Jeremy Strong Won't Break
GQ US|March 2023
His portrayal of Kendall Roy has made him a major sensationand infamous for his extreme approach to the craft of acting. Here, on the verge of what may be the end of the show and the character that made his career, Jeremy Strong responds to his critics and contemplates life after Succession.
By Gabriella Paiella. Photographs by Gregory Harris
Jeremy Strong Won't Break

I meet Jeremy Strong on the winter solstice outside Sparsholt's hottest pub, which is also Sparsholt's only pub.

The population of this English village: roughly 900. The sheep population: more than that. Everything feels in tune with nature. The air is clean and damp and vegetal. The afternoon sun hangs low in the sky, illuminating fields so bucolic they make the Shire look like Times Square. And Jeremy Strong is dressed, as ever, entirely in brown.

Sweater, jacket, and corduroy pants, in shades that vary, by degrees barely perceptible to the human eye, from taupe to cappuccino to acorn. On his head: a brown bucket hat. On top of that hat: a second hat, a brown cashmere beanie.

"My wife told me that somebody said something like, 'The three things you're going to be certain of are death, taxes, and that Jeremy Strong will be wearing brown.

I don't know, it's inexplicable," he says about his uniform style, before providing multiple explanations.

Number one: "In a way, it's a metaphor for the rest of my life. I gravitate towards an extremely narrow band. That's all that I want and I don't want anything else."

Number two: "This is maybe half bullshit, but maybe not total bullshit: I spend so much of my life wearing costumes, I feel almost denuded in my style. It's so consistent and neutral that almost anytime I put on any wardrobe, I feel profoundly different from my baseline self."

Number three: "It's monastic. Monastic chic." Strong holds up a map. "I have a slight mission for us."

This story is from the March 2023 edition of GQ US.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the March 2023 edition of GQ US.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM GQ USView All
MEET THE WILDEST CHARCTER IN THE WORLD'S MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSIC SCENE
GQ US

MEET THE WILDEST CHARCTER IN THE WORLD'S MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSIC SCENE

Right now, to be the most important new voice in Afrobeats means you might just be the most important new voice in global music, period. That title currently belongs to Asake, a Nigerian singer with bonkers style and a penchant for making speaker-melting hits.

time-read
8 mins  |
April - May 2024
MARNI'S FRANCESCO RISSO WILL NEVER GROWUP
GQ US

MARNI'S FRANCESCO RISSO WILL NEVER GROWUP

The eccentric Italian designer is proving that the very serious business of fashion doesn't have to be very serious at all.

time-read
9 mins  |
April - May 2024
WELCOME TO LAUREN HALSEY'S NEIGHBORHOOD
GQ US

WELCOME TO LAUREN HALSEY'S NEIGHBORHOOD

The red-hot 36-year-old artist has achieved global success with a very local approach: applying imaginative, laserlike focus to a few square blocks of her hometown. In doing so, she renders and reflects what it's actually like to live and work in-and never, ever leave-South Central Los Angeles.

time-read
5 mins  |
April - May 2024
DARK KINGDOM
GQ US

DARK KINGDOM

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross-best friends and Nine Inch Nails bandmates-found unlikely creative fulfillment (and a couple of Oscars) by reassessing what they had to offer as musicians. Now they're thinking even bigger, and imagining an artistic empire of their own making.

time-read
10+ mins  |
April - May 2024
INSIDE BANNY MCBRIDE'S LOWCOUNTRY COMEDY COMMUNE
GQ US

INSIDE BANNY MCBRIDE'S LOWCOUNTRY COMEDY COMMUNE

After taking big screens and HBO by storm with his macho-lampooning humor, comedy hero Danny McBride uprooted his life in Hollywood to build his dream production studio in Charleston, South Carolina-away from the stifling industry, and alongside his closest friends and collaborators. That's where he's been unlocking a blistering new creative gear-and plotting his best work yet.

time-read
10+ mins  |
April - May 2024
QUEEN of the YOUTH
GQ US

QUEEN of the YOUTH

Hunter Schafer has built a career by saying yes: to activism, to modeling, and then to acting, where Euphoria made her a star. Now, with a budding movie career and big plans in just about every field you can imagine, the Gen Z icon is figuring out exactly what sort of creative life she'd like to lead.

time-read
10+ mins  |
April - May 2024
LEWIS HAMILTON IS CHANGING LANES
GQ US

LEWIS HAMILTON IS CHANGING LANES

The seven-time F1 champ says he still has a world title in him-maybe this year, his final one at Mercedes; maybe next year when he joins Ferrari, a shocking move he tells us he manifested. But it's his passionate work outside of racing-in fashion, in film, in music-that's setting him up to keep making moves after the checkered flag drops on his racing career.

time-read
10+ mins  |
April - May 2024
The New Gold Standard in Tasteful Watches
GQ US

The New Gold Standard in Tasteful Watches

Piaget's Polo 79 once again marks the end of the steel sports watch's reign-and the start of something much more fun.

time-read
2 mins  |
April - May 2024
Captain Mbappé
GQ US

Captain Mbappé

We met him as a teenage prodigy. Now, with his PSG teammates Messi and Neymar gone, and a new job as French national team captain, Kylian Mbappé is reckoning with the responsibilities and privileges that come with being the man.

time-read
1 min  |
March 2024
The full Ricky
GQ US

The full Ricky

Twenty-five years after becoming one of the most staggeringly famous men on the planet, a wiser, more assured Ricky Martin is taking another run at being a star. While also being himself, this time.

time-read
10+ mins  |
March 2024