‘Succession’ Season 4: The Cast Reacts To That Shocking Death During Connor’s Wedding (Exclusive)

Spoiler warning for Succession season 4, episode three, “Connor’s Wedding,” written by creator Jesse Armstrong and directed by Mark Mylod. 

During the fourth and final season of Succession, fans were treated to another wedding episode, making for a third lively Roy family gathering filled with events that tend to overshadow the marriage at hand.

“There’s a lot more going on during Connor’s wedding than just the wedding. It’s a very complicated episode,” Alan Ruck told ET, while J. Smith-Cameron added, “It’s not what you expected. That’s all I’ll say.”

“It’s one of my favorites,” Nicholas Braun said, noting there’s “an incredible storm” taking place the middle of it. And boy, they weren’t kidding.

Not long after the episode started, the focus on Connor’s (Ruck) nuptials to Willa (Justine Lupe) quickly shifted when the series took a shocking and unexpected turn with the death of a major character. Ahead of his planned trip to Sweden to finalize Waystar’s planned sale to GoJo, which is owned by Lukas (Alexander Skarsgård), Logan (Brian Cox) unexpectedly died aboard his private jet.

With everything thrown in disarray, the siblings — Kendal (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) — decided what to do next, especially with how to announce Logan’s passing, and Gerri (Smith-Cameron) tried to figure out the state of her position within the company.

“She’s really in limbo about whether she even has a job. Like, who is in power and when keeps shifting wildly,” Smith-Cameron said of Gerri, who Roman tried to fire before the wedding ceremony. “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.”

While the death leaves the family reeling, Connor and Willa decide to through with their wedding and tied the knot in front of just a few remaining guests. “Connor’s pulled in more than one direction. It’s a heavy day for Connor,” Ruck said, noting that the episode started with his character being triggered by their wedding cake — something that reminded of traumatic childhood memories related to his mother.

Surprisingly, despite not showing much interest in Connor in the beginning, Willa’s feelings for him seem to have grown over the course of the series. “Over time, she has developed some affection for Connor,” Ruck offered. “I wouldn’t say that she’s exactly in love with him but she’s become protective of him and it feels like they’re a couple… They’re actually pretty well suited for each other.”

Ahead of season 4, Cox, whose character was originally supposed to die in season 1, spoke to ET about bringing the series — and Logan’s story — to a fitting end. “I think we’ve, you know, got to the point where the show has reached its natural closure,” he said, adding that Armstrong knows how to go out on a high note.

“Jesse won’t let anything go on further than it needs to,” he continued, revealing that he was “absolutely delighted” the Roy saga is almost over. “A lot of shows outstay their welcome, and I think our show is perfect, and neat, in the way it is.”

In a behind-the-scenes video streaming on HBO Max, Armstrong spoke about his decision to finally kill off Logan, especially early into 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, ‘Ooh, maybe it will surprise people,’” he said, admitting that he’s “not immune to such thoughts as wanting to keep the show exciting and fresh.”

“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,” Armstrong added. “We want to see how a death of someone significant rebounds around a family.”

Echoing Armstrong’s sentiment about keeping things exciting, Culkin reflected on how Succession “is always growing” in a way that doesn’t feel familiar or expected. “The first two episodes feel almost, I would say, very like Succession,” he told 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,” he continued, explaining not to expect any more of the same. “The rest of the season goes in a different direction.”

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