Sanaa Lathan Could Become The Fifth Black Guest Star Emmy Winner For Succession, But She Explains Why She Was ‘Annoyed’ When She Got The News
She had a good reason to be.
www.cinemablend.com
HBO: Succession
- Thread starter SamSneed
- Start date
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I just caught up to this show and I thought BGOL when i saw Shiv in those dresses..i was like awww this is gonna be posted up..i may be spending too much time here..lol
Seriously though, this is a great show and Jeremy Strong is fantastic as Kendall..hadn't read the whole thread yet, but i will get through it at some point
Seriously though, this is a great show and Jeremy Strong is fantastic as Kendall..hadn't read the whole thread yet, but i will get through it at some point
Brian Cox doesn't want 'Succession' to 'overstay its welcome' like 'Billions'
'Succession' star Brian Cox shared that he doesn't want the hit HBO series to "overstay its welcome" like he believes Showtime's 'Billions' has: "that's past its sell-by date."
@ViCiouS @largebillsonlyplease
Brian Cox doesn't want Succession to become like Billions: 'That's past its sell-by date'
The legendary actor also shared how he sometimes enjoys "the weed" before bedtime.
By Emlyn TravisSeptember 13, 2022 at 03:16 PM EDT
Brian Cox is channeling Logan Roy and it appears no one is safe from his cutthroat remarks — not even his pay cable contemporaries.
While discussing the future of Succession with The Times, the powerhouse actor said he has no idea how long the show could go on — "No one's had their contracts renewed," he noted — but that he hopes it won't "overstay its welcome."
Cox didn't need to provide an example of a show that he believes has overstayed its welcome, but he did so anyway, naming the Showtime series Billions. "[T]hat's past its sell-by date. That will not happen with our show."
Brian Cox called Ian McKellen "a sweetheart" but "just not my favorite actor."
While it might be time to say bye-bye Billions in Cox's mind, the Showtime show about the complex lives of New York City's upper crust has largely held its own over its last six seasons and features a powerful cast including Paul Giamatti, Corey Stoll, and Maggie Siff.
After losing fan-favorite Damian Lewis at the end of season 5, EW's critic Kyle Fowle noted that the show initially "struggled to hit its previous highs" before finding its rhythm in the season finale: "a tight, compelling, tense episode that does everything in its power to assure you that, going forward, Billions will continue to deliver the goods." It was subsequently renewed for a seventh season back in February.
If the Billions cast and crew can find comfort in one thing, it's that they weren't the only ones caught in Cox's crosshairs. The Putting The Rabbit In The Hat author clarified multiple comments he made about fellow stars in his book, including Johnny Depp, Steven Seagal, and Ian McKellen.
Cox shared that McKellen was "a sweetheart, nicer as he's gotten older" but that "he's just not my favorite actor." He added, "I'm going up to Edinburgh and he's got his Hamlet on. I've heard it's awful."
The actor also previously said that Depp was overblown, but conceded now that "the public love him." He also shared that he felt sorry for Amber Heard, who he thought "got the rough end of it." As for Seagal, Cox said he "wouldn't waste [his] energy" apologizing for the comments he made about the Under Siege actor in his novel because, as he put it, "[Seagal] was perfectly nice to me. It's just his value system — he's about as Buddhist as my arse."
But Cox wasn't dishing just out negative takes, either. He also revealed that he "loves the weed," which he sometimes smokes before bedtime, and shared a list of celebrities that he does like. Who's on it? Keanu Reeves, Sean Bean, Benedict Cumberbatch, Laura Linney, Robert Downey Jr., Brad Pitt, and Tom Hanks, to name a few. He also said that he admires Michael Caine for "being true to his class."
Brian Cox doesn't want 'Succession' to 'overstay its welcome' like 'Billions'
'Succession' star Brian Cox shared that he doesn't want the hit HBO series to "overstay its welcome" like he believes Showtime's 'Billions' has: "that's past its sell-by date."ew.com
@ViCiouS @largebillsonlyplease
Brian Cox doesn't want Succession to become like Billions: 'That's past its sell-by date'
The legendary actor also shared how he sometimes enjoys "the weed" before bedtime.
By Emlyn TravisSeptember 13, 2022 at 03:16 PM EDT
Brian Cox is channeling Logan Roy and it appears no one is safe from his cutthroat remarks — not even his pay cable contemporaries.
While discussing the future of Succession with The Times, the powerhouse actor said he has no idea how long the show could go on — "No one's had their contracts renewed," he noted — but that he hopes it won't "overstay its welcome."
Cox didn't need to provide an example of a show that he believes has overstayed its welcome, but he did so anyway, naming the Showtime series Billions. "[T]hat's past its sell-by date. That will not happen with our show."
Brian Cox called Ian McKellen "a sweetheart" but "just not my favorite actor."
While it might be time to say bye-bye Billions in Cox's mind, the Showtime show about the complex lives of New York City's upper crust has largely held its own over its last six seasons and features a powerful cast including Paul Giamatti, Corey Stoll, and Maggie Siff.
After losing fan-favorite Damian Lewis at the end of season 5, EW's critic Kyle Fowle noted that the show initially "struggled to hit its previous highs" before finding its rhythm in the season finale: "a tight, compelling, tense episode that does everything in its power to assure you that, going forward, Billions will continue to deliver the goods." It was subsequently renewed for a seventh season back in February.
If the Billions cast and crew can find comfort in one thing, it's that they weren't the only ones caught in Cox's crosshairs. The Putting The Rabbit In The Hat author clarified multiple comments he made about fellow stars in his book, including Johnny Depp, Steven Seagal, and Ian McKellen.
Cox shared that McKellen was "a sweetheart, nicer as he's gotten older" but that "he's just not my favorite actor." He added, "I'm going up to Edinburgh and he's got his Hamlet on. I've heard it's awful."
The actor also previously said that Depp was overblown, but conceded now that "the public love him." He also shared that he felt sorry for Amber Heard, who he thought "got the rough end of it." As for Seagal, Cox said he "wouldn't waste [his] energy" apologizing for the comments he made about the Under Siege actor in his novel because, as he put it, "[Seagal] was perfectly nice to me. It's just his value system — he's about as Buddhist as my arse."
But Cox wasn't dishing just out negative takes, either. He also revealed that he "loves the weed," which he sometimes smokes before bedtime, and shared a list of celebrities that he does like. Who's on it? Keanu Reeves, Sean Bean, Benedict Cumberbatch, Laura Linney, Robert Downey Jr., Brad Pitt, and Tom Hanks, to name a few. He also said that he admires Michael Caine for "being true to his class."
The Definitive Analysis of Kendall Roy’s Rap From ‘Succession’
We listened to it dozens of times so that you don’t have to
www.theringer.com
Last edited:
Brian Cox doesn't want 'Succession' to 'overstay its welcome' like 'Billions'
'Succession' star Brian Cox shared that he doesn't want the hit HBO series to "overstay its welcome" like he believes Showtime's 'Billions' has: "that's past its sell-by date."
@ViCiouS @largebillsonlyplease
Brian Cox doesn't want Succession to become like Billions: 'That's past its sell-by date'
The legendary actor also shared how he sometimes enjoys "the weed" before bedtime.
By Emlyn TravisSeptember 13, 2022 at 03:16 PM EDT
Brian Cox is channeling Logan Roy and it appears no one is safe from his cutthroat remarks — not even his pay cable contemporaries.
While discussing the future of Succession with The Times, the powerhouse actor said he has no idea how long the show could go on — "No one's had their contracts renewed," he noted — but that he hopes it won't "overstay its welcome."
Cox didn't need to provide an example of a show that he believes has overstayed its welcome, but he did so anyway, naming the Showtime series Billions. "[T]hat's past its sell-by date. That will not happen with our show."
Brian Cox called Ian McKellen "a sweetheart" but "just not my favorite actor."
