‘Succession’ Cast Addresses [Redacted]’s Shocking Death in the HBO Show’s Final Season: ‘Maybe It’s All a Ruse’

Credit: HBO/Kobal/Shutterstock

'Succession' Cast Addresses [Redacted]'s Shocking Death in the HBO Show's Final Season: 'Maybe It’s All a Ruse'

Sticking the landing. Succession viewers were shocked to see Logan Roy (Brian Cox) killed off three episodes into season 4 — but the HBO show's cast showed their support for the twist. In an episode which aired on Sunday, April 9, Connor Roy's (Alan Ruck) wedding to Willa (Justine Lupe) is the last thing on people's minds when Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) breaks the news to Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin), Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) and Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) that their dad died aboard his private jet. Cox, 76, revealed that he knew about his character's fate as they were preparing to film season 4. "[Creator Jesse Armstrong] called me, and he said, ‘Logan’s going to die,’” the actor told The New York Times on Sunday. “And I thought, 'Oh, that’s fine.' I thought he would die in about episode seven or eight, but episode three, I thought 'Well that’s a bit early.'" The Scotland native, who brought the role to life since Succession premiered in 2018, praised Armstrong, 52, for his decision to end the show. “The problem with a lot of television, particularly American television, is it goes past its sell-by date,” he detailed to NYT. “And the great thing about Jesse and the writers is they wouldn’t do that. Always leave the party when it’s at its height, not when it’s going down.” After winning a Golden Globe for his performance as Logan, Cox admitted he was worried he would spoil details about his character's ending. “It was hard to keep a secret all that time. It was a long time,” he told Vulture shortly after the episode aired. “When did I die? God, I think it was last July. I’m very proud of myself because I’ve never been able to keep secrets, and this is one secret I actually did rather well on.” [sendtonews type="float" key="YhKuYaWIJs-2829679-14453"] The Braveheart star also joked that perhaps viewers have not seen the last of Logan, adding, “That’s why I think there was a very strong contention and very strong reason to think that maybe he’s not dead at all. Maybe it’s all a ruse! If you think about it, the last image is a body bag. Anybody could be in that body bag. There’s a possibility.” Ahead of Logan's onscreen death, Cox hinted at his plans after his role on Succession comes to an end. "You sometimes get [from people], ‘Well, I'm gonna take the summer off.’ And I'm going, ‘What the hell does that mean taking this summer off? What do you mean you're gonna take the summer off?’ You know? ‘Well, I feel I wanna …’ ‘Why? You're a long time dead. You don't need to take the summer off,'" he exclusively told Us Weekly in February. "I don't understand the concept of not working. I've done that all my life. I've always worked. And it's something that I will continue to do until I drop. I work and I just enjoy the work. And I find it fun, I learn a lot. I always learn and you learn from people. I’m a workaholic. That's my problem." Meanwhile, Armstrong broke down what led to him killing Logan off so early in the final season. "There's a couple of factors that play into where Logan's death falls in in our narrative trajectory. One is sort of like, 'Oh, maybe it will surprise people,'" the executive producer explained in a behind-the-scenes video after the episode. "I think much more prominent was the feeling that if we're gonna do this, we just don't want to see people crying and then have a funeral and then be done with the show. We want to see how a death of someone significant rebounds around a family." Scroll down to see how the Succession cast reacted to Logan's onscreen demise:

Credit: HBO/Kobal/Shutterstock

'Succession' Cast Addresses [Redacted]'s Shocking Death in the HBO Show's Final Season: 'Maybe It’s All a Ruse'

