Under the glittering marquee of Broadway’s Hudson Theatre, where the existential echoes of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot were just beginning to fade into the night, a different kind of drama unfolded—one far more heartwarming and quintessentially human. Kieran Culkin, the razor-sharp Succession star whose offbeat charm has captivated audiences for decades, stepped onto the red carpet arm-in-arm with his wife, Jazz Charton. But it wasn’t just their elegant arrival that turned heads. As photographers clamored for shots, Culkin’s hand instinctively rested on Charton’s gently rounded belly, a subtle gesture that confirmed what whispers had hinted at for months: The couple is expecting their third child. More than a year after Culkin’s viral, tear-streaked plea from the Emmys stage—”Jazz, I want more”—the universe, it seems, has delivered. In a town built on scripted plot twists, this feels like the real magic: a family expanding, one heartfelt (and hilariously public) promise at a time.

The announcement, dropped organically amid the flashbulbs on Sunday, September 28, 2025, has sent social media into a frenzy. Hashtags like #CulkinBaby3 and #JazzSaysYes trended within minutes, with fans flooding X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram with memes of Culkin’s wide-eyed Emmy expression captioned, “Manifestation level: Expert.” One viral post quipped, “Kieran asked for kids on live TV, won an Oscar, and now… boom. Third on the way. Succession’s Roman Roy couldn’t plot this good.” Another user, a self-proclaimed Culkin stan, wrote, “From ‘I want more’ to baby bump reveal at a Beckett play? This is peak Kieran—awkward, adorable, and utterly authentic.” The couple, ever the picture of low-key romance, offered no formal statement, but Charton’s radiant smile and Culkin’s protective palm spoke volumes. As they posed, her emerald silk gown draped elegantly over the bump, and his tailored navy suit—complete with a playful pocket square embroidered with their daughter Kinsey’s doodle—whispered of a life woven from inside jokes and quiet joys.

For Culkin, 42, and Charton, 37, this news caps a whirlwind year of professional triumphs and personal milestones. It was just six months ago, on March 2, 2025, that Culkin clutched his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in A Real Pain, a dramedy that showcased his gift for blending pathos with punchlines. In that sunlit Dolby Theatre, with the world’s eyes on him, he doubled down on his Emmy antics, recounting the “baby pact” that started it all. “About a year ago, I was on a stage like this and I very stupidly, publicly said that I wanted a third kid from her because she said if I won the award, she would give me the kid,” he deadpanned, drawing roars of laughter. “Turns out she said that because she didn’t think I was going to win.” He paused, grinning at Charton in the audience, who mouthed a mock “No!” before dissolving into giggles. “And she turned to me… she said, ‘I will give you four when you win an Oscar.’ Jazz, love of my life, ye of little faith. No pressure.” The crowd erupted; Charton buried her face in her hands, equal parts mortified and smitten. It was quintessential Culkin: turning vulnerability into vaudeville, a high-wire act of humor that masked the depth of his devotion.

That moment wasn’t born in a vacuum. Rewind to January 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater, where the delayed 75th Primetime Emmys finally unfolded after Hollywood’s strike-torn year. Culkin, fresh off Succession‘s final season, ascended the stage to accept Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series—his first Emmy after two supporting nods. Tears welled as he thanked his mother, Patrkia Brentrup, for “giving me life and my childhood, which was great.” Then, turning to Charton with that signature Culkin smirk—the one that says, “I’m about to say something that’ll get me in trouble”—he pivoted: “And of course, my beautiful wife, Jazz, thank you for sharing your life with me and for giving me two amazing kids… I love you so many and so much. And Jazz, I want more. You said maybe, if I win!” The audience howled; Charton, beaming from her seat, covered her face in delighted shock. Backstage, Culkin confessed to reporters that he’d been “nagging” her for a third child “for a while,” but the public plea was pure impulse. “Instead of talking to her in private like a human, I just blasted her onstage, which was very rude,” he quipped, his eyes twinkling. Charton, ever his perfect foil, later joked on Instagram: “Making empty baby pacts may seem foolish but it’s clearly been a great motivator.” Little did the world know, those “empty” pacts were seeds taking root.

Their love story, like Culkin’s career, defies easy categorization—equal parts serendipity, sarcasm, and steadfast support. They met in 2012 at a dimly lit New York City bar, where Charton, then a music producer at an ad agency, caught the eye of the lanky actor nursing a drink. “I said, ‘I’m Kieran. You have an English accent. What’s your name?’” Culkin recounted to The Hollywood Reporter in 2021. “She said, ‘Jazz.’ I said, ‘J-A-Z-Z, like the music?’ And she said, ‘Yeah.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s f–king stupid.’” Charton, unfazed by his blunt charm, laughed it off. Born in London and raised between the UK and the U.S., she was no stranger to dry wit. A creative force with credits in sound design (including the 2013 indie Likeness, starring Elle Fanning), Charton had carved a low-profile path in post-production, far from the red-carpet glare. Their banter flowed like a well-rehearsed scene, and by summer’s end, they were inseparable.

Just 10 months later, on June 27, 2013, they eloped in Clinton, Iowa, during a cross-country road trip—an impulsive nod to Culkin’s Midwestern roots. “We woke up and said, ‘Let’s get married today,'” Charton shared in a rare 2023 interview with Vogue. No paparazzi, no A-list guest list; just a county clerk, a handful of witnesses, and the couple in jeans and tees. “It felt right—unscripted, like us,” Culkin added. They settled into his one-bedroom East Village apartment, a cozy holdover from his early-20s days, where bookshelves groaned under scripts and jazz records (a nod to her name) mingled with his vintage comic collection.

