Posted by While viewers watch Succession, the famous HBO TV series that reached Season 4 in 2023, many curiosities come up about each of the Roy siblings. Every episode introduces new perspectives, and as spectators, we always feel we understand something more about each character’s psychology. Connor Roy, the eldest sibling, has an interesting personality, and his life and mindset always differed from those siblings. In this article, we will explore his character, how old he is, and how his life will go after the last events explained in the series.
Warning: if you are not up to date with the episodes in Succession, you may find spoilers in this article!
Succession: how old is Connor Roy? His personality, psychology, and future, explained
Connor Roy is the eldest of the Roy siblings in the TV series Succession: his exact age and birthdate have never been shared in the show, but he is believed to be in his mid-50s.
Connor has always been the member of the Roy family less interested in being involved in the internal politics of the business family. His character differs from his siblings, which has always been his persona’s peculiar characteristic. One factual curiosity that helps understand him is the fact that he is a half-sibling of Kendall, Shiv, and Roman: Connor is Logan Roy’s eldest son from his first marriage, his mother is not the same biological mother as Shiv, Ken, and Roman, Caroline Collingwood. We don’t know much about Connor’s real mother from Succession: we are only aware that she was locked away in a psychiatric hospital after Connor was born. She may even be dead during the events shown in Succession.
But this may surely explain Connor’s different mindset compared to his siblings. While Kendall, Shiv, and Roman always tried to find their space and relevance inside the family business, Connor has always been far from that logic. Starting from the very first episode of Succession, Connor always stated that he didn’t want to be much involved in those power games. Indeed, over the last seasons, we see him busy building his presidential campaign, a way to prove he can be “someone” independently from his name.
When it comes to Connor Roy, a sentence became famous from the show: “Connor Roy was interested in politics at a very young age.” A statement he repeats multiple times in this episode, which represents an identity claim for him. In those words, we can see his continuous attempt to prove his difference from the rest of his family. He doesn’t want to be remembered, loved, or esteemed just because he’s a member of the Roy family. He wants to prove he’s someone, independently from that. People have noticed a similarity between this statement and a sentence in Ben Shapiro’s biography on Wikipedia: Succession may be based on real-life people and businessmen in the world, so it wouldn’t be surprising if we find analogies with real successful personalities out there. Even though Connor’s fans could be disappointed in an analogy with Shapiro.
A significant sentence is pronounced by Connor Roy in Season 4 when his siblings agree to veto the deal with Matsson: he accuses Kendall, Shiv, and Roman of being “love sponges,” meaning they all crave to be loved, seen, and recognized by Logan, and their behavior, their feelings, their hate, all that is always driven by their need for love. It’s something Succession’s plot proves immediately after, when Logan calls Roman and, within a few exchanges in a phone call, he manages to bring him (once again) on his side.
Logan Roy has always proven to be perfectly able to manipulate all his children. By using their weaknesses, knowing that they most need their father’s love, he manages to drive their behaviors, allowing some of the love they need when he needs it. It’s cruel behavior, but it always works. Connor, however, has never received this treatment. Probably because he’s less interested in business in general, or he’s already gotten past being a “love sponge.” But that surely explains why he tries so hard to build his life separately from his father and the family business.
This also explains his doubts about the wedding with Willa and his life in general. In Episode 3 of Season 4, during the series “shocker,” one of his first thoughts in his new life was about his wife: is she with him only for money? Does she really love him? This is a big concern for Connor because he doesn’t necessarily identify with his money. Again, he wants to be loved and recognized for what he is, and his wealth doesn’t define him as a person.
What’s in Connor Roy’s future? We don’t know for sure. The whole chapter about the actual succession of the family business needs to be clarified. The elections will define his future as a politician. We will see what kind of person he will be: will he be involved in the family business, or will he just break every connection with the others and go on with his life?
You can follow the evolution of Connor’s life, psychology, and future in Season 4 of Succession, on HBO.