Sticking the landing. Succession viewers were shocked to see Logan Roy (Brian Cox) killed off three episodes into season 4 — but the HBO show's cast showed their support for the twist. In an episode which aired on Sunday, April 9, Connor Roy's (Alan Ruck) wedding to Willa (Justine Lupe) is the last thing on people's minds when Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) breaks the news to Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin), Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) and Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) that their dad died aboard his private jet. Cox, 76, revealed that he knew about his character's fate as they were preparing to film season 4. "[Creator Jesse Armstrong] called me, and he said, ‘Logan’s going to die,’” the actor told The New York Times on Sunday. “And I thought, 'Oh, that’s fine.' I thought he would die in about episode seven or eight, but episode three, I thought 'Well that’s a bit early.'" The Scotland native, who brought the role to life since Succession premiered in 2018, praised Armstrong, 52, for his decision to end the show. “The problem with a lot of television, particularly American television, is it goes past its sell-by date,” he detailed to NYT. “And the great thing about Jesse and the writers is they wouldn’t do that. Always leave the party when it’s at its height, not when it’s going down.” After winning a Golden Globe for his performance as Logan, Cox admitted he was worried he would spoil details about his character's ending. “It was hard to keep a secret all that time. It was a long time,” he told Vulture shortly after the episode aired. “When did I die? God, I think it was last July. I’m very proud of myself because I’ve never been able to keep secrets, and this is one secret I actually did rather well on.” [sendtonews type="float" key="YhKuYaWIJs-2829679-14453"] The Braveheart star also joked that perhaps viewers have not seen the last of Logan, adding, “That’s why I think there was a very strong contention and very strong reason to think that maybe he’s not dead at all. Maybe it’s all a ruse! If you think about it, the last image is a body bag. Anybody could be in that body bag. There’s a possibility.” Ahead of Logan's onscreen death, Cox hinted at his plans after his role on Succession comes to an end. "You sometimes get [from people], ‘Well, I'm gonna take the summer off.’ And I'm going, ‘What the hell does that mean taking this summer off? What do you mean you're gonna take the summer off?’ You know? ‘Well, I feel I wanna …’ ‘Why? You're a long time dead. You don't need to take the summer off,'" he exclusively told Us Weekly in February. "I don't understand the concept of not working. I've done that all my life. I've always worked. And it's something that I will continue to do until I drop. I work and I just enjoy the work. And I find it fun, I learn a lot. I always learn and you learn from people. I’m a workaholic. That's my problem." Meanwhile, Armstrong broke down what led to him killing Logan off so early in the final season. "There's a couple of factors that play into where Logan's death falls in in our narrative trajectory. One is sort of like, 'Oh, maybe it will surprise people,'" the executive producer explained in a behind-the-scenes video after the episode. "I think much more prominent was the feeling that if we're gonna do this, we just don't want to see people crying and then have a funeral and then be done with the show. We want to see how a death of someone significant rebounds around a family." Scroll down to see how the Succession cast reacted to Logan's onscreen demise:

Credit: Scott Garfitt/Shutterstock

Sarah Snook

During an interview with Rolling Stone, Snook, 35, referred to the story line as a "huge swing" for Succession.

"That’s amazing from Jesse. In some ways, it was a long time coming. The premise of the first episode was, he was about to keel over. And there have been times in the third season as well, in the episode with Adrien Brody and Jeremy out at the island," she recalled. "There’s always been an ailing quality to him, despite his robust vigor. So the first question I had was, 'So who takes over?'"

Credit: Shutterstock

Brian Cox

“It’s about succession. You need a corpse,” Cox told Vulture. “If it was a different kind of show, it could have gone into a more mysterious frame. Is Logan dead? That kind of stuff. But I think Jesse realized it had to be the way it had to be, and he made the decision to do that.”

Credit: Gregory Pace/Shutterstock

J. Smith-Cameron

Shortly before Logan's death, the businessman had Roman fire Gerri Kellman from her position. According to Smith-Cameron, 65, it remains to be seen how the events of Logan's passing play into her character's future.

"She's really in limbo about whether she even has a job. Like, who is in power and when keeps shifting wildly," she explained to Entertainment Tonight. "And even though people try to dismiss her, she's sometimes the only person who knows how to do something at work. So, it's a very, kind of confusing limbo she's in."

Credit: Gregory Pace/Shutterstock

Kieran Culkin

The child star, 40, applauded Succession for "always growing" with its narrative choices. "The first two episodes feel almost, I would say, very like Succession," he shared with ET. "It's very much the show that it is and does what it does every season. It sort of then goes in a different direction. The rest of the season goes in a different direction."

Credit: ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Alan Ruck

The Ohio native, 66, reflected on how Logan's death will affect Connor, telling ET, "There's a lot more going on during Connor's wedding than just the wedding. It's a very complicated episode. Connor's pulled in more than one direction. It's a heavy day for Connor."

Credit: Photo Image Press/Shutterstock

Nicholas Braun

The Prom actor, 34, who plays Cousin Greg, told ET that the shocking episode as one of his "favorites."

Credit: Jeremy Smith/imageSPACE/Shutterstock

Jeremy Strong

“It went through my heart, not in my mind,” Strong told Variety on April 16. “What I mean is it didn’t go through my mind as much as I found it a heartbreaking thing to read and to experience when we were making it.”

He added: "The suddenness of it, the banality of it, the ordinariness of the way these things play out, the inability in a way to have the moment be what you want it to be. The suddenness of these things, and that irrevocability of these kinds of things happening. The fact of death, the fact of them, and now we have to contend with that grief and loss in the middle of, you know, a pit viper fight.”