Who did Kendall Roy kill in ‘Succession?’

So close, yet so far. Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) spent the entirety of Succession trying to replace his father as CEO, and he came impressively close in the series finale, but the rug was pulled out from under him in the final moments.

The reason why is somewhat left to interpretation. Kendall’s sister Shiv (Sarah Snook) decided to vote against him, and his brother Roman (Kieran Culkin) followed suit. Whether it was motivated by spite or foresight or some mixture of both, the reason they give for betraying Kendall is damning: he killed someone. It’s been a while since this deadly incident was brought up, so we thought it was time to delve into Kendall’s closet and dust off his most dubious skeleton.

The “someone” in question is Andrew Dodds (Tom Morley), and his death occurred during the season 1 finale. Both Andrew and Kendall are attendees at Shiv’s wedding: the former is a waiter who gets fired for spilling a drink, and the latter is isolated from his family and looking to get high. The two men link up and smoke crack, before getting in a car and driving to a location where Andrew can score cocaine. Kendall agrees to drive (Andrew snorted a line of ketamine beforehand), and the two exchange awkward conversation before a deer crosses the road and causes them to swerve off a bridge and into a body of water.

Kendall is able to get out of the car in time, but Andrew is not so lucky. The former makes several attempts to dive back into the water and save Andrew, but eventually gives up. Instead of calling the police, however, Kendall decides to break into his hotel room, shower, and return to the wedding as though nothing happened. It doesn’t take long for Kendall’s father, Logan (Brian Cox), to discover the truth, and when he does, he uses it to blackmail Kendall into becoming his lackey. “You’re my number one boy,” Logan says, to a son who’s spent the entire season trying to overthrow him.

Does the waiter die in Succession?

So did Kendall actually kill Andrew? It’s a matter of semantics. He caused the accident that killed Andrew, but he never intended for it to happen. To further complicate matters, both men were on drugs, and Andrew was the one who grabbed the wheel and drove them off the bridge despite Kendall being in the driver’s seat (he was looking down when the deer appeared). Of course, semantics carry little weight when someone abandons a crime scene and agrees to have their rich father cover things up to protect them.

Andrew’s death takes an emotional toll on Kendall during the middle seasons of Succession. It reaches a breaking point in the season 3 finale, when the character tells Shiv and Roman about what happened. The siblings are shocked, but they offer their condolences and never discuss it again… until Kendall is about to become the CEO of Waystar Royco in the series finale. It’s an ace up the sleeve that Kendall didn’t see coming, and his house of cards comes crashing down as a result. Game over.

The last scene sees Kendall staring out over the water. He’s devastated at having come so close to his dream and falling short, but as a viewer, it’s hard not to feel like his CEO chances died the moment Andrew did.