‘Succession’ Star Brian Cox On Saying Goodbye To The HBO Series And If He Is Happy With The Ending

This past Sunday’s new episode of Succession threw its audience quite the curve ball, dramatically altering the trajectory of the series as we know it by killing off one of its main characters.

If you have yet to catch up on the third episode of season four, this is right time to stop reading. Being a show often centered around family deception, greed and turmoil, the latest episode brought a heavy sense of sadness and likely regret to its characters with the death of its leading patriarch Logan Roy.

The real silver lining here is that the big loss on-screen has resulted in a big win off-screen for HBO, reaching a series high of 2.5 million viewers Sunday night across all platforms. That new record comes just two episodes after what was the series high of 2.3 million viewers for its fourth and final season premiere episode.

As much as Logan’s death has come as a shock, the demise of the Waystar Royco CEO has really been a long time coming. Let’s not forget that Logan was experiencing health issues from the very start of Succession with a stroke in the pilot episode. Between a stroke, a UTI and other setbacks throughout the series, Logan ultimately met his end by fatally collapsing on his plane, before appointing one of his grown children or a trusted colleague with the keys to take over his media empire.

Forbes spoke with Cox about Succession’s final season to see if he is satisfied with how these storylines are wrapping up.

“I am happy because the integrity of the show is what is important,” Cox said. “[Succession creator] Jesse [Armstrong] is phenomenal in that way. He has maintained that integrity right to the end.”

Cox added, thinking back to the Succession season four premiere party last month with his cast and crew, “It’s tough – everyone was joking because Jesse would say, ‘I’m so sad it’s over. I’m really sad.’ And then somebody shouted out and said, ‘Well, it was you that decided it was going to be over!’”

With this major character death and still seven episodes ahead before Succession takes its final bow, the storyline is sure to pivot from the long-running narrative of Logan being at odds with his kids to now who will take control of Waystar Royco and its massive fortune.

Cox said of his character Logan, “All he’s ever wanted from the word ‘go’ is that one of his children will succeed him, and no one stepped up to the mark.”

Even though Logan seems to have taken his final fictional breath, time will only tell if he will somehow make another appearance on the series in a potential flashback or some sort of other unexpected maneuver. Reflecting on his experiences over these four seasons, what will Cox miss most as Succession comes to an end?

“The cast, the crew – we’ve been a very, very happy show,” Cox said. “These are people that I’ve been living with. I’m going to miss them. The show? No, I’m fine with the show [ending]. The integrity of the show is the fact it finishes when it should finish. Its sense of finite is what makes it the show it is.”