Power Moves

After six years playing the heir unapparent on HBO's Succession, Kieran Culkin is ready to say goodbye to everything but the suits.

- By Eric Sullivan

"There cannot be a better job on the planet for an actor," Kieran Culkin says. It's late February, and he's nestled in a banquette at a cocktail bar in Brooklyn. He's referring, of course, to his role on Succession, HBO's sleeper-hit-turned-awards-juggernaut black dramedy about the excessively rich and comically power-thirsty Roy family, owners of a fictional global media behemoth. For six years, Culkin has played Roman, the second youngest of the four Roy children-impish and obscene and endlessly watchable, and perhaps, perhaps, the sibling most likely to inherit the keys to the kingdom-to great acclaim. He's received two Emmy and three Golden Globe nominations; last year, he won a Critics Choice Award. But the best job on the planet is coming to an end. Succession creator Jesse Armstrong recently revealed that its fourth season, airing now, will also be its last.

Culkin, who is forty and grew up in Manhattan, sidled into the bar after putting his kids to bed and promptly ordered a martini. He is just as quickwitted as you'd imagine; it's easy to see the Kieran in Roman. But tonight, he's in a pensive mood. In thirty-six hours, he'll board a plane destined for a publicly undisclosed location to shoot the very last scenes of Succession. His hair is freshly cut and slightly slicked; his build, svelte; his outfit, business casual. He looks down at himself, assessing. "This is not how I normally dress," he says. Culkin's own wardrobe resembles a selection from the graphic-tee rack at your local vintage store-he's more likely to don a "Macho Man" Randy Savage shirt than a Tom Ford. Jazz Charton, his wife of ten years, describes his personal style like so: "You dress like you're in between ages, or worlds."