While it might be time to say bye-bye Billions in Cox's mind, the Showtime show about the complex lives of New York City's upper crust has largely held its own over its last six seasons and features a powerful cast including Paul Giamatti, Corey Stoll, and Maggie Siff.
After losing fan-favorite Damian Lewis at the end of season 5, EW's critic Kyle Fowle noted that the show initially "struggled to hit its previous highs" before finding its rhythm in the season finale: "a tight, compelling, tense episode that does everything in its power to assure you that, going forward, Billions will continue to deliver the goods." It was subsequently renewed for a seventh season back in February.
If the Billions cast and crew can find comfort in one thing, it's that they weren't the only ones caught in Cox's crosshairs. The Putting The Rabbit In The Hat author clarified multiple comments he made about fellow stars in his book, including Johnny Depp, Steven Seagal, and Ian McKellen.
Cox shared that McKellen was "a sweetheart, nicer as he's gotten older" but that "he's just not my favorite actor." He added, "I'm going up to Edinburgh and he's got his Hamlet on. I've heard it's awful."
The actor also previously said that Depp was overblown, but conceded now that "the public love him." He also shared that he felt sorry for Amber Heard, who he thought "got the rough end of it." As for Seagal, Cox said he "wouldn't waste [his] energy" apologizing for the comments he made about the Under Siege actor in his novel because, as he put it, "[Seagal] was perfectly nice to me. It's just his value system — he's about as Buddhist as my arse."
But Cox wasn't dishing just out negative takes, either. He also revealed that he "loves the weed," which he sometimes smokes before bedtime, and shared a list of celebrities that he does like. Who's on it? Keanu Reeves, Sean Bean, Benedict Cumberbatch, Laura Linney, Robert Downey Jr., Brad Pitt, and Tom Hanks, to name a few. He also said that he admires Michael Caine for "being true to his class."
It's true lol
He didn't have to SAY IT OUT LOUD.
I watched this last season of billions
Why watch the next?
Hey big play here
Hey this famous person appears
Hey look at our money
Hey here's a reference
Oh no
End episode
The Definitive Analysis of Kendall Roy’s Rap From ‘Succession’
We listened to it dozens of times so that you don’t have towww.theringer.com
MAN THIS SHIT WAS HILARIOUS!!!!
Man when Roman sent that dick pic to his dad instead of Gerri I fuckin lost it!!! The look on Logan's face yo!!!!
Roman literally looked like he was gonna cry.
Roman literally looked like he was gonna cry.
Succession season four FIRST LOOK
The first look at Succession season four has been released, with a teaser trailer confirming there'll be no shortage of drama when the hit show returns.
'Succession' star Brian Cox defends J.K. Rowling amid criticism over controversial trans stance
'Succession' star Brian Cox has defended J.K. Rowling after the 'Harry Potter' star's controversial stance on the trans community.
Succession star Brian Cox defends J.K. Rowling amid criticism over controversial trans comments
Cox said that critics of Rowling's comments about the trans community have been "a bit high and mighty."
By Joey NolfiJanuary 17, 2023 at 10:45 AM EST
Brian Cox has spoken in defense of Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling following criticism of the famed author for controversial comments often labeled as transphobic.
"I don't like the way she's been treated, actually. I think she's entitled to her opinion, she's entitled to say what she feels," the 76-year-old Succession star said over the weekend on British talk show Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, per a Metro video. "As a woman, she's very much entitled to say what she feels about her own body. There's nobody better to say that, as a woman. So, I do feel that people have been a bit high and mighty about their own attitude toward J.K. Rowling."
Brian Cox defended J.K. Rowling.
| CREDIT: MACALL B. POLAY/HBO; MIKE MARSLAND/WIREIMAGE
Rowling initially drew public ire in December 2019, when she tweeted in support of a British researcher, Maya Forstater, who was fired from the Centre for Global Development over anti-trans stances.
The author, 57, later tweeted about taking issue with the phrase "people who menstruate," and has regularly drawn criticism from LGBTQ community supporters for reiterating ideologies that have been linked to the trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF) movement that often adopts the belief that trans women are not women.
Despite Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe and organizations like GLAAD voicing opposition to Rowling's comments, stars like Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes, both veterans of the Harry Potter franchise, have supported her right to express her opinion.
"J.K. Rowling has written these great books about empowerment, about young children finding themselves as human beings. It's about how you become a better, stronger, more morally centered human being," Fiennes said in a New York Times interview last year. "The verbal abuse directed at her is disgusting, it's appalling. I mean, I can understand a viewpoint that might be angry at what she says about women. But it's not some obscene, über-right-wing fascist. It's just a woman saying, 'I'm a woman and I feel I'm a woman and I want to be able to say that I'm a woman.' And I understand where she's coming from. Even though I'm not a woman."
EW has reached out to Cox for further comment.
@largebillsonlyplease
that man don't give a f*ck in real life either
ew.com
Brian Cox defends Bryan Singer's on-set behavior on X2: X-Men United: 'I think he's an extraordinary director'
"He was under a lot of strain," the Succession star said of his former director.
By Maureen Lee LenkerFebruary 03, 2023 at 07:00 PM EST
Lately, Brian Cox seems to have about as much tact as Logan Roy.
After defending author J.K. Rowling over her transphobic comments, now he's throwing support behind his X2: X-Men Uniteddirector Bryan Singer. Singer's reported "unprofessional" behavior on sets has often been a subject of controversy (and even led to his dismissal from Bohemian Rhapsody).
In 2020, The Hollywood Reporter published an exposé detailing an alleged toxic work environment on the first X-Men. The main cast reportedly threatened to walk away from the movie over Singer's behavior. Then, in a 2021 memoir, Alan Cumming, who played Nightcrawler in X2, described a similarly tense environment on set, including the cast staging an intervention for Singer over the director's use of painkillers.
But Cox, who starred as the film's non-mutant villain William Stryker and considers X2 the best of the mutant franchise, praised Singer and defended the director's on-set behavior in a recent interview with Yahoo! Entertainment.
Brian Cox as as William Stryker in 'X2: X-Men United.'
| CREDIT: 20TH CENTURY FOX/EVERETT
Cox explained Singer's behavior, noting that the director was "under a lot of strain" throughout production. "One of his great things was that when he came to a new set, he would have to rethink it," Cox remembered. "He'd have a thought, and then have to rethink [the scene]. So that was always a difficult transition for him. But once he cracked it, he cracked it very quickly and was able to get on with it."
The Succession star also revealed that he was Singer's first choice for the role of Stryker, but that it took some back and forth between the director and the studio. "I think he's an extraordinary director — really, really gifted," Cox added "Certainly I will always be grateful to him because he had confidence in me and got me the role. I played a waiting game and it worked."
The Emmy winner also praised Singer's use of allegory in the film, as it pertains to the mutants and their sense of otherness. "There's real allegory in that film, and it serves a lot of purpose," Cox reflected. "That's why I love Bryan's view on it, because he sees it very much as those who are out of the norm as it were. It's very much an allegory film for him as well."
Singer came out as bisexual in 2014 and many have drawn parallels between the franchise's themes of feeling like an outsider and Singer's sexuality.
Brian Cox and director Bryan Singer
| CREDIT: DAVID M. BENETT/ALAN CHAPMAN/DAVE BENETT/WIREIMAGE; FREDERICK M. BROWN/GETTY
Cox is just the latest X-Men star to weigh in on Singer's on-set antics. When asked earlier this year about his experiences making the X-Men films, Hugh Jackman told The Guardian, "This was my first movie in America, you gotta understand; it was all so new to me. I think it's fair to say that… There are some stories, you know… I think there are some ways of being on set that would not happen now. And I think that things have changed for the better."
He then spoke more broadly, saying, "There's way less tolerance for disrespectful, marginalizing, bullying, any oppressive behavior. There's zero tolerance for it now and people will speak out, and I think that's great."
