What Did Roman Mean About ‘Bloodline’ In Succession? Ken’s Kids ‘Weren’t Real’
Warning: This article contains spoilers for the series finale of Succession. Even though we knew the end was coming, no amount of “pre-grieving” could have prepared us for the Succession finale. But despite Kendall’s certainty that his late father Logan was going to entrust the family’s media empire to him, what Roman meant about “bloodline” could’ve thrown all of that into question.
For those who aren’t familiar with the series, Succession, which premiered in June 2018, follows the moneyed Roy family, who own the (fictional) global entertainment and media conglomerate known as Waystar RoyCo. When Succession begins, the future of their company is up in the air after family patriarch and aging founder, Logan, experiences some health issues that leave shareholders questioning his fitness to lead. His four adult children waste no time when it comes to sharing their opinions on who should helm the company in their father’s place. In the end, though, an outlier triumphs and part of the reason Logan was so unconvinced Kendall didn’t deserve to be his successor could have been what Roman alludes to in the series finale.
What did Roman mean about bloodline in Succession?
What Roman meant about “bloodline” is suggesting, not-so-subtly, that Kendall’s children weren’t biologically his, and therefore that he wasn’t worthy of carrying on the Roy’s family legacy.
There’s a fair bit of buildup to this, though. After election night when ATN, WayStar’s news division, prematurely announces that the Republican candidate, Jeryd Mencken, has won the presidency, Roman walks out onto the streets where people are protesting. He gets into a physical altercation that leaves him with stitches on his face, all the while the deal to sell WayStar to GoJo—a company helmed by CEO Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård)—looms over the sibling’s heads.
In a last bid for solidarity, Shiv and Kendall make a trip to their mother’s home in Barbados where Roman is hiding out. When Shiv finds out that her estranged husband, Tom, has been meeting with Matsson to make his own case for the company’s CEO and push the Roys out, the three siblings seemingly make a pact and elect Kendall “king” and we see him smiling in a rare moment of happiness and vulnerability. “It feels like the thing that his father promised him in the Candy Kitchen in Bridgehampton when he was seven years old, which is both a promise and a kind of death sentence,” actor Jeremy Strong told Vanity Fair in an interview reflecting on the finale. “But his whole life has been spent in pursuit of this elusive thing that they give to him, only 15 pages later to take it away. It’s a beautiful moment that I find completely devastating, knowing where it’s going.”
Then, when the WayStar board is 6-6. When Shiv holds the deciding vote on whether the company should accept the GoJo deal, she stalls. Despite initially promising Kendall the CEO position, and to block GoJo’s acquisition, Shiv tells him she can’t do it. “Why?” he pleads in desperation. She tells him: “I love you, but I can’t f—king stomach you.”
“I’m the eldest boy!” Kendall explodes, which, by the way, is a very obvious omission of Connor, the forgotten Roy and actual eldest child. “And, you know, it mattered to him. He wanted this to go on,” Kendall says, making reference to his father’s wish that the business would stay within the family. “She’s the bloodline, though,” Roman chimes in. “If you’re going to play that card, dad’s view was that yours weren’t real … not real real. They are a pair of randos. … One is a buy-in, the other is half Rava and half some filing cabinet guy, right?”
Indeed, Kendall’s daughter Sophie was always known to be adopted but fans also now speculate that Iverson, Ken’s second, was conceived via a sperm donor. It hit a nerve with Ken and it also brings special significance to a line Logan uttered in the infamous “Boars on the Floor” episode in season two. “Here’s a strategy, Tom: Why don’t you pipe down till you come and tell me I’ve got a grandson coming, or are you shooting blanks?” The camera is focused on Shiv’s husband but you can see Kendall cowering somewhat in the background. Ouch.
Why did Succession end?
Succession ended because, well, creator Jesse Armstrong decided that “if it is to be said, so it be — so it is,” to borrow a line from Cousin Greg. He confirmed to The New Yorker that season four would with the show’s finale and that it’s really all there in the title: “There’s a promise in the title of Succession. I’ve never thought this could go on forever. The end has always been kind of present in my mind. From season two, I’ve been trying to think: Is it the next one, or the one after that, or is it the one after that?”
He continued: “I got together with a few of my fellow writers before we started the writing of season four, in about November, December 2021, and I sort of said, ‘Look, I think this maybe should be it. But what do you think?’ And we played out various scenarios: We could do a couple of short seasons or two more seasons. Or we could go on for ages and turn the show into something rather different, and be a more rangy, freewheeling kind of fun show, where there would be good weeks and bad weeks. Or we could do something a bit more muscular and complete and go out sort of strong. And that was definitely always my preference.”
