‘Succession’ Director Mark Mylod Breaks Down Kendall’s Ending, That Violent Hug and Shiv’s Heel Turn: It’s ‘Screamingly Inevitable’

would be Waystar Royco’s new CEO in the wake of the death of Logan Roy (Brian Cox). But the highly acclaimed series almost continued.In a new interview in Variety, “Succession” star Kieran Culkin tells fellow actor and longtime friend Claire Danes that the show’s creator, Jesse Armstrong, considered doing additional seasons. He “pitched an amazing fifth season and then another and another,” seemingly off the top of his head, Culkin said of Armstrong.

Kate Aurthur editor SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “With Open Eyes,” the series finale of HBO’s “Succession,” now streaming on Max. During their cover story for Variety’s Actors on Actors, Claire Danes — who’s starred in a number of TV shows, including “Homeland” and FX’s recent limited series “Fleishman Is in Trouble” — asked Kieran Culkin whether he’d ever done episodic television before “Succession.” The answer, even though Culkin has been acting since he was a child, was no. Danes laughed, and said, “So you just thought, ‘No, I’m just going to do the best one, and start right there.’”

Kieran Culkin and Claire Danes worked together on Burr Steers’ 2002 indie “Igby Goes Down,” in which Culkin played the angst-ridden 17-year-old title character to Danes’ slightly older Manhattan socialite Sookie Sapperstein. All these years later, Danes is visibly pregnant, and they chat like old pals about the difficulty of naming her third child with Hugh Dancy. “‘Cyrus,’ we came to pretty readily. ‘Rowan,’ we had to fight harder for. This one is impossible,” she says. “I realized the movie you and I did together is over half of our lives ago,” Culkin says.

Note: The following contains spoilers for the “Succession” series finale.Of the many moments in the “Succession” series finale that have sparked conversation and debate ever since it aired, perhaps the most charged might be the final scene between Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) – and creator Jesse Armstrong is now offering up his interpretation of that dead-fish handhold.Tom has been named CEO of Waystar Royco, now owned by Matsson’s (Alexander Skarsgard) Gojo, thanks to Shiv’s last-minute decision to change her vote at the board meeting and deny Kendall (Jeremy Strong) the chance to be CEO. In the moments following the vote, we see Tom ask Shiv to meet him in a car waiting downstairs and she hurridly declines, yet later on we see her join him in the vehicle, the new King and Queen side by side. Tom coldly offers up his hand and Shiv puts hers on top of his, not as a show of affection but of… resignation? Acquiescence? Deference?What precisely is going on there has been a matter of debate among fans, but Armstrong told NPR’s Fresh Air that he sees it as “terrifying equality.”“Everyone has their own view, and I can tell you mine, which is that for me it was a moment of equality,” the creator and showrunner said.

Editor’s note: These interview was done outside of the FYC event as there was no cast or creatives panel as a part of the event.

Succession star Brian Cox has admitted he hasn't watched the show's finale, but said it had been 'one of the great shows of all time.'

Shiv Roy may have looked defeated in those final moments of Succession but she actually achieved “terrifying equality” and “remains in play” for the future, the creator said in a new interview.

Succession executive producer Mark Mylod has shared the moment when Shiv (Sarah Snook) decided to turn against Kendall (Jeremy Strong) in the finale.In the final episode titled With Open Eyes, Shiv and Roman (Kieran Culkin) initially decide to back their brother Kendall in his bid to become the next CEO of Waystar Royco – a move which would block the takeover deal from GoJo founder Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård).At the boardroom meeting, however, Shiv decides against voting for Kendall in the final hour, which sparks an explosive argument between the siblings.Asked on the official Succession podcast about when he believes Shiv starts to doubt backing Kendall, Mylod, who directed the episode, said: “I suppose it’s when Kendall sits down at his dad’s desk, when they meet with Stewy (Arian Moayed) before going down to the final board meeting. The reality of seeing him there that suddenly made it real, that is the future – him sat there in that insufferable way from her point of view – that’s when I think the denial started to crack.“And then seeing the cronyism with Stewy and seeing how she might be sidelined and again, just seeing his arrogance in the board meeting itself, accumulatively.”Mylod also shared that Shiv’s pivot was originally going to be less telegraphed.

Katcy Stephan SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers from “With Open Eyes,” the series finale of HBO’s “Succession,” now streaming on Max. Connor Roy was interested in politics at an early age — but Alan Ruck isn’t convinced. “He can say anything he wants to say, but just because he was interested doesn’t mean he’s knowledgeable.” Still, in his mid-50s, Connor’s interest is finally becoming a reality — with a catch. In the finale of HBO’s acclaimed drama “Succession,” from creator Jesse Armstrong, Ruck’s character is poised to become the next ambassador to Slovenia, provided that Jeryd Mencken actually becomes president. But his new wife Willa (Justine Lupe) drops a bombshell: She will be staying in New York (in Logan’s old apartment) while Connor carries out his duties abroad.

HBO series Succession.Jeremy Strong has revealed that he attempted to jump into the river during his final scene in Succession, but was stopped by another cast member.The popular drama series came to its bitter conclusion last week (May 28), with the last episode of the fourth and final season drawing to a close with the Roy children finally losing control of their family’s media empire, and Tom Wambsgans named new CEO following the company’s acquisition by GoJo.In the last moments of the episode, the final scene shows Jeremy Strong’s character, Kendall Roy, alone in New York’s Battery Park contemplating the events that have just unfolded — and seemingly stripped of his life’s purpose.According to a new interview with Vanity Fair, however, the actor admitted that he tried to choose an alternate ending for his character, and attempted to jump into the Hudson River when filming.“To me, what happens at the board vote is an extinction level event for this character. There’s no coming back from that,” he explained, adding that he was stopped from climbing the railing by Scott Nicholson, who played Colin.“I tried to go into the water after we cut — I got up from that bench and went as fast as I could over the barrier and onto the pilings, and the actor playing Colin raced over,” he said.

