The world of Succession runs thanks to an army of underlings barely ever seen. Once you move outside the Waystar Royco C-suite, and with the exception of Logan’s fixer (and maybe-best friend) Colin, the people who make the Roys’ lives easier — assistants, chefs, personal shoppers — are mostly unnamed, in particular those who work for Shiv and Roman. That sets the siblings apart from Kendall, who, despite his many flaws, has always looked out for the people closest to him. He spends hours with his employees, he asks for their inclusion, he knows their names. So while the last line of this week’s roller-coaster episode, “America Decides,†might have initially confused us with its familiar, offhand mention of Kendall’s driver, Fikret, that’s just Kendall being a man of the people. Connor wishes!
Does Kendall invest himself in his support staff to make himself feel better about all the other crappy things he does, like not spending enough time with his children and helping a neofascist become president? Probably. The jury’s out on whether Kendall is actually, as he wonders to Shiv, a “good guy.†But look, Fikret is important to Kendall, so we should probably know more about him. Who is this guy? What has he done over the 37 aired episodes of Succession? Here’s everything we know about Fikret.
1. Fikret drives!Â
Fikret, who is played by actor, stunt driver, and stunt coordinator Greg Harvey, has only appeared onscreen twice. The first time was in Succession’s pilot, “Celebration,†when he drives Kendall, rapping and punching the seat along to the Beastie Boys’ “An Open Letter to NYC,†to the Waystar Royco offices. Of the three lines of dialogue Fikret has in this scene, “You’re the man, Mr. Roy,†is the longest.
He’s then glimpsed again in the opening seconds of the following episode, “Sh*t Show at the F**k Factory,†driving Kendall and Jess to the hospital to be by Logan’s side. “I’m here with Jess … Can we just find a way around the traffic, man? … Just figure it out, please!†Kendall says while fighting back tears, and look, at least he said “please.â€
2. Fikret drives different cars!Â
In season one, Fikret drives a Benz. In season four’s “Kill List,†when dropping the Jay-Z-listening Kendall off at the Waystar Royco offices, he drives a Lincoln. A man of varied tastes!
3. Fikret got a break when Kendall was on his motorcycle kick!Â
Remember, in season two, when Kendall was stuck in that self-destructive cycle, was shoplifting batteries, and had a motorcycle chauffeur ferrying him around? That driver was played by motorcycle stuntman Adam Wood, so theoretically, Fikret got a break from Kendall duty. He better still have been collecting a paycheck, though.
4. Fikret could be Muslim?Â
We know nothing about Fikret’s home life; in the brief glimpse of him, we see a chunky watch on his left wrist but no wedding ring or other personal identifiers. But Fikret is a common name for Turkish and Bosnian men and is derived from the Arabic word for “thought,†which is fikr. So that’s something!
5. Fikret is important enough to Kendall to be requested in a buyout!Â
Back in season three, when Kendall was adrift after his failed attempt at squealing on Logan’s leadership in the “no real person involved†fiasco, father and son met for dinner to talk about Kendall’s future. A lot about this scene in “Chiantishire†is pretty depressing after the events of “America Decides,†since Kendall tears into Logan about the evils of ATN only to do the exact same thing in this most recent episode. But it is notable that while negotiating his proposed exit from Waystar Royco, Kendall asks for $2 billion, a “chunky asset†like podcasting, and “I keep Fikret, Jess, and I’m gone.â€
There is a reading of this offer that criticizes Kendall for treating his employees like assets, but I’m inclined to take this as him wanting to protect the people he cares about most by keeping them employed. Given how rarely the Roy family put their necks out for anyone else, that’s a nice gesture — and one that Logan of course rejects, refusing to let Kendall out of the family company. To echo Kendall himself: “Some people just can’t cut a deal, Fikret.â€
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