*This article contains spoilers*
It's Succession season and that means fans are diving into the deepest, darkest corners of the show's past and present. And what they've found is a potential plot hole to do with Roman Roy's family life.
In the pilot episode, when the family gather for a birthday lunch at Logan's house, Roman is there with his partner and a young child who very much seem to be his wife and daughter. And the internet is wondering where those characters disappeared to, given that they are not mentioned again in later seasons. They are even listed on the IMDB cast list for the episode as 'Grace Roy' and 'Isla'.
That's not all that's surprising about Roman's character, we also just discovered that Roman is not the youngest sibling (despite being the embodiment of what it means to be the youngest), and it's in fact Shiv. But what fans can't get their heads around is that Roman was even wearing a wedding ring in the first episode. So did the writers just change their minds? As apparently the pilot was shot months before the rest of the first season. A few episodes later, Grace is listed in the credits as Roman's girlfriend (not wife), the couple break up and the daughter disappears. Very suspicious...
There are even Reddit threads unpicking this topic, with some fans questioning Roman's character arc and saying he appears calmer in the first few episodes and is even nice to his daughter/ step-daughter/ girlfriend's child. Something some people think is at odds with his personality in the rest of the show. However, having rewatched it recently, Roman seems perfectly Roman-esque from the offset, and it's really just the fatherhood plot line that's a potential inconsistency.
One Reddit user said, 'If Roman were to have children, imo, he would be a very loving and affectionate father. I also think he would be the most over protective dad going. Also he would really need to have girls.' While others are still shocked and said, 'wow. I never noticed this detail. Well spotted!'
On another Twitter thread attempting to get to the bottom of this unresolved mystery, fans seem to agree that Roman having a girlfriend with her own daughter makes sense and that maybe the ring on his finger is the only mistake. It's possible that the writers decided to end his relationship with Grace, and it was easier to remove her as a girlfriend than to have Roman go through a divorce. Someone else said, 'Legitimately forgot this happened. Which also sounds very much like Roman.' Knowing the frivolousness and egotism of the Roy siblings, it's possible that Roman did have a child or close step child and then completely forget about them. We rarely hear about or see Kendall's kids, and that doesn't seem to bother us as it's entirely believable that their lives wouldn't be on his radar.
Let's just say, we definitely have some unanswered questions, but there are also seven episodes to go! And if a podcast interview with the writers where they explain this plot hole ever gets released, we'll definitely be tuning in.