The death of patriarch and mogul Logan Roy (Brian Cox) three episodes into the fourth and final season of “Succession” shocked television viewers worldwide. For all of his bluster and bravado, he ends up passing away in his private plane 50 feet in the air, far away from the children whose entire lives revolve around his every word of praise and scowl of disapproval. Yet Cox admitted that when he learned of Logan’s death he thought it might have been a big hoax — and he felt emotionally rejected by the process of filming the requisite scenes.
In a May 2023 interview with BBC News, as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter, Cox said that when he learned of Logan’s upcoming death, he thought that it might be another test of loyalty from the infamous patriarch to his children. “This could be part of an elaborate ruse to find out,” he said. “Well, if you think about it, from Logan’s point of view, he has to find out, how are his children going to behave when he dies, what will then happen? And the only way to do that is to fake his death and actually, at some distant point he’s observing the chaos that is following.” But it was eventually confirmed to him that Logan is definitely supposed to be dead.
Brian Cox had to do some fancy footwork to keep spoilers from leaking out
Brian Cox also admitted to the BBC that he was initially disappointed by Logan Roy’s final scene. “I was fine with it ultimately, but I did feel a little bit rejected. You know, I felt a little bit, oh, all the work I’ve done and finally I’m going to, you know, end up as an ear on a carpet of a plane,” he said. But he also stated that he was wrong in feeling harshly dismissed by the show, admitting that Logan’s final bow, in the end, proved to be satisfying, referring to it as a brilliant choice.
It also turns out Logan’s funeral had one completely unexpected guest — Brian Cox himself. Cox filmed multiple scenes to try to keep Logan’s death from leaking out into the press, including appearing at the funeral to convince members of the press that it was for Ewan (James Cromwell). Cox’s wife, Nicole Ansari-Cox, also cameoed in the finished version of the scene. While those scenes will likely never see the light of day, the effort Cox undertook to keep the secret under wraps is well-appreciated by “Succession” fans everywhere.
