How Succession’s Jeremy Strong ‘lost touch with joy’ playing Kendall Roy in hit HBO series

The actor would imagine terrible things happening to him to get into character, and says ‘Kendall’s struggle was difficult to carry’

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Actor Jeremy Strong would imagine terrible things happening to him to get into character as Succession’s Kendall Roy, and says “Kendall’s struggle was difficult to carry”. Photo: HBO

Published: 5:45am, 17 Oct 2024

As if playing Kendall Roy during the award-winning run of Succession did not mess with Jeremy Strong enough, the character is still taking a toll on the actor.

The part “f***** me up,” Strong, 45, recently told British newspaper The Sunday Times, describing how he was overwhelmed by the tortured son he embodied from 2018 to 2023 – on screen and off. Strong’s notorious acting methods also landed him in the cross hairs of his co-star and on-screen patriarch, Brian Cox, and “terrified” the HBO show’s creator, Jesse Armstrong.

Fresh off a silent retreat to reset, the actor said he would imagine terrible things happening to him to mentally prepare to play Kendall. He “sometimes lost touch with joy” while working on the series and only recently “rediscovered play”.

His character, who schemed to succeed his ailing father as chief executive of the fictional Waystar Royco media and entertainment conglomerate, earned Strong his first Emmy television award in 2020, as well as two additional nominations. The series earned 19 Primetime Emmys, six of them earlier this year for its fourth and final season.

Brian Cox (left) and Jeremy Strong in season two of Succession. Cox was critical of Strong’s method acting for the series. Photo: TNS

“That show was an incalculable gift. The material a banquet. So I miss that. But Kendall’s struggle was difficult to carry for seven years. And there’s just so much more I want to do,” said Strong, who has also let go of the idea of a Kendall spin-off.