Succession's Kieran Culkin Refused To Rehearse Roman's Funeral Breakdown

Spoilers follow.

In "Succession" season 4, episode 9, "Church and State," any wild theories that patriarch billionaire Logan Roy faked his death as some kind of morbid corporate strategy can finally be put to rest. Logan's funeral brought a procession of powerful elites and influential politicians together for a star-studded event that made the coronation of King Charles look downright pedestrian. Bereaved siblings Connor (Alan Ruck), Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook), and Roman (Kieran Culkin) were also in attendance, and all of them somehow managed to avoid spontaneously combusting into flames the second they stepped inside the Upper East Side church to pay their respects and hurl a few insults. 

In Sunday's penultimate episode, Roman has backslid into his previous state of obnoxious behavior as if he's completely forgotten the fact that he was actually trying to be a human being earlier on in the season. The Roman that saunters into the funeral mass in "Church and State" looks and acts like the Roman we met in the very first episode of "Succession" who tears up a million-dollar check right in the face of a young boy after he fails to hit a home run at the families softball outing. 

In the opening scene, Roman confidently rehearses his funeral eulogy telling Kendall that he's actually excited to get up on the pulpit and deliver a rousing speech, which makes it all the more shocking when he breaks down sobbing in front of everyone. In that instant, Roman melts in a moment of profound grief that's immediately looked at as a moment of weakness (this is "Succession," after all). 

It's another striking example of just how perfect actor Kieran Culkin is in the role of Roman Roy. Culkin understood what an important scene Roman's breakdown was going to be, but instead of over-preparing, he decided to take a risk and not even rehearse the scene in question. The actor is currently filming a movie in Poland with Jesse Eisenberg, where he spoke with Vanity Fair about the scary decision to go into the scene blind and force himself to give way to the raw emotion that was needed. Culkin reflected:

"We didn't rehearse it and I really did not want to rehearse it — even on the couch the night before. I just kind of looked at the lines vaguely and went, 'I don't want to look at this. I don't want to plan or think about how this is gonna happen.' Which was also terrifying, because I don't know that I can do that stuff."

Up to this point in the lives of the Roys on HBO's flagship show, there haven't been many instances of true vulnerability where the veiled veneer of the world's worst rich kids is stripped away entirely. Season 3's finale saw Kendall bare his soul privately to Shiv and Roman in a moment of sheer agony during their mother's wedding. When Roman breaks down in front of absolutely everyone, it's a complete loss of control at the absolute worst time. What should be a fairly typical reaction for a son at his father's funeral immediately makes Roman unfit for a shot at the title of CEO of Waystar.  

Creator and writer Jesse Armstrong offered some words of wisdom to make sure Culkin was in the right head space for the scene, telling him, "You shoot yourself in the foot for being a human being." Right when Roman is trying to revert back to a position of power and indifference after "pre-grieving," he completely and utterly falls apart right when he's trying to gather himself up. He's never going to be a killer and everyone knows it. To make matters worse, an end-of-episode reveal shows that someone recorded Roman's breakdown and it's already been leaked to the world outside. 

Although Roman is genuinely overwhelmed, Culkin knows the character well enough to understand exactly why he fell apart. "This is the first time, I think, in his life where he felt like he had absolutely no control or say in the situation," he told Vanity Fair. That lends itself to Culkin's decision not to rehearse the scene: he didn't want to be in control either. 

There's another deep-seated reason Roman collapses into a puddle, and it has to do with one estranged family member in particular: Ewan Roy. Logan's righteous, indignant brother crashes the funeral just before Roman is about to speak, shocking the congregation with a harrowing true story of their experiences together as children during World War II. Ewan's speech is filled with agonizing honesty, which flusters Roman just as he's preparing to tell the triumphant version of his father's WWII story that he's seen rehearsing at the beginning of the episode. 

If Ewan hadn't delivered that speech, it's highly unlikely that Roman would have completely crumbled under the pressure. In minutes, Ewan damages Logan's image with harsh, damning words saying that he "fed that dark flame in men, the hard mean hard-relenting flame that keeps their heart warm while another grows cold." How exactly do you follow that?