Jennifer Lawrence, who played Mystique in several X-Men films, also called out Singer, albeit in a more offhand manner, while sitting down for a roundtable discussion with multiple actresses in the awards season conversation for THR and addressing the stereotype that women are too emotional in stressful work environments.
"I mean, I've worked with Bryan Singer," she said. "I've seen emotional men. I've seen the biggest hissy fits thrown on set."
Singer has been the subject of numerous controversies. In addition to the various reports of his on-set behavior, including Rami Malek saying his experience with the director on Bohemian Rhapsody "was not pleasant," Singer has faced numerous allegations of sexual misconduct, including multiple claims of sexual assault of minors.
The director has been sued multiple times since 1997, though all lawsuits have either been dropped or settled out of court. Singer has not been arrested or charged with any crimes and the filmmaker has repeatedly denied the allegations.
that man don't give a f*ck in real life either
Brian Cox defends Bryan Singer's on-set behavior on 'X2: X-Men United'
'Succession' star Brian Cox defended his 'X2: X-Men United' director Bryan Singer when it comes to allegations over his on-set behavior
Brian Cox defends Bryan Singer's on-set behavior on X2: X-Men United: 'I think he's an extraordinary director'
"He was under a lot of strain," the Succession star said of his former director.
By Maureen Lee LenkerFebruary 03, 2023 at 07:00 PM EST
Lately, Brian Cox seems to have about as much tact as Logan Roy.
After defending author J.K. Rowling over her transphobic comments, now he's throwing support behind his X2: X-Men Uniteddirector Bryan Singer. Singer's reported "unprofessional" behavior on sets has often been a subject of controversy (and even led to his dismissal from Bohemian Rhapsody).
In 2020, The Hollywood Reporter published an exposé detailing an alleged toxic work environment on the first X-Men. The main cast reportedly threatened to walk away from the movie over Singer's behavior. Then, in a 2021 memoir, Alan Cumming, who played Nightcrawler in X2, described a similarly tense environment on set, including the cast staging an intervention for Singer over the director's use of painkillers.
But Cox, who starred as the film's non-mutant villain William Stryker and considers X2 the best of the mutant franchise, praised Singer and defended the director's on-set behavior in a recent interview with Yahoo! Entertainment.
Brian Cox as as William Stryker in 'X2: X-Men United.'
| CREDIT: 20TH CENTURY FOX/EVERETT
Cox explained Singer's behavior, noting that the director was "under a lot of strain" throughout production. "One of his great things was that when he came to a new set, he would have to rethink it," Cox remembered. "He'd have a thought, and then have to rethink [the scene]. So that was always a difficult transition for him. But once he cracked it, he cracked it very quickly and was able to get on with it."
The Succession star also revealed that he was Singer's first choice for the role of Stryker, but that it took some back and forth between the director and the studio. "I think he's an extraordinary director — really, really gifted," Cox added "Certainly I will always be grateful to him because he had confidence in me and got me the role. I played a waiting game and it worked."
The Emmy winner also praised Singer's use of allegory in the film, as it pertains to the mutants and their sense of otherness. "There's real allegory in that film, and it serves a lot of purpose," Cox reflected. "That's why I love Bryan's view on it, because he sees it very much as those who are out of the norm as it were. It's very much an allegory film for him as well."
Singer came out as bisexual in 2014 and many have drawn parallels between the franchise's themes of feeling like an outsider and Singer's sexuality.
Brian Cox and director Bryan Singer
| CREDIT: DAVID M. BENETT/ALAN CHAPMAN/DAVE BENETT/WIREIMAGE; FREDERICK M. BROWN/GETTY
Cox is just the latest X-Men star to weigh in on Singer's on-set antics. When asked earlier this year about his experiences making the X-Men films, Hugh Jackman told The Guardian, "This was my first movie in America, you gotta understand; it was all so new to me. I think it's fair to say that… There are some stories, you know… I think there are some ways of being on set that would not happen now. And I think that things have changed for the better."
He then spoke more broadly, saying, "There's way less tolerance for disrespectful, marginalizing, bullying, any oppressive behavior. There's zero tolerance for it now and people will speak out, and I think that's great."
Jennifer Lawrence, who played Mystique in several X-Men films, also called out Singer, albeit in a more offhand manner, while sitting down for a roundtable discussion with multiple actresses in the awards season conversation for THR and addressing the stereotype that women are too emotional in stressful work environments.
"I mean, I've worked with Bryan Singer," she said. "I've seen emotional men. I've seen the biggest hissy fits thrown on set."
Singer has been the subject of numerous controversies. In addition to the various reports of his on-set behavior, including Rami Malek saying his experience with the director on Bohemian Rhapsody "was not pleasant," Singer has faced numerous allegations of sexual misconduct, including multiple claims of sexual assault of minors.
The director has been sued multiple times since 1997, though all lawsuits have either been dropped or settled out of court. Singer has not been arrested or charged with any crimes and the filmmaker has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Must be nice knowing you can say what you want about anyone you want
Is Brian Cox Allowed to Be Saying All This?
“I think cinema is in a very bad way. I think it’s lost its place because of, partly, the grandiose element between Marvel, DC, and all of that.”
www.vulture.com
Is Brian Cox Allowed to Be Saying All This?
By Rebecca Alter, a news writer who covers comedy and pop culture
L-to-the-O-G off, Brian. Photo: Arturo Holmes/WireImage
Scottish actor Brian Cox, 75, was on the cover of a digital British GQ spinoff called GQ Hype in October 2021. This rules, because in the cast of Succession, Cox is surrounded by hypebeasts. Nicholas Braun is certainly a hypebeast. Jeremy Strong portrays one as Kendall. But no one goes full fucking beast to the press like Cox, who can be disarmingly candid. In the Hype interview, Cox says straight up that there will be only one or two more seasons of Succession after this one, “then I think we’re done.” This isn’t the first time Succession’s five-season ceiling has been invoked, but it was a confirmation, and he said it so casually and assuredly. Plus it reminded us of our favorite Succession C-plot: Brian Cox just sort of running his mouth to the press. Season three came and went, and Cox is still oversharing. So we’ll keep updating this post. Below, some highs and lows for Brian Cox’s PR team.
September 23, 2020: This guy just has to weigh in on J.K. Rowling
For context: Cox has two (in his own words) “giant teenage sons” named Orson and Torin. They sound absolutely terrifying. According to an interview with Cox in U.K. Reader’s Digest, he asked one of his sons about what was going on with J.K. Rowling:
So hulking Orson or massive Torin misrepresented why people were really upset with Rowling (hint: It rhymes with Smurf), Cox didn’t look any further into it, and U.K. Reader’s Digest thought this section of the interview would be worth publishing. Based on this anecdote, part of me wants to give Cox the benefit of the doubt and believe he didn’t even realize any of it had to do with transphobia, trans men, and TERF-dom. Maybe he thought this was something else entirely. Maybe not!
September 2, 2021: Cox spills the wrong premiere date on Cameo
In a Cameo message that has since been taken down, Cox said Succession’s third season would premiere October 12. That was not the correct date, but it led many fans to speculate — correctly — that October 12 would be the cast premiere and that, therefore, the new season would premiere on HBO October 17.
September 28, 2021: Cox spoils a surprising plot point
In a profile, Cox told the New York Times, “In this season — I don’t know if I’m supposed to say this — but at one point he has a UTI.” Spoilers, Brian! We never would have guessed Logan would share a plotline with Rebecca Bunch.
October 20, 2021: Cox calls American audiences mindless
Circling back to GQ Hype, Cox began the interview by recounting the U.K. premiere of Succession’s third season: “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.” Oh, Brian.
October 26, 2021: Cox trash-talks other actors in his autobiography
At the height of Succession mania, Cox released his memoir, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, in which he absolutely roasts some of his fellow actors and filmmakers. The Big Issue rounded up some of his most savage burns, and … you didn’t have to body them like that, Brian.
On Michael Caine: “I wouldn’t describe Michael as my favourite, but he’s Michael Caine. An institution. And being an institution will always beat having range.”
