Do we like them?

Do we like Kendall Roy?

A character from Succession (2018–2023)

Our score: 4 out of 10. We'd feel for him and wouldn't trust him. He is wounded, charming and sometimes sincere, but his need to win and his self-pity keep hurting the people around him.

Kendall is a senior executive at Waystar Royco, the media and entertainment empire built by his domineering father, Logan. Succession follows the Roy siblings as they fight for control of the company while Logan decides whether to hand it over. Kendall begins as the apparent heir, a former addict trying to prove himself and finally earn his father's approval.

He is the most human of the Roys, and critics often call him the show's closest thing to a lead. He is grandiose and insecure at once. He talks like a visionary and a tryhard businessman, but underneath he is anxious, guilty and aching for love. That gap between how he sees himself and how others see him is why he's easy to pity. It's also why he's hard to back.

We score him a 4 because his good instincts keep losing to his worst ones. He is capable of warmth and self-awareness, and he's rarely the cruellest person in the room. But he treats the people who rely on him carelessly, and his need to be crowned always beats his promises to do better.

His story is a cycle of rebellion and surrender. He moves against Logan, gets pulled back into line, and then tries again with bigger and bigger gambles. By the end the throne he has chased for years remains out of reach, and the show treats him as a tragic figure rather than a triumphant one.