In 2019, after the Season 3 finale “All the Bells Say” left Kendall in seemingly dire straits, Armstrong talked to Vulture about the poem, and what it means in terms of Kendall’s fate.
“It has a terrifying sense of that feeling Kendall has at the end of the last season, wondering if something could have happened,” Armstrong said. “In Berryman’s poem’s case, in the end, [a death] hasn’t happened. But it has happened to Kendall. When I was looking at possibilities, that line struck me as pertinent to this episode as well.”
This makes sense; at the end of Season 3, Kendall fully breaks down over the fact that, during the Season 1 finale, his reckless driving under the influence killed a waiter working t his sister Shiv’s (Sarah Snook) wedding. This incident, understandably, changes Kendall’s life forever and fills him with guilt, driving him to take chances with his own life; during Season 3, one shot sees him laying face down on a pool float in Italy, which led to fans wondering if he was seriously contemplating self-harm.
So what’s going on with Kendall in Season 4? In some ways, his fortunes have improved; in other ways, they certainly haven’t. He definitely could triumph by the time the series ends, but knowing “Succession,” there will be some horrible caveat as far as his victory is concerned.
