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Movies & TV

26th Apr 2023

The latest Succession episode has a hidden link to an amazing sci-fi movie

Simon Kelly

Succession Ex Machina

We knew that house looked familiar.

In the latest episode of Succession, the crew head to Norway for a retreat held by the GoJo founder and resident weirdo Lukas Matsson (played by Alexander Skarsgard).

The area which they stay, which features a modern, Scandi-designed hotel and a building only accessible by gondola is set in Norway’s Valldal Valley. The hotel itself, called the Juvet Landscape Hotel, is actually available to rent, if you’re so inclined.

Upon watching the episode, some eagle-eyed viewers may get a sense of familiarity of the sleekly designed hotel. As it turns out, it was also the location used for the 2014 film Ex Machina.

The Succession hotel also featured in Ex Machina

The Juvet was the setting for Oscar Isaac’s robot-loving genius’ home in Alex Garland’s sci-fi flick, which also starred Domhnall Gleeson.

Although we didn’t get any scenes of Kendall throwing absolute shapes like Isaac in Ex Machina, just being reminded of that scene is enough for us, to be honest.

“When we saw images of the remarkable architecture and setting of Juvet we got really excited,” Succession producer Scott Ferguson told Variety. “Norway is a glorious, natural setting. It immediately seemed like a perfect place for a family gathering in the series. We studied different countries, but we realized Norway just has this exceptional landscape—like nowhere else in the world.”

Ferguson also revealed that the Atlantic Ocean Road (used in Bond film No Time to Die) was used for the scenes of the Roys travelling to the destination.

“Mark and I travelled over in May,” he continued. “We had a look in the region around Åndalsnes, looked at the gondola with the restaurant on top of the mountains. They also had an airport in the area which we were looking for in the story. Norway had everything we were looking for — in just utterly gorgeous settings. Then we had to figure out how to do the shooting in these locations, practically. We got great support from HBO, and we’ve spent the last several months figuring out a plan and then putting it into place.”

If you want to rent out a room in the hotel, you can do so for anywhere between €300 – €1000 depending on your room. If you’ve any dreams of living the luxurious life of the Roy siblings, it could be worth a visit.

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