Kieran Culkin had one of the best speeches of the 2024 Golden Globes, including a good-natured dig at category competitor Pedro Pascal.
Even the Succession actor knew Pascal was the biggest hurdle standing between him and the sparkly stage of the Beverly Hilton Hotel, so when his name was finally called out he couldn’t help but let out a triumphant “suck it, Pedro, sorry,” to which The Last of Us star reacted with a faux pout. Keep in mind, Culkin’s Succession castmates Jeremy Strong and Brian Cox were also in the running.
Did Pedro Pascal deserve to win the Golden Globe instead of Kieran Culkin?
Pedro Pascal was arguably the biggest TV star of 2023, deservedly taking the world by storm following steady career growth. His performance in The Last of Us was a big part of that, but ultimately neither the show nor the actor had anything on the exquisiteness of Succession‘s farewell season.
Hailed as one of the greatest television shows ever made and watched and loved obsessively by its fans, Succession wouldn’t be what it was if it weren’t for its sublime cast. Like his character Roman, Kieran Culkin slowly gained more relevance across the show’s four seasons, culminating in a final run that’s been hard to shake off. It’s a win that’s been a long time coming and celebrates an understated performance that had often been overshadowed by other, more dominant displays.
Roman is not an easy character to play, either. He’s incredibly repressed, usually resorting to irony and humor to mask any semblance of genuine emotion. An act that could have turned out monotonous in the hands of a less skilled actor, but which Kieran Culkin elevated and deconstructed, producing both the biggest laughs and the biggest cries of the show.
Roman was impossible to read in the first season of Succession, but as his armor became chipped and eventually completely destroyed, Culkin kept a tight grasp on the essence and nuance of his character. A performance and a win that’s been brewing for five years. Pedro Pascal’s The Last of Us legacy, in contrast, is only in its infancy. His time will, undoubtedly, come.
Awards don’t usually go to the Culkins of the world. Awkward dudes with a tendency to ramble and recoil, who have to share the spotlight with at least two other acting giants. While Pedro Pascal’s rugged charm is perhaps a bit more fitting, it feels somewhat vindicating for the subsection of TV fans who have been Team Roman from the start that this has been this award season’s outcome. And he better nab that Emmy next week too.