‘Succession’ Star Peter Friedman Says Online Speculation On Finale Is On The Right Track

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It’s the question every fan wants answered: who will seize control of media giant Waystar Royco in tonight’s finale of the hit HBO show?

“I’m fascinated to find out,” said Peter Friedman, who plays Frank Vernon, the Waystar Royco vice chairman and former consigliere to the late Logan Roy (Brian Cox). “I sometimes look at Reddit, and let me tell you, people are on the right track,” Friedman told the Guardian in an interview. “The darts are all over the board. But they’ve been narrowing it down to what’s actually going to happen.”

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Friedman said the cast was kept largely in the dark on the finale’s storyline. Friedman said when Harriet Walter, who plays Logan’s ex-wife Lady Caroline, arrived for the big funeral scene, she wasn’t sure who died.

“She saw all the black clothes and said: ‘Who died?’ It had even been kept secret from her,” Friedman said. He added that he accidentally told his wife the big secret.

“I inadvertently mentioned something funny that happened in Norway. She said: ‘Wait, is Logan dead?'”

Producers even created decoys to throw off public suspicions.

“When you think of all those extras at Logan’s funeral or Connor’s wedding, it’s amazing nothing leaked,” Friedman said. “Some fans online zoomed in on the order-of-service from the funeral — I think Sarah {Snook, who plays Shiv] had it in her hand — and it said: ‘Ewan Roy’ [Logan’s estranged brother, played by James Cromwell]. They did indeed print up a bunch of decoys to put people off.”

Who does Friedman want to win? Friedman said that he is “enamored by Lukas Mattson, the outlandish billionaire CEO of GoJo who once set an employee a frozen brick of his own blood.

“His acting is so beautiful — blithe and confident yet anxious — I’d go for him,” said Friedman “As a viewer, I’d say: ‘These kids aren’t up to it.’ I think Frank wishes Kendall would quit and become a musician somewhere. Please, get out of here and go live a peaceful life! He just wants to see them happy, which probably isn’t going to happen.”

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