‘Succession’ Season 4: Nicholas Braun On Greg’s “Another Gear”; Brian Cox Says Logan Roy Loves His Kids

Anthony D'Alessandro
·3 min read
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Today on Emmy nom day, many of those nominated for HBO’s Succession were in the midst of production on season 4, however, we caught up with Nicholas Braun, who received his second Supporting Actor in a Drama Series nod, as well as Logan Roy himself, Brian Cox, who earned his fourth Primetime Emmy nomination today.

Braun’s Greg, a distant cousin to the Roy media dynasty, has always come off as the wet-behind-the-ears, over-pleasing relative who’s looking to find his place at Waystar Royco.

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However, one can’t help but think there will come a day when Greg does in all his despicable relatives.

As we saw at the end of season 3, Greg’s acerbic mentor, Tom Wambsgan (played by Matthew Macfadyen, also a 2x Supporting Actor in a Drama Series nominee today) has already gone there, throwing his in-laws, Logan Roy’s children, under the bus, and telling the patriarch and media titan that they were plotting against him all along.

Braun teased that in season 4, “Greg shifts into another gear.”

“He and Tom have a new frequency,” Braun explains.

Coming off season 3 with Tom, Greg has “so much release. He’s like ‘take me to the dark side.’ Playing Greg, he’s a fear-based guy, always questioning whether he’s doing right or wrong. It feels like the next chapter is ‘Let’s go!'”

Still, don’t expect a full-on Cassius from Greg.

Greg’s morphing into an executive like Logan’s sharpest and most savvy Kendell Roy (Jeremy Strong notching his second Drama Series Lead Actor nom after winning two years ago) “doesn’t happen overnight” says Braun. “He has to acquire the skills. Greg doesn’t have the vocabulary or the swagger that the Roys have.”

Sharing one of the inspirations for Greg, Braun points to a Rupert Murdoch family photo he found.

“I saw some guy who was in a frumpy suit, on the exterior of their small circle. That got me thinking, ‘Why is this guy so close? He doesn’t deserve to be.'”

Cox, who spoke to us from his home where he was rehearsing lines, underscored that despite the head games Logan Roy plays with his scion, “he loves his children.”

“He’s truly finding a successor to his company,” says Cox, “But they (the kids) don’t step up to the plate.”

“Everything is received with the children. They don’t’ have an original sensibility or gall, but you still love them,” Cox continued.

“He’s a misanthrope,” Cox continues, “but one thing he does love is his children, and that provides a lot of conflict with him.”

“He’s hoping they’ll do something original,” said Cox.

HBO’s third season of Succession clocked the most noms this year at the Primetime Emmys with 25.

Beams Cox, “I really love that we got 25 people nominated. All of them are deserving. It all comes from us having these great scripts. There’s opportunities for the designers and the directors to step up to the plate.”

 

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