Ben Affleck Pitched An Alternate Ending To “Succession” Involving An “Affair” Between Two Male Best Friends, And Everyone’s Making The Same Joke
…which could mean nothing.
In the past few years, more actors have been speaking out about the future of AI in TV and moviemaking, and Ben Affleck is the latest Hollywood heavyweight to join in the conversation.
Thos Robinson / Getty Images for The New York Times
Discussing business opportunities in the media industry during an appearance at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha 2024 event this week, Ben — who co-founded the production company Artists Equity — said that while AI may be beneficial to Hollywood in some ways, it will never be able to replace “human beings making films.”
CNBC / YouTube / Via youtu.be
“AI can write you excellent imitative verse that sounds Elizabethan. It cannot write you Shakespeare,” he said. “The function of having two actors or three or four actors in a room and the taste to discern and construct that is something that currently entirely eludes AI’s capability, and I think will for a meaningful period of time.”
Looking at the future for consumers, Ben predicted that people will eventually be able to create their own episodes of TV shows using AI. And to further illustrate his point, he proposed an alternative AI-generated finale to Succession, which aired its final episode last May.
Courtesy of HBO
For context, HBO’s Succession centers around Logan Roy, the CEO of a global media conglomerate called Waystar RoyCo. The show’s four seasons follow Logan’s children — Connor, Kendall, Shiv, and Roman Roy — and the ongoing battle to take over the family company.
“Eventually, AI will allow you to ask for your own episode of Succession,” Ben said before throwing out his own hypothetical ending without hesitation. “You could say, ‘I’ll pay $30, and can you make me a 40-minute episode where, like, Kendall gets the company and runs off and has an affair with Stewy.’ And it’ll do it.”
So…… if you’ve watched Succession, you’ll know that that’s not how it ended. You may also be aware that Ben’s suggestion reflects the somewhat niche online theory that Kendall Roy and his lifelong pal Stewy Hosseini were a little more than just childhood friends.
Courtesy of HBO
And if the idea of two school friends making it big and maintaining such a close bond that it sparks questions about the nature of their relationship sounds familiar, then I’m here to inform you that you aren’t alone.
Rich Polk / Golden Globes 2024 via Getty Images
Since the clip of Ben’s appearance surfaced online, many fans have drawn hilarious parallels between the theories about Kendall and Stewy and the decade-spanning jokes about Ben’s close friendship with Matt Damon.
Courtesy of HBO
For what it’s worth, we should clarify that Matt and Ben aren’t and have never been a couple to the public’s knowledge. However, as we all know, the two actors and their famous friends haven’t shied away from making light of the speculation about their “bromance,” as Ben’s ex-wife Jennifer Garner once described it.
Highlighting Ben’s surprising acknowledgment of the fan theory, one post on X with over 15,000 likes simply shared the clip alongside the caption: “you will never in a million years guess the AI ending for succession that ben affleck suggested on CNBC last night.”
CNBC / Twitter: @princekendalll
Someone else joked that it’s no surprise that Ben would be a fan of “the angsty childhood best friends to lovers” trope.
“finding out ben affleck knows what kenstewy is just woke me from a months long coma,” quipped another Succession fan who was impressed by Ben’s knowledge of the online theory.
One post with over 25,000 likes joked about the parallels, saying: “ben affleck watched succession and his main takeaway is that the two childhood best friends torn apart by money, success, and heteronormative expectations should run away together? uh huh.”
Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images
Jokes aside, Ben is an Oscar-winning screenwriter, after all. Hence, it’s no surprise that he’d be able to conjure up a high-quality storyline, whether drawing from personal experience or not.
You can watch the full clip of Ben’s AI discussion on CNBC here. In the meantime, I’m dying to hear what you think of his suggestion because I, for one, think it’s incredible — LMK in the comments!
