Kieran Culkin reveals what happened to his missing ‘Succession’ wife and kid
Kieran Culkin’s character on “Succession” had a wife and kid in the pilot episode of the series — who were never seen again.
Culkin, 40, revealed what happened to Roman Roy’s family in a new interview with Variety, sharing, “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,” he told the outlet.
As for the wedding band the actor was wearing in the pilot, it’s his real one from his marriage with wife Jazz Charton.
But Culkin, who has two kids — daughter Kinsey Sioux, 3, and son Wilder Wolf, 1 — was delighted to play a father and was initially let down that it wasn’t going to come to pass.
“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,” he said.
The “freedom” they were looking for with the Roman character was the ability to explore his sexuality.
“They had mentioned to me, even before we shot the pilot, about questioning what Roman’s sexuality is — and we don’t know what it is. But it put something in my brain, and I was like, ‘OK, but I’m married and have kids?’ ” Culkin revealed.
He continued, “They were toying with the idea that she’s aware that you have sort of hangups sexually when it comes to monogamy, and might be more fluid, but we don’t know what that is yet.”
The writers of the hit HBO show clearly didn’t go the married route, as viewers have seen Roman in untraditional sexual dynamics throughout the show, most notably his flirtation and sexual tension with Gerri Kellman (J. Smith-Cameron).
New episodes of the fourth and final season of “Succession” are available every Sunday at 9 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max, with the series finale airing on May 14.
Seasons 1 through 3 are currently available to stream on HBO Max.
