This post contains spoilers for the Succession series finale, obviously.
Succession ended on a shocker: If you watched the pilot and put a bet on Tom Wambsgans inheriting Waystar Royco, congrats, you’re very rich now. But well before that all went down, there was a scene that went down as an all-timer: The three biological children of the late Logan Roy had a good ol’ hang in their biological mom’s kitchen. They even made a truly disgusting-looking smoothie, which Jeremy Strong’s Kendall drank. The committed actor that he is, Strong claims he really did drink it, for art.
Strong appeared on HBO’s official Succession podcast, where he and host Kara Swisher discussed that beverage, dubbed a “Meal Fit for a King,” and which is comprised of milk, hot sauce, knobbies (bread loaf ends), a little Tabasco, eggs (including shells), pickles, and who knows what else. In the scene, Kendall takes a big gulp of it before his siblings pour it over his head.
“We did it only a few times. I went outside and wretched and jumped in the ocean and got it off my hair,” Strong said of the “Meal Fit for a King” beverage, adding, “Yeah, I did drink it. Yeah.”
When Swisher called him a “real Method actor,” he replied, “I wouldn’t know how not to drink it. He wants it that badly he’s going to drink whatever that is. But it was disgusting.”
Why did Kendall drink that repulsive smoothie? At the time, the three had decided that Kendall should be Waystar Royco’s lone CEO. One of them later changed her mind, but at the time it was a cause for celebrating. The three were staying at their mom’s beachside estate in Barbados, and, starving, they tucked into the shockingly meager offerings in her kitchen, joking around as only siblings can do.
“It was wonderful,” Strong said of shooting a scene that feels lived-in. “Kieran [Culkin] and Sarah [Snook] and I have been through so much together. I love them so much. I respect them so much. Their work this season has just blown me away. But often Kendall is at variance with them or there is so much tension and friction and that’s something I need to take on board myself.”
Strong clearly enjoyed being able to cut loose and not be at loggerheads with his onscreen siblings. What’s more, he revealed that that’s the last thing they shot for the show. Clearly they went out on top, with a gag-inducing smoothie, no less.
You can listen to the Succession podcast here. Talk of the smoothie begins around the 39-minute mark.
