Brian Cox says Succession plot twist came ‘too early’

Simon Kelly

“I looked on it, wrongly, as a form of rejection.”

With less than a week to go until the final episode of Succession, there’s no doubting the last few episodes have each been a masterstroke in television. Creator Jesse Armstrong ultimately made the decision to call time on a series that could have gone on indefinitely, in order to finish on a high, and what a high it’s been.

However, star of the show, up until his character’s death in episode three of the final season, Brian Cox has said that he thinks Logan Roy’s demise arrived ‘too early’ in the season, despite the storyline being handled ‘brilliantly.’

“He [Armstrong] decided to make Logan die, I think ultimately too early,” the 76-year-old told the BBC.

“I mean, he’d made him die in the third episode. I think maybe could have died in, I would have thought, the fifth or sixth episode. That would have been appropriate.”

Brian Cox on Logan Roy's final episode of Succession — Brian Cox as Logan Roy in Succession (Photo: HBO)

Brian Cox on his character’s death

Logan’s death came as a surprise to most viewers, who were shocked that his character wasn’t kept alive until the final few episodes.

However, with season four’s episodes following a day-by-day account of the action, it’s clear to see the intention of Armstrong to bring the final season to a slow crescendo in the aftermath of Logan’s death.

Asked if he considered suggesting to Armstrong that Logan was being killed off too soon, Cox said: “No, I didn’t. There’s no point going down that road, especially with somebody like Jesse, because he’s already made a plan.”

“It was an odd feeling,” Cox said of his character’s death. “I looked on it, wrongly, as a form of rejection. I was fine with it ultimately, but I did feel a little bit rejected, I felt a little bit, ‘oh, all the work I’ve done. And finally I’m going to end up as a New Yorker on a carpet of a plane’.”

“And it was a great scene. That’s why I didn’t watch it, because I have no interest in watching. My own death will come soon enough.

“But I just thought, ‘wow’, you know, he did it brilliantly. It was a brilliant scene, the whole act.”

The final episode of Succession airs on NOW on Monday, May 29.