Editor’s note: This article contains major spoilers for Succession Season 4 Episode 3.
The king of the Waystar Royco empire is no longer around, and his children weren't ready for this day to arrive. During the latest episode of Succession, Logan Roy (Brian Cox) passed away in his private jet, while none of his kids were there with him. Even when the series dealt with the chairman's health problems since its very first episode, he was so powerful and stubborn that it was easy to believe he would outlive every other character in the show. With so many phones around, it is hard to keep secrets from the audience while filming on location, and Cox had a brilliant way of deceiving anyone who might've been looking for spoilers.
During a recent interview with Deadline, the actor revealed that he insisted on showing up on set the day the sequence of his character's funeral was meant to be filmed. A plan to shoot a fake scene with him was already in the works in order to confuse people who were keeping a close eye on the final season's production, but when the schedule made some adjustments, Cox was told to stay home. The performer insisted on going to the location anyway, arguing that if he didn't, it would be easy to figure out what would happen in the episode titled "Connor's Wedding." Here's the actor's reasoning behind the move:
"I said, I’m coming in. They said, yeah, but we’re not doing the scene. I said, look, I’m coming in, because I know there’s going to be a whole lot of paparazzi there, and they’re going to be wondering what that funeral is. I am coming in. So, I said to my driver, I said, Joe, let’s go, we’re going. So, and as soon as I got out of the car, there were paparazzi shooting me left, right, and center, and therefore, they thought, Logan’s at the funeral, what is he doing?
You see, and if I hadn’t done that, if I hadn’t come, they would’ve gone, it’s Logan’s funeral. And I was the one who took that responsibility. They didn’t even think of it. They were so rushed, and so much, you know, this last season was very difficult to film."
While Cox has been firm regarding his opinion on method acting, it looks like he came up with a plan that would make Logan Roy very proud. Keeping everything under his control to pull off something brilliant, while breaking the rules in the process, is something the former owner of Waystar Royco might've schemed up to get what he wants. But in the end, just like in the successful HBO drama, tossing the rules aside didn't matter, as the results were more than favorable. Whether he's playing Logan Roy or Robert McKee, Brian Cox always knows how to demonstrate that he knows what he's talking about.
The End is Near for the Roys
Logan's death is another testament as to how the current season is leading the Roy family to the conclusion of their story. After years of a seemingly endless power struggle, Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Siobhan (Sarah Snook), and Roman (Kieran Culkin) have to come to terms with the fact that their father won't be pushing them around anymore. Given how unpredictable the family has been in the past, there's no way of telling how each of the Roy siblings will deal with their grief, especially considering none of them had a healthy relationship with the media tyrant.
Succession will continue to drop a new episode every Sunday, until the series finale airs on May 14. You can check out the trailer for the current season below: