The series finale of HBO’s “Succession” had an unexpected impact in the real world. One of the show’s main characters wears a T-shirt that the show’s viewers quickly realized is sold at Walmart, prompting fans to flock to the store’s site to get one of their own.
In the show’s final season four episode, Roman Roy, played by Kieran Culkin, wears the T-shirt, which has color-blocked stripes on the sleeves. And it turns out that Walmart sells the exact same shirt online for kids for $13.96.
Walmart sold out of this T-shirt after the “Succession” series finale, in which one of the characters wears the item.
Walmart.com
On its website, the retailer lists the Wonder Nation brand children’s shirt for sale as part of a two-pack.
“If it’s good enough for Roman Roy, it’s good enough for me,” said one reviewer.
Kieran Culkin’s character of Roman Roy in the “Succession” series finale.
Sarah Shatz/HBO
WARNING: Spoilers ahead
Culkin’s character is one of the four children of the patriarch of the Waystar family, which owns fictional media company Waystar RoyCo. The show centers on the power struggle within the family as its long-held company edges closer to being sold. Culkin’s Walmart shirt makes its debut when the show reveals his character to be in Barbados after a post-election riot in New York.
Theories have started to circulate about the deeper meaning of the shirt, with GQ saying that it could be symbolic of the character “confronting his childhood and becoming at peace with it.”
“Whoever put roman in that t-shirt that looks made for a little boy in 2008 for most of the final was a genius,” one viewer tweeted.
Fashion has been a major talking point among fans throughout the series’ run, and particularly in its final weeks. Earlier this week, the show’s costume designer Michelle Matland spoke with The New York Times about the depth of the characters’ clothing choices.
“It’s clothing, but also costumes that create veneer for the characters. I’m only one tiny little piece of the storytelling, but the job is to help emphasize characteristics these characters have,” Matland said. “…We help authenticate the actors and that makes them real to an audience.”
For Roman Roy specifically, Matland told the Motion Picture Association earlier this month that his role “is the most casual uniformed guy on the planet.”
“He is just moving through the room,” she said of Culkin’s character. “He has no agenda at all with anyone; he’s simply his own beast.”
And Matland’s choices have worked. The show has been seen as the push for the style of “quiet luxury” – minimalist-style pieces without flashy logos but that come with a high price tag meant to ensure their long-lasting quality.
A series-high 2.9 million people tuned in to watch the last episode of “Succession,” entitled “With Open Eyes,” Warner Bros. Discovery announced on Tuesday. The season four ending marked the final chapter for the Emmy award-winning HBO series, which Warner Bros. said had an average of 8.7 million viewers for every episode.
