Kieran Culkin took home the Emmy Award for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series on Monday, January 15, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
Before taking the stage to accept his trophy, Culkin, 41, “wasted all my time hugging everybody” in the Succession cast. (He also found time to kiss Brian Cox on the mouth.)
“I love you all so much, especially everyone in the cast … every single one,” Culkin said. “I’m not going to have any time. I don’t want to get yelled at. Got to thank Jesse Armstrong for being a brilliant writer, showrunner and gentleman.”
The actor went on to his “personal” thank yous, which included his mom, manager and his wife, Jazz Charton.
“Thank you for sharing your life with me and giving me two amazing kids,” he continued. “And Jazz, I want more. You said maybe if I win. I love you so much. Thank you.”
Culkin was nominated alongside Jeff Bridges for The Old Man, Cox for Succession, Bob Odenkirk for Better Call Saul, Pedro Pascal for The Last of Us and Jeremy Strong for Succession.
Overall, Succession received 27 nominations while The Last of Us received 24 total nominations — across both the Primetime and Creative Arts Emmys.
Culkin, 41, recently won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama Series for his role of Roman Roy in Succession on January 7.
“I was nominated for a Golden Globe 20 years ago, and when that moment passed I sort of remember thinking I’m never going to be back in this room again,” he shared in his acceptance speech. “Which, was fine. Whatever. But thanks to Succession, I’ve been in here a couple of times, which is nice. But I sort of accepted I’m never going to be on stage so this is a nice moment, thank you!”
Culkin then jokingly called out to Pascal, 48.
“Suck it, Pedro. Mine!” he quipped before the camera cut to fellow nominee Pascal, who laughed.
“Really quickly, I’d just like to thank everybody in Succession. Jesse, our writers, the amazing cast,” Culkin continued. “Everybody that showed up and believed in this thing and that it was very cool. This isn’t mine, this is one for the team.”
Culkin began appearing as the immature and arrogant COO Roman on Succession in June 2018. He continued his role throughout the show’s four seasons, making his final appearance in the last episode of the series, which premiered in May 2023.
Fellow Succession star Strong, 45, previously won the Emmy Award in 2020 for his role as Kendall Roy in the HBO drama.
“I feel pretty gobsmacked that this happened. I didn’t expect this to happen,” Strong explained to reporters following the ceremony, per Entertainment Weekly. “I’ve been acting since I was a little kid and it’s been a long road for me. I discovered tonight, happily, that rather than a sort of giddy feeling of exhilaration I actually feel a sense of groundedness and serenity right now…. It’s kind of beyond my wildest imaginings when we started working on this, so it feels incredibly meaningful to have made something that has penetrated the culture in the way that it has and it has meant something to people. That’s all you can hope for as an actor.”
Strong was nominated again in 2022, but Lee Jung-jae took home the Emmy that year for Squid Game.
Cox — who plays Logan Roy on Succession — has also previously won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie in 2001 for his role in Nuremberg. He was previously nominated for Succession in 2020 and 2022.
Aside from the Succession stars, Odenkirk, 61, has also received 13 Emmy nominations for Better Call Saul and has also received two Emmy Awards for Saturday Night Live in 1993 and 1989, respectively.
Pascal and Bridges have been nominated for Emmys in the past as well, with Bridges receiving one prior nomination for A Dog Year and Pascal receiving two for Patagonia: Life on the Edge of the World and SNL.
