‘Succession’ Star Kieran Culkin Reveals His Favorite Moment That Didn’t Make the Final Cut

Succession has many unforgettable moments, especially when the Roy family is all in the same room and going after each other’s throats. In its first three seasons, the fantastic acting and sharp writing have led to the show earning multiple awards and nominations. Kieran Culkin, who portrays Roman Roy, is involved in many great scenes, but his favorite moment from the show didn’t survive the cutting room floor. 

Kieran Culkin is nominated for his role as Roman Roy in ‘Succession’

Succession Season 3 was another wild dive into the Roy family as business continues to take a toll on their personal lives. It ended with a shocking twist that left viewers begging for more. Season three was met with the same amount of praise as the first season, leading to several Primetime Emmy nominations. 

Succession received the most Emmy nominations with 25, 14 being in acting categories. Brain Cox, Jeremy Strong, Nicholas Braun, Kieran Culkin, Matthew MacFayden, Sarah Snook, and J. Smith-Cameron were all nominated for their performances in the series. It is also up for Outstanding Drama Series, which it previously won in 2020. 

Kieran Culkin’s favorite moment got cut from the series

In an interview with AwardsDaily, Kieran Culkin spoke about his favorite moment from Succession. The actor said the moment came while shooting the season 2 finale when the four siblings were in the same room on a boat. Culkin said it “might be the best scene we ever shot.”

“We had this absolutely fantastic scene that we shot,” Culkin shared. “I feel like the stuff that comes alive the most is when you get the four kids, Connor, Kendall, Shiv and Roman in a room and that’s when I feel like we have the best dynamics. We shot a scene for season two on a boat in Croatia, the four of us, and it was the last thing we shot. It was kinda late so we were wiry, it’s late night and on a boat, and we did this thing. It was just so alive and had all this movement, and they kept giving us lines and we would just play with it. It was so great, and there were crew members that kept coming up to us to say that it was an amazing scene and we felt it.”

Unfortunately, this scene did not make the final cut. While Culkin was initially disappointed it didn’t make it into the episode, he understood why it got axed. 

“It was the last episode of season two, and it is right before Ken goes to make the press announcement,” Culkin continued. “I heard the music cue and I was like wait, the music, are they not going to do the scene? And it just cut to the next morning with him walking to the helicopter, and immediately I understood why they had to cut that scene. It was just a momentum thing. Here is this thing where Ken has been asked to fall on the sword, and here he goes to the press conference, it just flowed better and made sense. But if you go to HBO Max and look at the picture, the picture is the four of us sitting at a table, and it is that scene. So they used the image, but they didn’t use the scene.”

Is there a season 4 to ‘Succession’?

Kieran Culkin is currently in the middle of shooting Succession Season 4. While there is no official release date, HBO recently shared a teaser for their upcoming content that confirmed season 4 will be released sometime in 2023.

If you want to catch up on the first three seasons of Succession, the series is currently streaming on HBO Max.