‘Succession’ Star Alan Ruck Gives Hints About The Series Finale

Alan Ruck may play the outsider sibling Connor Roy on Succession, but with just the 90-minute series finale episode left for the Emmy-winning HBO series, who will ultimately end up on top of the Roy family dynasty really remains anyone’s game.

Ruck, 66, has embodied the rather determined (yet often misguided) Roy character on-screen throughout the entirety of these four seasons. Being the eldest son of the late media mogul Logan Roy (played by Brian Cox) and having a less-than-impressive campaign run for President of the United States, Ruck recently reflected upon what he will miss and not miss about his Succession character.

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“He’s kind of license to steal because they [the writers] have given me such crazy things to say, so part of the fun is trying to figure out what kind of a person says this kind of stuff and believes it,” Ruck told me. “It’s been a really fun challenge. I guess if there’s anything I won’t miss, it’s being the family punching bag because you do feel that after a while, when everybody calls you an idiot and you don’t have a snappy comeback. It’s just like Oh, I guess I’m an idiot.”

When Succession first premiered in 2018, Connor was one of four Roy children in the running to succeed their father in taking over his right-wing media empire Waystar Royco. When I asked Ruck if he found inspiration when initially crafting Connor from any real-life media family circles, he said he took hints from the show creator Jesse Armstrong and the other writers, and used his own imagination to fill in the gaps.

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Let’s not forget that before Succession, Ruck was already an established actor in Hollywood, with several decades of work under his belt, including arguably one of his most iconic roles as Cameron Frye in the 1986 John Hughes comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. So, I wondered how his experiences filming on the set of Succession have been different from his previous projects.

Ruck said, “I haven’t done that much drama. I’ve done a lot of comedy. I’ve never been a series regular on a drama – not really. Even though it’s a darkly funny drama – it’s a wickedly funny drama and some people might typify it as a comedy but I actually think it’s more like life. It’s just everything, so that’s really been satisfying to operate on that level.”

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Even with much of Succession’s storyline and overall theme centered around the competitive nature between the Roy siblings and their self-centered ambitions to achieve more power and wealth, Ruck said that the reality of the interaction between actors could not be more opposite from their on-screen characters.

“I think the show benefits from the fact that these miserable, caustic characters are played by lovely, funny, intelligent, warm people. It adds something underneath it. The fact that these awful people are being played by wonderful actors, it adds a certain warmth to it, that maybe you start to like these people against your better judgment.”

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When speaking further about his sibling co-stars, actors Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin, Ruck added, “We were just lucky. We just caught lightning in the bottle that way when they cast all of us. We just immediately gelled.”

Succession fans may be surprised to learn that Ruck is actually only 10 years younger than Cox, though he has played his son throughout this series. Ruck said that the show introduced Connor in season one as 10 years younger than his actual age, and aged Cox’s Logan 10 years older than the actor actually was. He added that he and Cox “probably have more in common as friends than we would have as father and son.”

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Looking back on his entire performance as Connor and seeing his character’s development and storyline play out on-screen, what would Ruck say to his Succession character, if only he could?

“Just take it easy. Acknowledge life and let it go – maybe just take things a little easier. They all suffer from self-imposed drama. I also might say get some better therapy. Start talking to someone.”

Now with Succession about to take its final bow, I concluded my conversation with Ruck by seeing if he thinks viewers will be frustrated or satisfied with the way this story ends for Connor and the Roys in the series finale.

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“I’d say you’re going to get all of that! I think it is very satisfying, and then it might be frustrating in some ways like What?! Wait, what?! because Jesse is always surprising. It’s never going to be what you think it’s going to be.”