“AI ain’t gonna write Succession, or Chinatown or The Godfather,” says Jeremy Strong of what’s at stake with the writers’ strike. “It’s just not going to,” the actor who brought Jesse Armstrong’s words for Kendall Roy to life bluntly adds.

Succession went out at the top of its game.

HBO‘s Succession will not be getting a spin-off series, per the network’s Head of Drama Francesca Orsi.The news comes after the show’s final episode aired, bringing the hit series to a close. Speaking to Deadline, Orsi shared: “I know there was some talk about spinoffs, but no, not at all”.Orsi added: “I’ll never say never but my instinct and based on a number of conversations about the evolution of Succession and these characters, at this stage, there is no intention of spinning any one character off”.The HBO exec also said that while she doesn’t know what Succession creator Jesse Armstrong is planning to do next, she thinks “it will be entirely original.

Succession,” you know that things didn’t exactly play out like Kendall Roy (played masterfully by Jeremy Strong) had hoped. And now the actor is shedding light on how things could have been even darker than what ended up in the episode, telling Kara Swisher on the official “Succession” podcast: “It always to me felt like there’s no coming back from this.”Spoilers for the “Succession” series finale follow.In the final moments of the episode, Kendall, having lost the bid to block the sale to tech weirdo Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) and all chances of leading the company that his father had once promised him, sits alone, dejected, in a public park, looking out against the slate grey water. The only person with him is Colin (Scott Nicholson), his father’s former driver and now his employee.

Succession.In the finale titled With Open Eyes, Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) prepare a smoothie for their brother Kendall (Strong) after agreeing to support his bid to become the new CEO of Waystar Royco.The smoothie, described as “a meal fit for a king”, contains milk, Tabasco hot sauce, bread crusts, Branston pickle, raw eggs, cocoa powder and Shiv’s spit.Kendall takes a large gulp of the smoothie, and after he refuses to drink the rest, Roman tips the leftovers over his brother’s head.Speaking on the official Succession podcast to host Kara Swisher, Strong said the smoothie contained “all those things” seen on screen, which he actually consumed for the scene.“We did it only a few times and I went outside and retched, and jumped in the ocean, and washed it off my hair,” the actor said. “Yeah, I did drink it, yeah.”After Swisher remarked that he “really was a method actor”, Strong replied: “I wouldn’t know how not to drink it.

Succession fans were waiting with bated breath for the final episode of series four to air.

This article contains spoilers from the series finale of “Succession.”“This show has always been a tragedy,” said director Mark Mylod of “Succession” in a segment that aired after the series finale of the Emmy-winning HBO series Sunday night.Mylod, who has directed 16 episodes of the series, called the finale “perfectly painful,” as the Roys literally came to blows before completely losing control of their father’s company. He praised series creator Jesse Armstrong, saying, “Jesse stuck the landing with this climactic showdown between the three siblings,” referring to the brutal scene where Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Shiv (Sarah Snook), lashed out physically and verbally over the decision to sell the company. “The final ripping off of the bandage to expose that terrible, terrible truth put so simply by Roman,” he said of the scene in which Roman proclaims, “We are bulls—t.

[WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for the series finale of “Succession.”]After four seasons, “Succession” has come to an end — and Waystar RoyCo has a new CEO.In the 90-minute series finale, creator Jesse Armstrong wrapped up a string of conflicts, but ultimately had the goal of answering the question everyone has been asking since Season 1 premiered in 2018: Who will succeed Logan Roy (Brian Cox) as CEO?There were many ways the ending could’ve gone: Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) could’ve filled his father’s shoes — as Logan may or may not have wanted from the looks of the underline/cross-out on his official document, Kendall and Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) could’ve stayed on as co-CEOs, GoJo could have acquired Waystar with Lukas Matsson (Alexander Skarsgård) coming out on top and naming Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) as CEO, as well as many other possibilities.In the end, the hole left by the death of Logan Roy could only be filled by one person.Spoilers for Season 4, Episode 10, “With Open Eyes” are below, so stop scrolling now if you don’t want to know who got the crown.While it was always presumed that Logan Roy’s successor would be in the family bloodline, it didn’t exactly turn out that way.Neither Kendall, Roman, Shiv — or Connor (Alan Ruck), for that matter — ended up being the heir to the media mogul’s throne.After Matsson decided he wasn’t going to name Shiv as the CEO of the company, an unsuspecting person filled her in on who it would be.“Shiv, you should probably know: it’s me,” Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) told his wife.As noted above, Greg found out by translating a conversation in Swedish that Matsson was not actually planning on giving the CEO title to Shiv, as he promised he would.Upon finding

SPOILER ALERT! This post contains spoilers for the series finale of HBO’s Succession.

Note: This article contains spoilers for series finale of “Succession.”Can’t believe “Succession” is over? Neither can the HBO hit’s creator Jesse Armstrong, who said it “feels very perverse” to end the Emmy-winning series, but that he “didn’t really have any doubts” about ending it now.After the stunning final episode, which found Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) failing to prevent the sale of Waystar Royco to GoJo, Armstrong said in the “Inside the Episode” segment, “This will never stop being the central event of [Kendall]’s life. This will mark his whole life.”“It feels very perverse to end it because it’s been incredibly meaningful,” Armstrong added.