Succession director reveals how they kept big character’s death secret

Nobody got a chance to pre-grieve.

With the final episode of Succession now less than a week a way, we're reflecting on what has been an incredible send-off season. Despite multiple huge moments over the last few episodes, there's only one that stands out amongst the rest; Logan Roy's death. While it came as a big shock for viewers, director and producer Mark Mylod has revealed that the writing crew kept it as much of a secret as they could from the cast too, by swapping out Logan's name for his brother Ewan (played by James Cromwell) Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Mylod said, "A lot was going on that I wasn’t directly privy to, but we did have a lot of conversations and planning meetings right at the start of the season as to how we could handle this.

"HBO were fantastic with their resources and the advice they gave with the benefit of their experience, trying to keep a secret in the social media universe. The first steps were quite basic. From episode three onward, after Logan passes, we basically replaced the word 'Logan' in every script with the name Ewan So we played it as if Jamie’s character had passed."

When it came to the funeral in episode nine, we billed it in all of our scripts, and even in posters outside the church, as if it was Ewan’s funeral. That was phase one."

"I wouldn’t say no to a top bunk." pic.twitter.com/J9Yos13cXM

— Succession (@succession) May 22, 2023

How did the Succession crew keep Logan's death a secret?

It turns out that swapping out the character names on the scripts was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to keeping the big secret under wraps. There was also the small matter of the hundreds of extras walking around set with the potential to leak the big reveal. As it turns out, signing an non-disclosure agreement wasn't enough for peace of mind.

"We didn’t just ask them to sign an NDA. I spoke to them, the HBO team did, and we all spoke to them, asking them to keep the secret: 'Let’s not spoil the enjoyment for fans of the show. Let’s have this as our little secret. Let’s not tell anybody. Keep it quiet. Obviously, tell your partners at home, but please keep it under your hats.' It was out of goodwill, really. Everybody obliged. I’m really tremendously grateful for that, and actually quite moved by that. It can be such a cynical world sometimes. That everybody kept the secret was really fantastic.”

Mylod has directed sixteen episodes of the much-loved show. He's helmed four of the final season; the season opener 'The Munsters', 'Connor's Wedding', 'Church and State' and next week's much-anticipated finale. You can check out the trailer for the final episode of Succession below.

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