Kendall Roy's "I Am the Eldest Boy"

This article contains major spoilers for Succession; read at your own caution.

About

I Am the Eldest Boy is a quote said by the character Kendall Roy in the series finale of Succession as the Roy siblings argue about which of them should be named CEO of Waystar Royco after the death of Logan Roy earlier in the season. The line inspired parodies in which social media users paired the catchphrase with other characters, usually to illustrate how the person is whiny and entitled.

Origin

In the Succession series finale, which aired on May 28th, 2023, Kendall (portrayed by Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) all bicker about which of them should be the next CEO of Waystar Royco after the death of their father, Logan Roy (Brian Cox).^[1]

During the argument (which occurred during a climactic board vote after the trio had just recently agreed to back Kendall for CEO), Kendall believes he is entitled to the role, declaring "I am the eldest boy!" Shiv laughs and corrects him, saying "You're not!" as their brother Connor Roy (Alan Ruck) is actually the oldest of the Roy children, though he has no interest in his father's business (clip repost by @TheTrending7 shown below).

Jokes about the line started while the episode was still airing on the night of May 28th. For example, Twitter user @Richonnescamino^[2] joked that Kendall thought he was in "Westeros" (the Game of Thrones setting), gaining over 1,100 retweets and 14,000 likes in two days (shown below).

Spread

Over the following days, the line became frequently paired with images of other characters, mocking those characters' sense of entitlement. For example, on May 28th, 2023, Twitter user @JMacchitelli23^[3] paired the line with Dennis Reynolds from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, gaining over 320 retweets and 4,000 likes in two days (shown below, left). On May 29th, user @PeggyBrava^[4] paired the quote with Donald Trump Jr., gaining over 250 retweets and 2,800 likes in the same timeframe (shown below, right).

Other viral posts include a tweet by Twitter user @waveturtlejake^[5] on May 28th, who used a Last Resort gag about the line, gaining over 370 retweets and 3,700 likes in two days (shown below, top). On May 29th, user @JoeyBrrrSZN then posted a SpongeBob clip to parody the scene, gaining over 80 retweets and 830 likes in a similar amount of time (shown below, bottom).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References