Brian Cox says Logan’s ‘Succession’ death came ‘too early’: ‘I was fine with it ultimately, but I did feel a little bit rejected’

Christopher Rosen
·5 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

In a new interview with BBC News, Emmy-nominated “Succession” star Brian Cox said his recently deceased character, Logan Roy, was killed off “too early” in the show’s final season.

Logan died in episode three, “Connor’s Wedding,” and the actions of his children and advisors, as they attempt to fill the void left by the Roy patriarch’s absence, have made up the bulk of the season’s plot.

More from GoldDerby

Cox said it was creator Jesse Armstrong who decided Logan would die early in the season. He credited Armstrong with writing “a great scene.” 

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

But Cox said he didn’t express his surprise at the early death, because of Armstrong’s convictions. “There’s no point going down that road, especially with somebody like Jesse, because he’s already made a plan,” Cox added. 

Still, Cox said that Logan’s death left him with an “odd feeling.”

“I looked on it, wrongly, as a form of rejection. I was fine with it ultimately, but I did feel a little bit rejected,” he said. “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 [where Logan died].’”

This isn’t the first time Cox has spoken about Logan’s death, of course. In interviews published after the third episode, the star expressed some ambivalence about the timing of his character’s demise.

“Well, they had to end it somehow, and it was Jesse’s choice,” Cox said to the New York Times when asked what he thought of Logan’s death. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, the problem with a lot of television, particularly American television, is it goes past its sell-by date. And the great thing about Jesse and the writers is they wouldn’t do that. It was difficult for them because it wasn’t easy to bring this to an end. And I think Jesse found it sad — at the premiere, somebody shouted out, ‘Well, if it was so sad, why did you do it?’ But I think there are lots of reasons for Jesse finishing it. And I applaud the fact that he did that. It was courageous because everybody loves the show. Always leave the party when it’s at its height, not when it’s going down.”

In the same interview, Cox said he thought Logan’s death had tweaked the stakes for the show in a good way. “It does change the stakes. The main protagonist is gone. And the kids are having to deal with it, or not. I think it’s going to be hard next week for a lot of the audience because they’re going to miss Logan. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing — I think that’s actually quite a good thing,” he said.

Speaking to BBC, Cox claimed fans of the show have approached him and expressed some displeasure that Logan is no longer a part of the show. 

“They said, ‘No, I’m not going to watch anymore. You’ve gone, I’m not watching,’” Cox said. “Which I think is unfortunate and unnecessary because the show is about the succession. So you need to see what’s happening in the wake of his demise. But, you know, I’m not the writer.”

The actual writer is Armstrong, who was credited with the script for “Connor’s Wedding.” Speaking to The New Yorker in an interview published after Logan’s death, Armstrong said his “one regret” about killing Logan off was losing Cox as a main collaborator, “the slightly personal feeling of him not being there all through the journey.”

But as Armstrong noted at the time, Logan is a main presence throughout the season – and his funeral in episode nine stood out as a highpoint of the entire series.

“Part of making it embedded in the show was not putting it at episode nine, because then we’re creating a narrative whereby death is somehow the thing that happens as the bitter cherry on the cake of the show, and I think that wouldn’t be quite right,” Armstrong said of the timing of Logan’s death. “Because that’s not how the shape of life is.”

Despite only appearing in four episodes in Season 4, Cox will compete in the Best Drama Actor category at this year’s Emmys. According to the Gold Derby combined odds, Cox should land his third nomination for playing Logan, this time alongside his onscreen sons Jeremy Strong (who defeated Cox at the 2020 ceremony) and Kieran Culkin (who has previously been nominated in the Best Drama Supporting Actor category).

PREDICT the 2023 Emmy nominees through July 12

Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?

SIGN UP for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions

Best of GoldDerby

Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.