Kieran Culkin doesn't know what Roman's sexuality is, either

(Note: This article contains spoilers for Succession season 4 episode 6, “Kill List.”)

On Succession, a show about horrible people created by talented people, the worse the characters fare, the better the ensemble performs. Sunday night’s episode of the HBO series, one of the tensest for Roman Roy in recent memory, saw Kieran Culkin in top form, skillfully making the case for his recent decision to campaign in the lead drama actor category at this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards.

Roman’s evolution from charmingly depraved media empire heir to co-CEO of Waystar-Royco has been a long and winding road peppered with more than a few swiftly-snapped pictures of his penis. But one thing that Roman has never directly grappled with—at least, beyond a few ill-timed conversations with Gerri (J. Smith Cameron)—is his sexuality. Although in the series pilot, Roman was introduced with a girlfriend who had her own child, those characters didn’t reappear as the series continued forward, a choice Culkin says was a purposeful way to explore Roman’s preferences.

“I was excited about the idea of having a kid, and the kid was like 7 or 8,” Culkin tells Variety’s Clayton Davis. “It was a little disappointing, but I think the idea was that it would just give them more freedom to play with the character.”

He continues: “They had mentioned to me, even before we shot the pilot, about questioning what Roman’s sexuality is — and we don’t know what it is. They were toying with the idea that she’s aware that you have sort of hangups sexually when it comes to monogamy, and might be more fluid, but we don’t know what that is yet.” With only five episodes left in the series—and the plot-line leaning heavily into bleak business over any sort of pleasure—that clock on that “yet” is ticking.

New episodes of Succession premiere Sunday nights on HBO at 9:30 P.M. E.T.