Succession Star Justine Lupe on That Surprising Twist for Willa and Connor Roy

Connor Roy and Willa Ferreyra aren’t always front and center on Succession. As the drama of the hit series’ third season has swirled around which of Logan Roy’s ambitious, sharp-elbowed children might take over his empire, Roy’s oldest son and his girlfriend have stayed somewhat about the fray—until now.

In the season’s eighth episode, “Chiantishire,” the extended Roy family gathers in Tuscany for the questionable wedding of Caroline Collingwood (Harriet Walter), Logan Roy’s ex-wife—but the most exciting matrimonial plot line comes care of Connor and Willa, when he drops to one knee in the middle of a cocktail party and proposes. Is it true love, or perhaps just an effort to shore up his seemingly doomed presidential bid? Only time—or perhaps the upcoming season finale—will tell. But here, Justine Lupe (who plays Willa) shares her thoughts on the proposal and what it might mean for the ever-shifting power dynamic among Succession’s next generation.

Connor proposes to Willa shortly after it comes out that her past is being investigated as part of his presidential campaign. Did you see this coming for them?

I had little hints throughout the season—nothing like this proposal—that their relationship was developing into something different. Willa was becoming more protective; she’s been reliant on Connor for a while, but as his path becomes a little clearer you see her step in and call attention to him being neglected by Logan. She’s been asserting herself in a different way and taking care of him in a way we hadn’t seen. There had been scenes we’d worked on for later in the season that didn’t make it into the final cut, but they were questioning the nature of their relationship and trying to figure it out. You see it in the scene prior to the proposal, that there’s attention being paid to her past, and because of that they’ll have to navigate things differently. Either they must break up or they must make it more of a permanent thing. That really worked when I read it; I hadn’t expected it, but it made sense when it happened. He’s a delusional guy and she’s delusional in her own right, so when you get to this episode it’s kind of a perfect storm.

They’d been a bit out of the mix this season so far, so seeing this kind of thing happen was a reminder that nobody’s out of the race when it comes to Roys grabbing power.

There’s constantly this sense of almost touching the sun and then being wiped out, which keeps things exciting. Nobody’s been taking these two seriously and now it’s like, whoa, maybe they are serious. You’ve seen him beaten down and can understand how he might want to come back in an extreme way, which could explain the proposal. These characters constantly surprise you, not just with their power dynamics, but with how you feel about them.

What was your experience filming this season like? It took you around the world but was also done mid-pandemic.

It was a unique experience for me because I was promoted to a series regular before the season began, and then Covid hit. That stalled our production for a while and then when we got back into production, things were moving much more slowly. Succession has been so responsible about keeping everybody as safe as possible, so it was a bizarre experience getting back into shooting. The other part of it is that I think there were some plot adjustments that had to be made; Willa was a bit MIA for the first half of the season. There were bits when I’d come in, but in the beginning, in the days before the vaccine, I would shoot for two or three days and then I’d be quarantining. It was definitely a different experience than I’d ever had before, both in being committed to the show and excited about what I was reading but also not quite getting into the swing of it because I wasn’t consistently there. Still, I feel like everyone was on their A-game because they were so excited to get back to work. Once I got back into the show in those last two episodes, it was this celebratory, cathartic moment. Everyone had been vaccinated and it felt like a renaissance and the most beautiful professional experience I’d ever had. It’s been a real ride of a season.

At the end of this episode, we’re not sure if Willa will accept Connor’s proposal—she holds his future in her hands to a degree. What’s going to happen next?

I read the finale and was completely floored. I’m excited for people to see it; I think it’s one of the strongest pieces of television I’ve ever read. That’s always Succession in a lot of ways, but I just couldn’t believe it. We really know how to nail the end of a season.

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