Parenthood arrived like a plot pivot in 2019. On September 13, Kinsey Sioux Culkin entered the world, her name a lyrical mashup of writers Joan Didion (Kinsey) and Sioux poet Layli Long Soldier, with a dash of Charton’s artistic flair. “Kinsey was our anchor,” Charton posted on Instagram in 2022, sharing a blurred photo of the toddler’s hand clutching a crayon drawing. The family upgraded to a sunlit Brooklyn brownstone in Greenpoint before Wilder Wolf arrived on August 17, 2021—his moniker inspired by Culkin’s love of Wes Anderson films (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) and a nod to the wild, untamed spirit they hoped to nurture. Naming Wilder took seven weeks of playful debate, Culkin revealed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show: “We had two girl names locked in, but for boys? Endless arguments. Jazz won with ‘Wolf’—said it suited my howl.”

Raising Kinsey and Wilder hasn’t been without its Succession-esque chaos—think spilled Cheerios amid script readings and midnight meltdowns during Emmy prep. Yet, Charton has been Culkin’s unflinching co-star. “She’s the producer of our chaos,” he told Esquire in 2024, crediting her for grounding him post-Succession. While Culkin shuns social media (“It’s a black hole,” he grumbles), Charton curates glimpses: A 2023 Father’s Day post showed the kids’ artwork turned into custom mugs, captioned, “Happy Father’s Day to this DADDY. (Who still can’t make a decent cuppa.)” Another, from their 10th anniversary, featured a family picnic in Prospect Park, faces obscured but joy palpable: “10 years of bad jokes, better love, and these tiny terrorists we call ours.”

Culkin’s path to fatherhood was anything but linear. Born September 30, 1982, the seventh of seven siblings in a cramped Yorkville railroad apartment, his childhood was a whirlwind of instability and early fame. With brother Macaulay’s Home Alone megastardom casting a long shadow, young Kieran debuted at six in Home Alone (1990) as the bullying cousin Fuller, stealing pizza scenes with precocious glee. By 12, he was navigating indie darlings like Nowhere to Run (1993) and Father of the Bride (1991), but the family’s financial woes—exacerbated by their parents’ 1995 divorce—left scars. “We were poor, but it was a rich mess,” Culkin reflected in a 2023 Vanity Fair profile. Acting became escape and anchor; by his teens, he headlined The Mighty (1998) and Igby Goes Down (2002), earning a Golden Globe nod for the latter’s sardonic teen rebel.

Hollywood’s siren call brought turbulence: High-profile romances with Jeanette Brox (2005) and Emma Stone (post-Paper Man, 2009) fizzled amid his aversion to spotlight. “I dated fame, and it bit back,” he quipped in a 2018 GQ interview. Therapy in his 20s—fueled by Succession creator Jesse Armstrong’s probing scripts—unraveled patterns of avoidance. Enter Charton: Her unflappable normalcy was the antidote to his inherited Culkin quirkiness. “Jazz doesn’t care if I’m ‘Kieran Culkin’ or just Kieran,” he said post-Emmys. “She sees the guy who burns toast.”

Professionally, 2024-2025 was Culkin’s coronation. Succession‘s end left him adrift, but A Real Pain—directed by Jesse Eisenberg, playing bickering cousins on a Holocaust tour in Poland—reignited his fire. Critics hailed his “gut-wrenching hilarity”: The New York Times called it “Culkin unchained, a tour de force of familial fury.” The film swept precursors—Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA—before the Oscar clinch. Backstage at the Dolby, he hugged Charton fiercely: “This one’s for us—for the late nights arguing baby names.” Waiting for Godot, his Broadway bow opposite Keanu Reeves, opens to raves tomorrow; previews buzz with his Estragon as “a Beckettian everyman, equal parts lost boy and sly fox.”

Charton, the quiet architect of their bliss, has her own quiet glow-up. From sound editing to producing shorts, she’s eyeing a feature debut. “Motherhood’s my masterpiece,” she told The Guardian in a 2024 profile, “but art’s the side hustle.” Her Instagram, a mosaic of London nostalgia (sweets for King Charles’ coronation) and Brooklyn bliss, hints at baby No. 3’s timeline: Due spring 2026, per sources close to the family. Kinsey, 6, already dubs it “the Godot baby—always waiting, but worth it.” Wilder, 4, chimes in with wolf howls, per Charton’s latest post.

Fans, long smitten with Culkin’s underdog allure, see poetry in the pact’s payoff. “Kieran’s speeches weren’t jokes—they were vows,” one Reddit thread raves, amassing 5,000 upvotes. Celebrities chimed in: Pedro Pascal, Culkin’s Emmy rival, tweeted, “From ‘suck it’ to baby joy—Kieran wins again. Congrats, dad extraordinaire!” Sarah Snook, Succession Shiv and Wilder’s godmother, posted a throwback of the kids’ art: “Third Roy-Culkin heir? The board will never recover.”

As confetti settles from Oscars and Emmys, Culkin and Charton retreat to their Brooklyn nest—perhaps plotting nursery themes over takeout Thai. In a city of reinventions, their story sings: Love isn’t a script; it’s the ad-lib that sticks. With baby three en route, one thing’s clear—Kieran got his wish, and the Culkin clan just got a whole lot succession-ier.