On Johnny Depp: “Personable though I’m sure he is, is so overblown, so overrated. I mean, Edward Scissorhands. Let’s face it, if you come on with hands like that and pale, scarred-face makeup, you don’t have to do anything. And he didn’t. And subsequently, he’s done even less.”
On Quentin Tarantino: “I find his work meretricious. It’s all surface. Plot mechanics in place of depth. Style where there should be substance. I walked out of Pulp Fiction … That said, if the phone rang, I’d do it.”
January 14, 2022: Cox negs Game of Thrones, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Harry Potter
In another memoir excerpt, this time shared by GQ, Cox explained why he passed on being involved in most of the big fantasy franchises of our era. Cox says he was offered the role of Robert Baratheon on GoT and said “no” because the pay was piss poor. “When it was originally offered the money was not all that great, shall we say say,” he wrote. “Plus I was going to be killed off fairly early on, so I wouldn’t have had any of the benefits of the long-term effects of a successful series where your wages go up with each passing season. So I passed on it, and Mark Addy was gored by the boar instead.”
Doubling down on his Johnny Depp anti status, Cox explained that he was offered the part of the Governor in the first Pirates movie, eventually played by Jonathan Pryce. “It would have been a money-spinner, but of all the parts in that film it was the most thankless,” he wrote, “plus I would have ended up doing it for film after film and missed out on all the other nice things I’ve done.”
Cox said he would have done “Harry fucking Potter,” but the part of Mad-Eye Moody went to Brendan Gleeson instead: “Brendan was more in fashion than I was at that point, and that’s very much the way of the world in my business, so he got it.”
January 19, 2022: Cox addresses that Jeremy Strong profile
Cox’s memoir rollout continues to just barrel along unabated, like a Katamari Damacy of good quotes. In an interview with Deadline, Cox addressed the highly talked-about Jeremy Strong profile published in The New Yorker. Cox says that doing the profile “was Jeremy’s idea, the whole article. He pushed for it … and people kept warning him about it. In a sense, he got hoisted by it, and I think it was unfortunate.” He goes into tender-dad mode here, saying Strong is brilliant at playing Kendall, “but it’s also exhausting for the rest of us from time to time. But we weather it because we love him.” Cox added that the profile put the sensitive actor in a vulnerable position.
The Deadline interviewer then asked if Cox feels that he, too, has put himself in a vulnerable position by publishing his memoir. To which Cox replied with the now-immortal words, “No, no. Listen, I’m too old, too tired, and too talented for any of that shit.”
June 8, 2022: Cox calls film directors illiterate
“I think where we, as actors, get completely underestimated is our literate sense,” Cox said during The Hollywood Reporter drama actors’ roundtable. “We are really, surprisingly, intuitively literate. We know about subject, verb, and object. We really do. We deal with that every day. And a lot of directors haven’t a fucking clue about that.” Not only is Cox implying that directors, unlike actors, can’t read, but he gets specific with it. Logan Roy comes alive when Cox picks the most unexpected of battles.
September 12, 2022: Cox shades Billions for no discernible reason
This time, he didn’t even make it past the paywall preview before saying something pot-stirring. When asked by The Times if Succession will have a fifth season, he answered, “I don’t know. No one’s had their contracts renewed. Who knows how long it will go on? We don’t want it to overstay its welcome like Billions; that’s past its sell-by date. That will not happen with our show.” We predict the next update to this list will be Cox throwing hands with Paul Giamatti.
January 15, 2023: Cox is still defending J.K. Rowling
On BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Cox is basically teed up to fail when a talk-show host says that when it comes to battles for gender-identity recognition and proper health care, “there’s been a lot of abuse flying around, not least at J.K. Rowling,” which yikes, BBC, you’re really airing this stuff on national television? Anyway, she asks Cox to share his feelings on the way she’s “been treated,” and he answers, “I don’t like the way she has been treated, actually. I think she’s entitled to her opinion, she’s entitled to say what she feels, as a woman, she’s very much entitled to say what she feels about her own body. There’s nobody better to say that, as a woman. So I do feel that people have been a bit high and mighty about their attitude toward J.K. Rowling, quite frankly.” Anyone can talk about their own body as much as they’d like, Brian. That’s not really why people are upset with Joanne, now is it, Brian!!
February 21, 2023: Cox thinks the cure for Jeremy Strong’s method acting is weed
In an interview with Town & Country ahead of Succession’s fourth season, Cox says that co-star Jeremy Strong’s method-acting approach of staying in character as Kendall during the entire shoot is “fucking annoying.” Cox says Strong’s “a very good actor” but that his commitment is not only baffling but unnecessary. Cox mentions a video from 2009, in which he teaches Hamlet’s soliloquy to a 30-month-old toddler named Theo through repetition. At the end of the video, Cox says, “He’s fantastic! He’s the best drama student I’ve ever had!”
“There is something in the little boy that is able to convey the character,” Cox tells Town & Country. “It’s just there and is accessible. It’s not a big fucking religious experience.” So Cox was naturally surprised when, after filming the finale scene of season three, when Kendall confesses to killing someone in a car crash, Strong didn’t break character even after it had wrapped. “He’s still that guy, because he feels if he went somewhere else he’d lose it. But he won’t! Strong is talented. He’s fucking gifted. When you’ve got the gift, celebrate the gift. Go back to your trailer and have a hit of marijuana, you know?”
March 16, 2023: Cox thinks Meghan Markle should’ve seen it coming
In a cover story for Haute Living, Cox espouses the belief that it’s time to say “Fuck it! Move on!” from the British monarchy: “It’s not viable; it doesn’t made any sense.” That first part’s all well and good. But regarding the “innocence” of Meghan Markle, he says, “she knew what she was getting into, and there’s an ambition there clearly as well — the childhood dreams of marrying Prince Charming and all that shit we see as fantasy that could be our lives in our dreams. I’m a Cinderella person, you know.” He doesn’t explain what he means by that last part, but it paints a great mental image.
Brian Cox Is Glad ‘Succession’ Is Ending, and Doubles Down on Hating Method Acting: ‘I Don’t Put Up With That American S—’
Brian Cox discusses ‘Succession' ending, Method acting, saying goodbye to Logan Roy, and that 'fuck off' catchphrase he’ll never escape.
variety.com
Brian Cox Is Glad ‘Succession’ Is Ending, and Doubles Down on Hating Method Acting: ‘I Don’t Put Up With That American S—’
By Kate Aurthur
Last month, when “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong announced that the fourth season of the Emmy-winning HBO drama would be its last, the internet howled in despair. But Brian Cox — who’s played the ferocious mogul Logan Roy since the show’s 2018 premiere — applauds Armstrong’s decision. “He’s very disciplined in that way, and also he’s very British in that way,” says Cox, who is Scottish, and in conversation seems to mention birthplace to explain behavior. “The American inclination is to milk it for all it’s worth.”
Not that Cox, 76, won’t feel the loss. “I’ll miss the cast, I’ll miss the atmosphere, I’ll miss the bonhomie,” he says, ticking off reasons during a recent Zoom interview from London. And Logan? “Logan, probably, I’ll miss a bit. But upward and onwards.”
Cox may be circumspect about the Murdochian founder of Waystar Royco — the mega-corporation at the show’s center, and the prize over which Logan has battled his adult children Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Shiv (Sarah Snook), finally shoving them out entirely at the end of Season 3. But when describing Logan’s motivations, Cox channels him. “They would absolutely destroy it,” he says passionately about the kids’ aspirations to the throne. “It would last in their hands probably no more than five minutes. And yet that’s what he wanted. He wanted his successor. Four seasons to prove it! And they simply haven’t proved it.”
The premiere of Season 4, on March 26, sees Logan isolated, agitated — almost lonely. Alienated from his progeny, who don’t attend his birthday party (the leech-like Connor, played by Alan Ruck, excepted), Logan is out of sorts. “When the kids aren’t around, he is very focused on who he is,” Cox says. “And not in a good way.”
