‘Succession’ star Alexander Skarsgard explains Matsson’s barefoot tarmac walk

Christopher Rosen
·4 min read
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In the world of “Succession,” the relationship between Lukas Matsson and Shiv Roy is only days old but it’s already one of the most compelling on the whole show. Already this season, Matsson has confessed to Shiv his penchant for sending literal bags of blood to former romantic partners and been open about his hostility toward the Waystar Royco brand, her deceased father, and her CE-Bro siblings, Kendall and Connor.

But during the early stages of Sunday’s episode, “Living+,” Matsson perhaps even surprised Shiv with his casualness: While their private jets were stopped alongside each other on the tarmac, Matsson exited his plane while barefoot and walked right onto Shiv’s transport. 

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“It wasn’t really planned,” Matsson actor Alexander Skarsgard told Vanity Fair about the shoeless moment. In fact, the idea came from the fact that Skarsgard himself wears slides or sandals to the set.

“I was wearing slides and the private jet we were shooting in a very, very comfortable carpet. So I took my slides off and was walking around barefoot. And then I thought that that could be quite fun if Matsson—because it makes sense that he takes his shoes off on the plane, but that he doesn’t bother putting his shoes or anything on when he walks over to her plane,” Skarsgard explained. “There was something about the geography and the way the planes stood. There were parked like 50 yards from each other and they’re gonna do a wide shot of Matsson walking and I thought it’d be visually quite interesting maybe if he just casually walked out without shoes on.”

That the buzzy footwear decision came from Skarsgard is something the episode’s director, Lorene Scafaria, previously discussed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. 

“He said, ‘I think I should be barefoot when I walk over.’ I said, ‘Of course you are,’” Scafaria said. “My only regret is that some of the coverage didn’t get to continue to show his feet, like him having his feet up in the chairs on her jet. The casual richness of it all is kind of in step with what they’ve always talked about from the beginning: how rich people don’t have to wear jackets because they don’t get cold and they have no sense of direction; they just get taken in planes and cars to wherever they need to be. They don’t wear coats, and they don’t wear shoes!”

Scafaria, who actually introduced Skarsgard as Matsson on “Succession” during the Season 3 episode “Too Much Birthday,” said the sequence with Skarsgard and Shiv actress Sarah Snook was quite fun to execute. 

“I thought it would be fun to have them sit next to each other the way a couple might, where someone is in the driver’s seat and someone is in the passenger’s seat. Which is which, exactly?” she said. “But you get to see them side-by-side, especially since those chairs can twist just a little bit, and in something that felt more like a couple rather than a showdown or face-off.”

Skarsgard, an Emmy winner for “Big Little Lies,” was nominated last year as a guest actor for “Succession.” 

“Succession” airs new episodes Sundays on HBO.

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