Succession creator on why this important scene wasn't shown
Succession season 4, episode 3 spoilers follow.
Succession boss Jesse Armstrong has revealed why a major moment from the series' most recent episode wasn't actually shown on screen.
The HBO black comedy-drama is only a few episodes into its fourth and final season, but it might have just delivered what will be remembered as the defining episode of the entire series.
Below the season 4 trailer, you're going to get full spoilers, so proceed with caution.
Related: Succession's Matthew Macfadyen teases "good ending" to the series
Logan Roy, one of TV's most recognisable and indomitable characters from recent years, died during the HBO show's most recent episode.
Whilst on a flight to go strike a major deal with a Swedish tech mogul (rather than going to his eldest son Connor's wedding), Logan suffered from heart failure. He was officially pronounced deceased upon landing.
Interestingly, we didn't see that actually happen. In fact, Brian Cox was barely in the episode at all, although we saw plenty of his unmoving body to let us know that this wasn't a fake-out.
Explaining why he didn't have his award-winning actor deliver a death scene for such an iconic character, series creator Jesse Armstrong said that he wanted to focus the episode on exploring the reactions to Logan's death.
"We didn't really have a death scene for Logan, and that was obviously intentional," Armstrong said in a behind-the-scenes video.
"We wanted to capture a feeling of death that people experience in the modern era, of separation of communication over phone and email."
Elsewhere in the video, Connor Roy actor Alan Ruck shared: "These things happen in all our lives, with parents or anyone you love, anyone in your life. And something happens and they're just gone."
"I think it's gonna have an extraordinary impact," he added.
Related: Succession star Sarah Snook reveals she’s pregnant with first child
Roman Roy actor Kieran Culkin said he found it emotionally and physically traumatic performing the scenes over and over again during filming.
Meanwhile, Sarah Snook, who plays Shiv Roy, shared that she had to try to disconnect from her emotions in order to keep her performance feeling fresh. Ruck said that seeing Snook in tears during one take set him off — no acting required.
"Shooting the episode, honestly, it was quite exciting because it felt high-risk," Armstrong noted.
Director Mark Mylod went so far as to call the camera "sadistically voyeuristic" in this episode. The episode's team decided to film the six or so scenes they'd been shooting over a span of a few days as one 27-minute scene — and a lot of that made it into the final cut.
Although Logan died in this episode, Cox has teased that this won't be the last we see of him on the show...
Succession airs Sunday nights on HBO in the US, and Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK.
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