Logan Roy was originally set to die in season one of ‘Succession’
Is Succession the greatest show HBO has ever created? There’s little doubt among fans and critics that the comedy-drama show that follows a media conglomerate and the warring family tussling for its control behind the scenes is certainly one of the best, rubbing shoulders with the crime series The Sopranos, the frenetic ‘war on drugs’ drama The Wire, and the wild cinematic ambition of Game of Thrones.
Thriving thanks to an excellent screenplay from Jesse Armstrong and a collection of barnstorming performances from the likes of Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Nicholas Braun, Matthew Macfadyen, Alan Ruck and Sarah Snook. Cox’s Logan Roy has become the central titan at the very core of the series, being a magnetising figure of intimidating power and vintage intelligence.
After establishing the fact that the character is ill in the first episode, suffering from a heart attack during an aeroplane flight, the threat of Logan’s death overshadows the whole show. Despite becoming one of the most beloved characters in the entire show, however, Jesse Armstrong, who created the series and has penned many scripts, considered killing off the character at the end of the very first season.
In several interviews, the writer has stated that they considered killing off Cox’s character before eventually deciding against it, admitting that it would have been a poor dramatic move for the story.
Speaking to Deadline about his decision, Armstrong stated: “As soon as I was in the writers’ room for the first season, I knew he shouldn’t die at the end of the first season – he is the planet, the sun they all revolve around”. Continuing, he added, “It might be fascinating one day to find out what happens when that goes, but not yet”.
That moment indeed happened (*spoilers*) during season four, episode three of the show titled ‘Connor’s Wedding’, with the media goliath bowing out of the show in the most unlikely manner. Happening off-screen, Armstrong decided to kill off the show’s central character with almost a complete lack of fanfare, putting a significant amount of distance between his death and the audience.
Mark Mylod, who has had a hand in directing multiple episodes, recently recalled when Armstrong told him that he was considering killing off the character, stating that the plan first came up during the making of season three: “That’s when he first told me about this idea. That it should happen early in the season in an episode slot that you would not necessarily expect, and this idea of actually creating, hopefully, great drama out of mundanity — you know, the inconvenience of it all. Which just seemed wonderful to me”.
On the off-screen way in which the character departed, Mylod added: “I’m sure when Jesse was imagining it, he went through a number of scenarios. But once it landed on this idea of the inconvenience of it — the lack of drama, if you like — it just felt so real. With a sudden death in the modern age, it’s a phone call or a text, or even an email. It isn’t a Shakespearean death scene”.
