Is Kendall Roy dead? The penultimate episode of Succession season three had a buffet of low moments—including an ill-fated dick pic—but it’s the final shot that has fans wondering if Waystar Royco’s sad boy supreme has finally kicked the bucket.
WARNING: Spoilers for Succession Season 3 Episode 8 ahead.
The episode ended with Kendall (Jeremy Strong) at his lowest point yet. Fresh off a humiliating dinner with his dad, Logan Roy, we see Kendall drowning his sorrows in the pool of his luscious Italian villa. He’s drunk, he’s sad, and after his kids go inside, very much alone. In the final shot, looking up at Kendall on his inflatable lilo from the bottom of the pool, it almost looks as though his head is underwater. You can even see a few bubbles from his nose as he exhales.
Drowning while drunk? It would be a poetic way for him to go.
Think about how we got here. Kendall, who desperately tried to both be his father and metaphorically kill his father, now knows he failed at both. Worse still, he knows it’s not because he’s a ‘better’ person; he’s just the failson who was handed everything in life and never quite delivered. He accidentally killed a guy through sheer entitlement and negligence. In this week’s episode, titled ‘Chiantishire’, he admits defeat to Logan and tries to cash out of the company. “I won’t even speak at your memorial,” he promises. Logan—whether through sheer vindictiveness or some latent patriarchal need to keep his children on a leash—refuses.
And if all that hasn’t convinced you of his deteriorating mental state, then Kendall’s crisis buzzcut will.
Fans have even spotted a few subtle clues that point to Kendall dying. A sign reading “Notorious Ken: Ready to Die” was visible during his tragic 40th birthday party, which might hint at more than Kendall’s cringe attempts to appear cool. The callbacks to the season one drowning death of a caterer have built a tension that will, at some point, need to pop. And doesn’t this viral New Yorker profile of Jeremy Strong feel like the actor’s swan song to his most famous character?
Finally, the teaser for the season three finale, released after episode eight, has Kendall noticeably absent. Sure, no one seems to be crying hysterically over his death—not even Roman (Kieran Culkin) or Shiv (Sarah Snook)—but that’s not really the Roy family’s style.
On the other hand, the season three trailer gave us glimpses of Caroline’s wedding. Surely if her son was dead, the whole thing might be called off? And in even more good news, Succession has been renewed for a fourth season, and it’s hard to imagine the series without Kendall bumbling his way through.
Either way, we’ll find out next week for sure. In the meantime, you can stream Succession on BINGE.
Lead Photo: HBO
