Succession, HBO’s blisteringly funny drama about the struggles of the obscenely wealthy Roy family, is back, and it’s as good as ever, possibly better. In a couple short seasons, the show has given us some several iconic characters, from the unstable Kendall to the ambitious Shiv to the smirking Roman. And above all there is Logan Roy (Brian Cox), their father and the implacable driving force between the Waystar Royco conglomerate…at least until he picks a successor, that is.
In addition to winning the Emmy for Outstanding Drama, Succession has developed quite a passionate fan following, as Cox told GQ about the London season 3 premiere. “My wife said someone fainted when they called my name,” he said. “I’m too old to be a rock star figure like that, like Mick Jagger.”
"It was unbelievable. And a British audience too… They’re not like American audiences, which have a sort of mindlessness to them. They’re much more discerning. But they were whooping and hollering. It was unlike anything I’ve seen before."
I’m not sure if he’s underestimating American audiences there or overestimating British ones. You be the judge.
Brian Cox shows how well he understands Succession
Apparently, Cox is very warm in person, although it’s hard to think of him as anything other than the distant, authoritative Logan. Call it a compliment to him for inhabiting the characters so well. I like how thoroughly he understands the show, as when he talks about Logan’s kids.
- On Shiv: “Shiv is too volatile: she can’t keep her mouth shut, which we found out at the Pierce’s when she said ‘It’s going to be me’ at the dinner table, which was bad timing on her part. And, of course, that’s made him aware that she’s prone to do that, whereas Gerri is right into the fibre of the firm. He keeps firing and rehiring them, but Gerri, Karl and Frank are as much the family as the kids are for Logan. He has fierce loyalty to them. So it’s a no-brainer. He’d love it to be his children, but they’re not mature enough. They’re not up to it a lot of the time. And Gerri is experienced; she knows what to do.”
- On Roman: “Logan, in a very understated way, recognizes Roman’s gift, but then Roman has this kind of masturbatory, childish quality that undoes him. And therefore there’s an element about him that’s slightly stunted, slightly underdeveloped. It’s that underdeveloped-ness that lets him down in the eyes of his father.”
And there’s Kendall, who basically declared war on the family at the end of season 2. We haven’t seen him and Logan come face to face yet in season 3, but you know it’s coming, and it sounds like it gets pretty intense. According to actor Jeremy Strong, who plays Kendall, there’s one scene he filmed with Cox where he burst into tears. Cox thinks he knows which scene he’s referring to:
"I think he’s talking about a scene in this series. There’s a moment where it becomes very tense and we have this extraordinary scene – I can’t remember if it’s [episode] seven or eight – where I go to see him when he’s in Italy and we have this face-off. Jeremy’s very intense as an actor. He doesn’t like to rehearse, he just wants to do it. And he’s got all kinds of stuff that I don’t have as an actor and I respect it – you know, horses for courses… It’s easy to dismiss that and be intolerant of it. I’m only intolerant when it affects everybody and if it puts everybody off their guard. But when I’m doing scenes with him he’s always extraordinary and he always delivers."
I’m already nervous.
Succession is working toward “an endgame”
I think I’m more into Succession right now than any other show on the air. How long will the writers keep this roll going? Cox thinks he knows the answer to that too:
"I would say possibly two more series and then I think we’re done. But it just depends and may just be only one more series. It depends what the writers feel. I know they’ve got an endgame. They haven’t told us what the ending is, but there is an endgame. So it’s just how they get up to that endgame, whether it takes one series or two series. I think it’s going to be hard to let go of it this early. I think it needs a couple more series before it really comes to a culmination. That’s my feeling. Because its iconic nature is just hitting, I think people are going to want two more series, but they may only get one."
Two more series would just about do it for me. I need to see how this drama ends.
Finally, Cox revealed if playing Logan had affected his behavior in any way. As it ends up, yes: “I swear more… I mean, I used to swear a lot, but I’m swearing a lot more now as a result of Logan. I was just sort of a secret swearer, but since Logan it’s become more public.”
And yes, obviously he gets lots of people asking him to tell them to “f**k off.”
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