Kieran Culkin Explains Why Roman Roy Had a Child in the 'Succession' Pilot That Was Never Seen Again

Kieran Culkin is setting the record straight about why his Succession character Roman Roy is not a married man.

During the HBO hit's 2018 pilot episode, Roman had a wife and child who are never seen again on the series. When asked about the disappearance of Roman's family members, the 40-year-old actor shared, "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 Variety. "I'm wearing my real wedding band in the episode."

Culkin — who shares daughter Kinsey Sioux, 3, and son Wilder Wolf, 2, with wife Jazz Charton — remembered being eager to play a father on screen.

"I was excited about the idea of having a kid, and the [character] was like 7 or 8," he explained. "It was a little disappointing, but I think the idea was that it would just give [more] freedom to play with [my] character."

Culkin added that the decision furthermore allowed producers to explore Roman's 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," he recalled. "But it put something in my brain, and I was like, 'Okay, but I'm married and have kids?'"

He added: "They were toying with the idea that [the wife is] 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."

Since then, fans can't seem to get enough of the untraditional flirty dynamic between Roman and Gerri Kellman (J. Smith-Cameron). However, tensions have continued to rise between the pair on the show's fourth season. He was tasked with firing her as Waystar Royce's general counsel amid his father Logan's (Brian Cox) shocking death.

In October 2021, Culkin opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about the pair's chemistry, explaining that there wasn't initially a flirtation between the characters.

"I remember saying to my wife in season one, 'I really hope something happens sort of sexually or romantically between those two, but I don't know that it ever will,'" he shared. "But we were sure trying."

"I would flirt with J. in the most obnoxious way, just to f--- around ... but it never occurred to me that it would inform anything they wrote," he added.

Succession airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.