Brian Cox as Logan in the final season of “Succession.”Courtesy of Macall B. Polay/HBO
Yet, speaking for Logan, Cox proceeds to trash them as candidates for his job. Roman is “the gifted one,” but he did accidentally send Logan that dick pic meant for Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron), and can’t be trusted. Shiv is Logan’s “darling,” but “she just doesn’t know who she is, or where she is. And she also can’t stop talking.” As for Kendall, “his own avarice is what’s gotten in the way,” not to mention his “‘Oh, poor me’ kind of thing” that Logan finds “very unpleasant.”
Speaking of dramatic posturing, the two actors have engaged in a public back-and-forth about Method acting, which is Strong’s preferred approach — and a style Cox loathes. He criticized it in his 2021 memoir “Putting the Rabbit in the Hat,” and has said there’s “a certain amount of pain at the root of Jeremy.” In a recent GQ cover story, Strong allowed that Cox has “earned the right to say whatever the fuck he wants,” but refuted his assertion — saying that Kendall is in pain, not he. When asked about that, Cox says, “I’m glad he is not in pain personally,” and praises Strong as “a wonderful actor.” But there’s more. “It’s really a cultural clash,” Cox says. “I don’t put up with all that American shit. I’m sorry. All that sort of ‘I think, therefore I feel.’”
“Just do the job,” Cox continues. “Don’t identify.” He points to the case of estimable Method actor Daniel Day-Lewis, with whom he worked on the 1997 film “The Boxer,” and blames those immersive techniques for Day-Lewis’ early retirement. “He retired at the age of 55, and I’m going, ‘That’s when the roles become really interesting. You’ve retired just at the point when actually the roles get better!’” Cox exclaims. “Of course, Jeremy was Dan Day-Lewis’ assistant. So he’s learned all that stuff from Dan.”
He delivers this soliloquy with an underlying cackle and a glint in his eye. Still, there’s affection in his tone: Cox loves his children, as does Logan. “If he didn’t love his children, it would be so much easier,” he says. “That’s his Achilles’ heel.”
As for Logan, Armstrong has said he wasn’t meant to survive Season 1, and his health has been iffy all along, so we’ll see what happens as “Succession” barrels toward its conclusion. Whatever Logan’s fate, his catchphrase — “Fuck off!” — will follow Cox for the rest of his days.
He tells a story about being invited to an event at Rosanna Arquette’s house, where Ronan Farrow presided over a conversation about the #MeToo movement. “I was standing at the back listening to this very intense stuff, and Farrow being quite brilliant, actually. And I thought, ‘Wow, this is really interesting stuff. Brilliant, great,’” Cox recalls. “It was over, they saw me and they immediately started bringing out their devices and going, ‘Can you tell us to fuck off?’ And I’m going, ‘Jesus Christ. This is a #MeToo meeting! And you’re asking a white dinosaur to tell you to fuck off?’”
That incongruity aside, do people yell it at him in the street? “They don’t yell ‘Fuck off.’ They just say, ‘Can you tell us to fuck off?’ And I happily do so: ‘Fuck off.’”
The Succession Cast Breaks Down the Art of the Insult
By Jason P. Frank, a Vulture writer covering comedy, theater, and music
Photo: Nina Westervelt/Variety via Getty Images
“Didn’t you get the message? I’m not letting you Neanderthals in to rape my company. Ever!” is the first true insult lobbed on Succession, seven minutes into the series premiere. “You’re a bunch of bloated dinosaurs who didn’t even notice the monkeys swinging by till yesterday. Well fuck you, daddy’s boy.” The blood is drawn by Vaulter CEO Lawrence Yee (Rob Yang), roasting premiere failson Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong), after turning down Kendall’s attempted acquisition of Vaulter. Since Yee’s first takedown, HBO’s best boy Succession has transformed insults into status symbols, tools for domination, and entire language systems. At the red-carpet premiere of Succession’s fourth and final season, which airs March 26, we asked some of the cast about what they think about the show’s calling card.
Arian Moayed, who plays Stewie, is among the most acclaimed abusers of wit, often aimed at Kendall. “[Stewie] insults people by going under,” Moayed says. “I throw it underneath, so it’s an insult, but it’s also a power play.” A man of many words, Stewie uses insults “so that everyone in the room knows that he’s a big dick.”
Alan Ruck, meanwhile, constantly swings, but struggles to land a jab as oldest sibling Connor Roy. “They often don’t make sense,” Ruck admits of the presidential candidate’s attempts. “The others are a little sharper that way.” It’s not that Connor is the dumbest Roy. It’s that his malapropisms come from deep within. “He gets all bottled up in his emotions and things come out sideways.”
But the value of the verbal takedown is maybe best shown by the people who are uncomfortable in the big leagues of maligning. Juliana Canfield, who plays Kendall’s assistant, Jess, says that it creates a bit of a hierarchy within an already extremely hierarchical situation. “I think she’s a little impressed by it,” she says. “You have to be really smart and quick on your feet to come up with these turns of phrase, so she’s maybe jealous that she can’t do it quite like they can.” While the rest of the cast of characters can throw out lines about their compatriot’s idiocy and small dicks without a second thought, Canfield imagines Jess “walking down the hall muttering, practicing insults, and then she gets in the room and she’s like, Oh I can’t do it, it’s too mean.”
Kendall’s ex-wife, Rava Roy, who is played by Natalie Gold and gets far too little screen time, however, goes against the grain. While Kendall is obsessing over his own public image and access to celebrity, “I don’t think Rava gives a shit,” Gold says. Instead of knocking people down a peg, she leads with her “bullshit-detector face.” But Rava still gets it in when she’s pushed. In the third-season premiere, after seeing Greg (Nicholas Braun) and Naomi Pierce (Annabelle Dexter-Jones) open an expensive bottle of wine in Kendall’s bunker of shame, Rava tells them, “It’s like when someone breaks something beautiful, and it reminds you that nothing lasts.” That line, Gold says, “Is one of the best insults, and one of the best-written lines of all time. I was very pleased with that.”
www.vulture.com
By Jason P. Frank, a Vulture writer covering comedy, theater, and music
Photo: Nina Westervelt/Variety via Getty Images
“Didn’t you get the message? I’m not letting you Neanderthals in to rape my company. Ever!” is the first true insult lobbed on Succession, seven minutes into the series premiere. “You’re a bunch of bloated dinosaurs who didn’t even notice the monkeys swinging by till yesterday. Well fuck you, daddy’s boy.” The blood is drawn by Vaulter CEO Lawrence Yee (Rob Yang), roasting premiere failson Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong), after turning down Kendall’s attempted acquisition of Vaulter. Since Yee’s first takedown, HBO’s best boy Succession has transformed insults into status symbols, tools for domination, and entire language systems. At the red-carpet premiere of Succession’s fourth and final season, which airs March 26, we asked some of the cast about what they think about the show’s calling card.
Arian Moayed, who plays Stewie, is among the most acclaimed abusers of wit, often aimed at Kendall. “[Stewie] insults people by going under,” Moayed says. “I throw it underneath, so it’s an insult, but it’s also a power play.” A man of many words, Stewie uses insults “so that everyone in the room knows that he’s a big dick.”
Alan Ruck, meanwhile, constantly swings, but struggles to land a jab as oldest sibling Connor Roy. “They often don’t make sense,” Ruck admits of the presidential candidate’s attempts. “The others are a little sharper that way.” It’s not that Connor is the dumbest Roy. It’s that his malapropisms come from deep within. “He gets all bottled up in his emotions and things come out sideways.”
