Succession finale may be ‘contentious,’ predicts show’s ageing tycoon
▶ One last serving of snake supper may all end in tears for some, says Brian Cox. Razmig Bedirian reports
The previous season of Succession concluded with a crestfallen and disillusioned Logan Roy. Warning: the following article contains spoilers. Without giving too much away, the patriarch of the Roy family – owners of one of the world’s leading media and entertainment conglomerates Waystar Royco – declared he’d rather see his company disintegrate than fall under the control of his children.
The final instalment of Succession will be broadcast on OSN+ from today, the same release date as in the US. The season begins with Logan fighting to “keep his mind and body together”, says Brian Cox, who portrays the character in the HBO black comedy.
“He’s tried to find a successor from within his own family, and none of them have stepped up to the plate,” he says. “The potential of them is tremendous, but they are not leaders. None of them. They are avaricious.
“You cannot build anything on avarice. That’s the problem with them.”
Succession explores themes of power and relationship dynamics in a family of Machiavellian characters.
The new season unfolds as the sale of Waystar Royco to tech visionary Lukas Matsson moves closer.
The prospect of this deal and the fulfilment of Logan’s destructive wish provoke existential angst and division among the family as they anticipate what their lives will look like once it is completed.
Of Logan’s four adult children, he previously hoped daughter Siobhan (Sarah Snook) would replace him at the helm.
“I think he thought that she had the potential,” Cox says. “But then her morality is quite questionable, so she’s not viable.” He also says Logan’s other children Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Kendall (Jeremy Strong) showed promise but also were ultimately incapable of succeeding.
Despite what audiences think, Cox says Logan does love his children but in his own morphed way. In an appearance at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature last month, the Scottish actor said his character “never knew how to get love from his children”.
“He thought if he gives them stuff and keeps giving them, he’ll get love back and it doesn’t work like that,” he said at the time.
Cox repeats the sentiment now, saying despite his actions, Logan is still trying to keep his family, as well as his company, together.
“He really is trying,” Cox says. “He’s had a lot of people around him [in the company] who are really as much his family. These are people that he’s hired and rehired, and they are people that he’s quite ruthless with.
“But they know where they are with him. They know they will be fired and then rehired. They know that’s what happens. That they’ll move them around like chess pieces.”
The tactic, Cox says, is a way of keeping people on their toes, and it is “doubly difficult” for the children. “He is their father, and he feels a certain amount of – I don’t know if it’s guilt – but he has a little bit of a conscience about who they are, and how they develop.”
Satirical and with a prominent comedic trajectory, Succession is ultimately a cautionary tale with Shakespearean echoes. Cox, who won plaudits for his portrayal of King Lear with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre, compares the show with the plays he has acted in. “It’s a modern statement,” he says. “When you have a show that’s about succession and you have a play called King Lear, which is also about succession, there are natural crossovers.
“I hope audiences are satisfied with what happens. I think there will be contention about what happens.
“I’m not going to tell you what happens. Because actually, to be honest, I don’t really know what happens.” When it comes to his own parenting approach, he has a much more lenient approach.
“I’ve never believed in all those concepts of setting borders, setting barriers, which ultimately, for me, is negative,” he says. “My own father is a mythic person, and that sort of sits on my shoulder. I wish he wasn’t so mythic.”
[Logan Roy] has tried to find a successor from within his own family and none of them have stepped up to the plate BRIAN COX
Actor
Succession season four starts today on OSN+