendall’s eyes. His children’s bloodlines are used by his siblings against him during his bid to become Waystar CEO, and it is clear that Kendall shows very little affection to them by not jumping to their defence as Roman makes this comment.

Ultimately, Succession isn’t a show about the out of touch, unserious super rich, it is a cautionary tale about toxic familial traits, and Kendall, more than any other member of the Roy family, embodies this. He changes dramatically over the four seasons we spend with him. The show expertly interweaves traditional masculine attributes of ambition and assertiveness with vulnerability and emotional fragility into a dichotomic tapestry of character progression. His character is unlike any seen before or since, built upon ideas of the purpose and utility of masculinity in both contemporary society and the upper echelons of corporations.

So, can Kendall truly be ‘fixed’? I think so. This question, however, fails to consider one crucial thing. Does Kendall want to be fixed? That, I’m not so sure about.