But the value of the verbal takedown is maybe best shown by the people who are uncomfortable in the big leagues of maligning. Juliana Canfield, who plays Kendall’s assistant, Jess, says that it creates a bit of a hierarchy within an already extremely hierarchical situation. “I think she’s a little impressed by it,” she says. “You have to be really smart and quick on your feet to come up with these turns of phrase, so she’s maybe jealous that she can’t do it quite like they can.” While the rest of the cast of characters can throw out lines about their compatriot’s idiocy and small dicks without a second thought, Canfield imagines Jess “walking down the hall muttering, practicing insults, and then she gets in the room and she’s like, Oh I can’t do it, it’s too mean.”
Kendall’s ex-wife, Rava Roy, who is played by Natalie Gold and gets far too little screen time, however, goes against the grain. While Kendall is obsessing over his own public image and access to celebrity, “I don’t think Rava gives a shit,” Gold says. Instead of knocking people down a peg, she leads with her “bullshit-detector face.” But Rava still gets it in when she’s pushed. In the third-season premiere, after seeing Greg (Nicholas Braun) and Naomi Pierce (Annabelle Dexter-Jones) open an expensive bottle of wine in Kendall’s bunker of shame, Rava tells them, “It’s like when someone breaks something beautiful, and it reminds you that nothing lasts.” That line, Gold says, “Is one of the best insults, and one of the best-written lines of all time. I was very pleased with that.”
The Succession Cast Breaks Down the Art of the Insult
“It’s an insult, but it’s also a power play.”
www.vulture.com
Succession Still Has a Few Surprises Left
By Kathryn VanArendonk, a Vulture critic who covers TV and comedy
Photo: HBO
Succession’s fourth and final season is a shining example of the best qualities of long-form storytelling, and of TV in particular. When we’ve lived with characters for multiple seasons, there’s a sense that we know them, and know them well. This is no movie-length fling. It’s a yearslong relationship that creates messy, complex investment and invites obsessive close reading. Characters are pinned down, picked apart, every line and glance and odd way of sitting in chairs noted and charted and considered. We see them. (We hear for them.) They’ve been part of our lives for years; they belong to us. That closeness is a kind of intimacy, but it’s also a way to be lulled into false confidence. How could we be taken by surprise when we’ve examined their every move? And yet, as the Roy family has illustrated over the past three seasons, there’s no better moment to zig than the precise moment when everything is lined up for a big zag.
In its first three seasons, Succession performed that zigzagging pattern over and over again, in character combinations that quickly shift and coalesce around new allegiances and stakes. The baseline premise has always remained the same: One of the Roy family children will eventually assume power of their father Logan Roy’s massive media corporation. But who? And how? And what will they have to sacrifice in order to seize the throne?
Season three ended with a sudden, sharp reorientation of the family power dynamics. After months of striking out on his own and refusing to kowtow to his father’s abusive whims, Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) manages to convince his siblings Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) to join forces, to make a bid that will at last unseat their father from his role as the head of Waystar Royco. The coup d’état attempt happens at a typical Succession setting: a family wedding in Italy, an event meant to demonstrate the warmth of familial bonds, but also the beautiful, luxurious surroundings that family can afford to pay for when they’re sitting atop one of the globe’s dominant media conglomerates. Instead, it’s a scene of fracture and filth. Kendall, Shiv, and Roman kneel together in a moment of grief and sibling togetherness, which can only happen next to the wedding venue’s garbage bins. And at the moment when they’re at last meant to be ascendant, the twist arrives. They’ve been outmaneuvered by the person they least expected: Shiv’s canny, sycophantic, outsider husband Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen), who’s betrayed them in order to get in good with Logan.
It’s precisely the mechanism Succession likes best. Tom has been lurking in the background, trying to find the best way to ingratiate himself with Logan from the very beginning of the series, but Shiv and her siblings are sure they know him. They know he lacks the confidence and aggression to make a move without them. They know he’s on their side and would never betray Shiv. And because they know it so firmly, the twist that feels absolutely inevitable can also be deliciously shocking.
This is roughly where season four begins, in the continuing aftermath of that shocking continental divide. Once again, the Roy family are trying to get all their ducks in a row. Shiv, Kendall, and Roman are trying to suss out the current media landscape, to figure out how to make their own moves now that Logan has retained his grip on Waystar Royco and its news operation ATN. Logan, meanwhile, is doubling down, gripping everything he has with renewed vigor and tyranny. There’s a presidential election coming up. There’s a massive deal to broker between Waystar and GoJo, the streaming-media platform owned by the Musk-esque Swedish billionaire Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård). He’s coming out swinging, and so are the next generation of Roys. It’s not as though either side lacks ambition or power or the money to fuel it all.
As ever on Succession, the question is less about who will end up on top and more about whether any of them will make peace with what they’ve had to do in order to get there. The beginning of Succession’s final season (critics were given the first four of ten episodes) is an exercise in defining the new business battlefield while also charting the new emotional terrain. Roman, ever driven by a need for his father’s approval, finds it hard to keep pushing against Logan’s crusade for control. Shiv and Kendall stand together more firmly, but while their motivations may often coincide, their end goals aren’t always aligned.
In moments, Succession can feel like it’s tipped too far over the edge of absurdity, especially when its dialogue trends toward heightened jokiness. The season-four trailers are full of those lines — Greg (Nicholas Braun) describing Logan looming over the newsroom floor “like if Santa Claus was a hit man,” Tom explaining that some business maneuver is “like Israel-Palestine, but harder, and much more important.” There’s a runner in the early episodes that trends that way too, a faux pas that Greg commits at a Roy family event that seems like it’s only there as a punch-line-generating engine. Those elements of Succession are fun, often in terrible taste, and easy to love because they’re also easy to dismiss.
They’re not what Succession is at its core, though. One of the chief pleasures of TV that goes on for years is that we can be lured into the false belief that we know everything there is to know about a show, only to find that surprises still lurk in the places we assumed we already understood. Much more than its satire of the wealthy or florid insults, what makes Succession so fascinating and electric is that terrible, frightening, unmappable space between what we think we know and what we’ve simply assumed. The Roys are constantly looking at one another, trying to suss out what they’re capable of, trying to guess at whether the internal emotional reality matches the external armor. It’s the same thing we do while watching Succession, and it is a joy to discover all the ways these characters can still sneak up and grab us, all the ways we can still be walloped by a smile, a quick phone call, or a casual family gathering.
www.vulture.com
By Kathryn VanArendonk, a Vulture critic who covers TV and comedy
Photo: HBO
Succession’s fourth and final season is a shining example of the best qualities of long-form storytelling, and of TV in particular. When we’ve lived with characters for multiple seasons, there’s a sense that we know them, and know them well. This is no movie-length fling. It’s a yearslong relationship that creates messy, complex investment and invites obsessive close reading. Characters are pinned down, picked apart, every line and glance and odd way of sitting in chairs noted and charted and considered. We see them. (We hear for them.) They’ve been part of our lives for years; they belong to us. That closeness is a kind of intimacy, but it’s also a way to be lulled into false confidence. How could we be taken by surprise when we’ve examined their every move? And yet, as the Roy family has illustrated over the past three seasons, there’s no better moment to zig than the precise moment when everything is lined up for a big zag.
In its first three seasons, Succession performed that zigzagging pattern over and over again, in character combinations that quickly shift and coalesce around new allegiances and stakes. The baseline premise has always remained the same: One of the Roy family children will eventually assume power of their father Logan Roy’s massive media corporation. But who? And how? And what will they have to sacrifice in order to seize the throne?
Season three ended with a sudden, sharp reorientation of the family power dynamics. After months of striking out on his own and refusing to kowtow to his father’s abusive whims, Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) manages to convince his siblings Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) to join forces, to make a bid that will at last unseat their father from his role as the head of Waystar Royco. The coup d’état attempt happens at a typical Succession setting: a family wedding in Italy, an event meant to demonstrate the warmth of familial bonds, but also the beautiful, luxurious surroundings that family can afford to pay for when they’re sitting atop one of the globe’s dominant media conglomerates. Instead, it’s a scene of fracture and filth. Kendall, Shiv, and Roman kneel together in a moment of grief and sibling togetherness, which can only happen next to the wedding venue’s garbage bins. And at the moment when they’re at last meant to be ascendant, the twist arrives. They’ve been outmaneuvered by the person they least expected: Shiv’s canny, sycophantic, outsider husband Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen), who’s betrayed them in order to get in good with Logan.
