Brian Cox believes that his merciless character Logan Roy was written out of Succession far too soon.
The Jesse Armstrong-created HBO drama has followed Shiv (Sarah Snook), Kendall (Jeremy Strong), and Roman (Kieran Culkin) as they attempt to seize control of their father Logan’s (Brian) media empire.
The final season has been filled with shocking revelations, including the untimely murder of Logan.
Although the 76-year-old believes that his narcissistic character received what he merited, he could not help but view his departure as a form of dismantlement.
‘I was fine with it ultimately, but I did feel a little bit rejected,’ he said during BBC Two’s Amol Rajan Interviews.
‘You know, I felt a little bit, “Oh, all the work I’ve done and finally I’m going to, you know, end up as an ear on a carpet of a plane.”‘
Brian has recently filmed sequences hinting that this is not the final time we will see the Roy patriarch.
When asked if there was a ‘goodbye’ moment with the cast after filming, he responded, ‘I do come back, and I have a couple flashback sequences later on. However, I did not see the cast very often. Probably the last significant thing we did together was karaoke again. I consider this to be the most authentic line in the show: “I love you, but you’re not serious people.”
Once I’m gone, I’m gone. It was difficult to maintain a secret for so long. It had been many years. When did I die? I believe it was last July.
‘From one sense, it is [a relief]. I’m very proud of myself because I’ve never been able to keep secrets and this is one secret I actually did rather well on.’
Jesse, the show’s creator, revealed that the third episode of the fourth season would be Brian’s character’s final appearance.
Explaining the circumstances surrounding the death of Logan and the filming process, he described a ‘careful’ time on set.
‘We had to be very careful about giving away the game. I came in three episodes later [than when the rest of the episode was filmed] to do the death thing, and I didn’t do anything. I just lay there and had the phone by my ear,’ he added to Vulture.
‘That’s why I think there was a very strong contention and very strong reason to think that maybe he’s not dead at all. Maybe it’s all a ruse! If you think about it, the last image is a body bag. Anybody could be in that body bag … There’s a possibility.’
Succession airs on HBO Max on Sundays in the US, and is available to stream on NOW in the UK.
