THE END OF LOGAN’S RUN
Brian Cox hates long goodbyes and as his character makes his last big move, we look at where we left the scheming Roy family
SUCCESSION fans may be distraught at the impending ending of the show but the Scot at the heart of it is not. Brian Cox plays foul-mouthed media mogul Logan Roy in the award-winning series, but he’s not concerned that the end is nigh. The Dundee star, 76, said: “I love endings. I’m not someone who clings to things. “We had a great time, there’s no question, but Succession has reached its natural conclusion and I’m fine with it.” Logan has toyed and schemed for five years as he decided which of his children will succeed him and take over Waystar Royco. The fourth and final series begins on Sky Atlantic on Monday and, of course, Brian won’t reveal any titbits about how it will end other than making assurances it’s going to be “a hell of a ride”.
He laughed and said: “I think it’s finishing in the true Succession style… I think people are going to love it.
“A lot of American shows go on well past their sell-by date. That would never happen to our show.
“The show has concluded the way it should conclude given the circumstances of what has been happening. It’s going to be a hell of a ride but it’s going to be a great ride.”
Brian was already a well respected actor before the part of Logan Roy came along in 2018. He was the first actor to play Hannibal Lecter in 1986’s Manhunter, was Ward Abbott in the Bourne franchise, Stryker in X-Men 2 and was in Braveheart and Rob Roy.
But playing Logan saw him win a Golden Globe for best actor and get an Emmy nomination.
The Scot has loved depicting such a ruthless character who he feels is still misunderstood.
He said: “The older I get as an actor, it’s more in what is not said than what is said. So I think Logan is still a mysterious character in many ways, even though he’s rude and bloodyminded and all of those things.
“But there’s still something that’s mysterious about Logan, there’s still some secret there that you haven’t gone on to.”
The overriding themes of power and family dynamics are at the heart of the show.
Logan has played with the hearts and minds of his children Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Siobhan or “Shiv” (Sarah Snook), Roman (Kieran Culkin), and Connor (Alan Ruck) as they battle between themselves and the wider family, including Shiv’s husband Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) and Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun), to take control of the empire.
But Brian doesn’t think Logan’s treatment of his children means he is necessarily a bad father.
He said: “I don’t know if he’s a good father. He’s not a bad father but he’s not a good father.
“If you have a father you copy, either against or for, what he does.
“I don’t think Logan Roy had a
proper father so in a way it’s very hard for him to relate to his children.
“He’s become misanthropic because, I think, he is an abused child. So in a way he’s not able to function in the right way.”
He’s also not convinced the behaviour of children should lie at the door of their parents.
Brian has four children – sons Orson, 21, and Torin, 18, with third wife Nicole Ansari-Cox, who he has been married to since 2002, and Margaret and actor Alan, 52, with second wife Caroline Burt.
He said: “We tend to blame the parents if the child goes wrong and we forget after a certain age all bets are off.
“The idea, ‘Oh, my mum or my dad made me like this.’ I don’t buy that. Grow up. Get real and own what you have to own.”
The end of series three saw the Roy kids join forces to try to use their supermajority vote to stop their dad from selling the family business to tech boss Lukas Matsson, played by Alexander Skarsgard.
But they were stabbed in the back by Tom, who went full-on Brutus and betrayed his wife, Shiv, to give Logan a heads-up on what his offspring were planning.
The trailer for series four appears to show Tom and Greg still working under Logan at Waystar Royco.
Kendall, Shiv and Roman seem to still be out in the cold. But Brian suggests all is not lost for the Roy children. He said: “I think the point is he’s been looking for the successor. And he’s been looking [to his children], he’s really wanted his own family [to take over].
“I mean, that’s his Achilles heel. He loves his children. If he didn’t love his children, he’d be a much freer man. But he loves his kids. And they’re just constantly, avariciously, restlessly disappointing because of their own sense of avarice.”
The actor has sympathy with Logan’s logic to seek a sale of the company outside of the family. He said: “With these kids, their sense of entitlement is so beyond the pale.
“And I think Matsson reminds Logan of who Logan was, as a young man.
“And he feels that the business would be safe in his hands. He’s thought all along that that would have been his children. That’s what he’s wanted.
“But none of the children have been able to step up to the plate. They’ve all proved massively disappointing.”
Waystar Royco could stay in the family under his son-in-law Tom, who has suffered being humiliated by members of the Roy clan, and even had the indignity of his wife revealing she wanted an open marriage on their wedding night.
Brian said: “Logan’s witnessed Tom’s abuse from Shiv. Tom was a country boy, a simple lad from Minnesota, who came over [to New York and the company] and was a bit tiresome.
“But there were a few moments when Tom stepped up to the plate to take care of Logan. Nobody’s ever taken care of Logan. But he did. Tom showed that care and attention.
“Logan’s seen Tom as a possible future. When the children are behaving the way they do, he needs an ally within the family.”
● Series four of Succession premieres on Monday at 2am on Sky Atlantic (with a repeat at 9pm) and NOW.
if he didn’t love his kids, he’d be a much freer man BRIAN COX ON LOGAN ROY’S BIGGEST WEAKNESS