It’s precisely the mechanism Succession likes best. Tom has been lurking in the background, trying to find the best way to ingratiate himself with Logan from the very beginning of the series, but Shiv and her siblings are sure they know him. They know he lacks the confidence and aggression to make a move without them. They know he’s on their side and would never betray Shiv. And because they know it so firmly, the twist that feels absolutely inevitable can also be deliciously shocking.
This is roughly where season four begins, in the continuing aftermath of that shocking continental divide. Once again, the Roy family are trying to get all their ducks in a row. Shiv, Kendall, and Roman are trying to suss out the current media landscape, to figure out how to make their own moves now that Logan has retained his grip on Waystar Royco and its news operation ATN. Logan, meanwhile, is doubling down, gripping everything he has with renewed vigor and tyranny. There’s a presidential election coming up. There’s a massive deal to broker between Waystar and GoJo, the streaming-media platform owned by the Musk-esque Swedish billionaire Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård). He’s coming out swinging, and so are the next generation of Roys. It’s not as though either side lacks ambition or power or the money to fuel it all.
As ever on Succession, the question is less about who will end up on top and more about whether any of them will make peace with what they’ve had to do in order to get there. The beginning of Succession’s final season (critics were given the first four of ten episodes) is an exercise in defining the new business battlefield while also charting the new emotional terrain. Roman, ever driven by a need for his father’s approval, finds it hard to keep pushing against Logan’s crusade for control. Shiv and Kendall stand together more firmly, but while their motivations may often coincide, their end goals aren’t always aligned.
In moments, Succession can feel like it’s tipped too far over the edge of absurdity, especially when its dialogue trends toward heightened jokiness. The season-four trailers are full of those lines — Greg (Nicholas Braun) describing Logan looming over the newsroom floor “like if Santa Claus was a hit man,” Tom explaining that some business maneuver is “like Israel-Palestine, but harder, and much more important.” There’s a runner in the early episodes that trends that way too, a faux pas that Greg commits at a Roy family event that seems like it’s only there as a punch-line-generating engine. Those elements of Succession are fun, often in terrible taste, and easy to love because they’re also easy to dismiss.
They’re not what Succession is at its core, though. One of the chief pleasures of TV that goes on for years is that we can be lured into the false belief that we know everything there is to know about a show, only to find that surprises still lurk in the places we assumed we already understood. Much more than its satire of the wealthy or florid insults, what makes Succession so fascinating and electric is that terrible, frightening, unmappable space between what we think we know and what we’ve simply assumed. The Roys are constantly looking at one another, trying to suss out what they’re capable of, trying to guess at whether the internal emotional reality matches the external armor. It’s the same thing we do while watching Succession, and it is a joy to discover all the ways these characters can still sneak up and grab us, all the ways we can still be walloped by a smile, a quick phone call, or a casual family gathering.
Succession Still Has a Few Surprises Left
In its final season, the HBO juggernaut keeps redefining itself, charting new business battlefields and emotional terrain.
www.vulture.com
Jeremy Strong says shooting Succession series finale was like skiing down a double black diamond
"That was incredibly fulfilling," Strong tells EW of filming the Emmy-winning show's last episode.
By Clark CollisMarch 22, 2023 at 04:22 PM EDT
Turns out you can't keep a self-involved, hyper-ambitious, Porsche-driving billionaire's son down.
At the end of Succession season 3, Jeremy Strong's business executive Kendall Roy was in a very dark place, wracked with guilt over his involvement in an accidental death and facing professional obsolescence thanks to his father, Brian Cox's Logan Roy, plotting to sell the family's media company, Waystar Royco. But Strong reveals that the start of the show's fourth and final season sees Kendall back on the good foot.
"At the end of season 3, we left Kendall on the ground in this dirt parking lot in Italy, in a moment of terrible personal reckoning and devastation," Strong tells EW. "We come back to the story not long after, but there's been time for him to put himself together again. We find him in LA, popping sunflower seeds in his mouth, and driving like a Porsche Taycan, and feeling pretty good. Kendall has always been on a pretty individual, and individualistic, path in terms of his pursuit of the crown, per se. I think now he needs his brother and sister [Kieran Culkin's Roman and Sarah Snook's Shiv], he needs to lean on them. They've joined forces to start this endeavor called the Hundred. It's given him a new purpose. He needs something, he says to them, you know, he refers to his drug use, he needs something to fill that hole in him that demands to be filled by something."
Jeremy Strong in 'Succession' season 4
| CREDIT: CLAUDETTE BARIUS/HBO
Succession creator Jesse Armstrong recently revealed to The New Yorker that the new season of the show will be its last. Strong admits to "mixed feelings" on the matter of the Emmy-winning series coming to a conclusion.
"It's been such a gift, a role like this, getting to play what I think, in terms of the writing, is one of the great modern anti-heroes," he says. "I was also ready for it to be done. I've advocated before now that it should be done for Kendall. I've felt that his arc has been close to, if not at, the point of running its course. There's only so much catharsis and so much tragedy that a character can undergo before there's nowhere left. So I do feel a sense of completion in the best possible way and I also feel a concomitant sense of loss."
"I'll miss the process, I'll miss – well, I won't always miss the process," continues a smiling Strong, who famously brings a Method approach to his portrayal of the tortured Kendall. "I'll miss the writing."
So, what was it like to shoot the series finale?
"Certainly, there's an awareness on the periphery that this is it, but in a way there's no room for that," Strong says. "You can't both be saying goodbye to a television show and be doing what you need to do at the same time – or I can't. I will say that the final episode, the culmination of everything, where Jesse really brings everything to its crisis, was like a double black diamond to go down. That's what you want as an actor, and so that was incredibly fulfilling."
Succession season 4 premieres Sunday, March 26, on HBO and HBO Max.
ew.com
"That was incredibly fulfilling," Strong tells EW of filming the Emmy-winning show's last episode.
By Clark CollisMarch 22, 2023 at 04:22 PM EDT
Turns out you can't keep a self-involved, hyper-ambitious, Porsche-driving billionaire's son down.
At the end of Succession season 3, Jeremy Strong's business executive Kendall Roy was in a very dark place, wracked with guilt over his involvement in an accidental death and facing professional obsolescence thanks to his father, Brian Cox's Logan Roy, plotting to sell the family's media company, Waystar Royco. But Strong reveals that the start of the show's fourth and final season sees Kendall back on the good foot.
"At the end of season 3, we left Kendall on the ground in this dirt parking lot in Italy, in a moment of terrible personal reckoning and devastation," Strong tells EW. "We come back to the story not long after, but there's been time for him to put himself together again. We find him in LA, popping sunflower seeds in his mouth, and driving like a Porsche Taycan, and feeling pretty good. Kendall has always been on a pretty individual, and individualistic, path in terms of his pursuit of the crown, per se. I think now he needs his brother and sister [Kieran Culkin's Roman and Sarah Snook's Shiv], he needs to lean on them. They've joined forces to start this endeavor called the Hundred. It's given him a new purpose. He needs something, he says to them, you know, he refers to his drug use, he needs something to fill that hole in him that demands to be filled by something."
Jeremy Strong in 'Succession' season 4
| CREDIT: CLAUDETTE BARIUS/HBO
Succession creator Jesse Armstrong recently revealed to The New Yorker that the new season of the show will be its last. Strong admits to "mixed feelings" on the matter of the Emmy-winning series coming to a conclusion.
"It's been such a gift, a role like this, getting to play what I think, in terms of the writing, is one of the great modern anti-heroes," he says. "I was also ready for it to be done. I've advocated before now that it should be done for Kendall. I've felt that his arc has been close to, if not at, the point of running its course. There's only so much catharsis and so much tragedy that a character can undergo before there's nowhere left. So I do feel a sense of completion in the best possible way and I also feel a concomitant sense of loss."
"I'll miss the process, I'll miss – well, I won't always miss the process," continues a smiling Strong, who famously brings a Method approach to his portrayal of the tortured Kendall. "I'll miss the writing."
So, what was it like to shoot the series finale?
"Certainly, there's an awareness on the periphery that this is it, but in a way there's no room for that," Strong says. "You can't both be saying goodbye to a television show and be doing what you need to do at the same time – or I can't. I will say that the final episode, the culmination of everything, where Jesse really brings everything to its crisis, was like a double black diamond to go down. That's what you want as an actor, and so that was incredibly fulfilling."
Succession season 4 premieres Sunday, March 26, on HBO and HBO Max.
Jeremy Strong says shooting 'Succession' series finale was like skiing down a double black diamond
Jeremy Strong tells EW that shooting the 'Succession' series finale was 'like a double black diamond to go down.' 'That's what you want as an actor, and so that was incredibly fulfilling,' he says.
‘Succession’ Tops Itself Again With a Brisk, Brutal and Hilarious Final Season: TV Review
With the series finale of 'Succession' in sight, Jesse Armstrong's show has a full tank of gas and an 800-pound gorilla’s foot on the pedal.
variety.com
‘Succession’ Tops Itself Again With a Brisk, Brutal and Hilarious Final Season: TV Review
By Joshua Alston
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Courtesy of HBO
If there was any debate about “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong’s place among the upper echelon of television storytellers, Armstrong snuffed it out by declaring the show’s fourth season would be its last. In interviews with Armstrong after he announced his intention to go out on top, he talked about how the show’s title is a promise to the audience. For “Succession” to have real stakes, Logan (Brian Cox) has to decide, finally and definitively, which of his silver-tongued, sharp-elbowed children is most prepared to assume his throne.
It bodes well for the final 10 episodes of “Succession” that Armstrong understands the limitations of constantly reshuffling the same deck. Because in a show in which every character is after the same prize, the prize becomes just another MacGuffin, even when it’s a multibillion-dollar media and entertainment conglomerate. Given Logan’s rapidly deteriorating cognitive condition, a decision needs to be made sooner than later, as much as Logan would prefer to use the promotion as a psychological cudgel against his children for as long as possible.
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While a formal succession plan is more important than ever, it’s never felt further away than it does following the shocking realignments in last season’s finale. To briefly recap: Insecure maverick Kendall (Jeremy Strong) confesses to his siblings Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) that Logan brought him to heel after covering up a car crash, one that killed a young waiter due to a Ketamine-addled Kendall behind the wheel. Kendall’s mental fog lifts once the trio figures out that Logan’s pending sale of the company to tech mogul Lukas Mattson (Alexander Skarsgård) will leave them with the murkiest path to the CEO’s office.
After three seasons of nonstop scheming and transactional truces, a palpable esprit de corps takes root as the siblings join forces and turn their weapons toward their father. And yet, despite their unprecedented joint defection, the biggest knife twist of Season 3’s finale was the revelation of who snuffed out the Roy childrens’ mutiny before it could ignite. Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen), whose name pleads to be said in full, finally grew tired of playing long-suffering husband to Shiv (and professional crash test dummy to Logan) and exposed Shiv’s scheme in order to fortify his position in the company.
The final season has a markedly different feel from its earliest moments, with the Roy family cleaved down the middle, and all three scions on the outs with their father at the same time. Logan is more petulant than usual at his birthday party, frustrated by all the estrangement, but constitutionally unable to apologize for placing the company outside his childrens’ grasp. Naturally, Logan’s funk is only partially lifted by the presence of his oldest and goofiest son Connor (Alan Ruck), who’s always on good terms with Daddy thanks to his indifference to following in Logan’s footsteps.
Meanwhile, the rebel faction of Kendall, Shiv, and Roman, some months after their demoralizing loss, have joined forces to launch a media brand all their own. Their new venture, which sounds like a supercharged Axios, isn’t nearly as fulfilling as they imagined it to be. But no one wants to admit how much they miss the slash-and-burn maneuvering of the family business. And though they’re now working toward the same goal, there’s no trust between them. Nor should there be, since their shared addiction to back-channeling hasn’t waned just because the outright hostility among them has.
There’s also no trust between Shiv and Tom, whose relationship has never been the stuff of romance novels, but now appears irreparably broken due to Tom executing the exact play Shiv would have in his position. Still, there’s a tenderness underlying the resentment between Mr. and Mrs. Wambsgans, and the four episodes provided to critics find the couple in the most complicated phase of their fraught marriage. The “Succession” fandom’s other favorite “couple,” Roman and Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron) are also on the outs after Roman accidentally revealed their psychosexual gamesmanship to Logan. And Logan is not far from souring on Gerri himself, following her arguably too effective stint as interim CEO.
Lest anyone think corporate romance is dead at Waystar Royco, the worst-kept-secret relationship between Logan and his quietly menacing executive assistant Kerry (Zoë Winters), whose character gets a welcome expansion. (Her growing influence is responsible for the season’s funniest scenes so far.) And no discussion of “Succession’s” hottest couples is complete without Tom and Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun), who swore a giddy oath to each other once Tom secured his path into Logan’s inner circle. Now that both are effectively single, they’re two wild and crazy guys on the prowl, and have given themselves a squad name too beautifully stupid to spoil.
The early episodes don’t have quite the same sense of urgency as past season premieres, both of which began in the minutes following the closing bombshell. This season’s minor time jump is a shrewd choice all the same, giving the characters a bit of time to process the Roy family’s biggest crack-up yet. But with the main characters estranged, “Succession” still gets to deliver the scenes it does better than any other: harried cell phone calls. It’s those calls, after all, that gave the Season 2 and 3 premieres a jolt of electricity. Often with “Succession” the talk is the action, and the stagy insult comedy of the dialogue never gets a better showcase than when Kendall is shouting into a phone.
One pivotal episode of Season 4 essentially plays as a nearly hour-long conference call, providing the entire ensemble with some of their best acting moments in the entire series. While the season takes a bit longer to catch fire than its predecessors, once the shady dealing begins in earnest, “Succession” is more intense than ever. And with the series finale in sight, the show has a full tank of gas and an 800-pound gorilla’s foot on the pedal. Better than ever doing business with you, “Succession.”
The final season of “Succession” premieres Sunday, March 26 at 9 p.m. on HBO.
Which one of yall the daddy 
Which one of yall the daddy
I ain't saying it's me, but this is my latest post on Facebook
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A Ranking of the Best F-words in ‘Succession’ History
Over the course of 29 episodes, the HBO drama has made the word “fuck” its MVP. Before Season 4 premieres, here are the 100 best deployments of the word.
www.theringer.com
The Profane Poetry of ‘Succession’
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www.theringer.com
‘Succession’ and the F-word, by the Numbers
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The Making of Tom Wambsgans
Before the final season of ‘Succession,’ Matthew Macfadyen and others explain the creation and expansion of the show’s most unlikely power player
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‘Succession’ Knows Exactly What’s at Stake. Do Its Characters?
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www.theringer.com
Why We Can’t Help but Love the Awful People in ‘Succession’
The Roys are a group of genuinely loathsome, irritating characters with few, if any, redeeming qualities. How has ‘Succession’ managed to make us care about them for so long?
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Jeremy Strong Is Still Invested in Kendall Roy’s Whole Deal
The no. 1 boy of ‘Succession’ is inextricably linked with the actor who plays him. And for better or worse, the pair’s evolution will play a big part in the show’s fourth and final season.
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State of the Disunion: The ‘Succession’ Preseason Power Rankings
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‘Succession’: The Real People Who Inspired the HBO Hit
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www.hollywoodreporter.com
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