Warning: Spoilers below for “Succession” Season 4, Episode 9,
Sunday’s episode of “Succession” saw the long-awaited funeral of Logan Roy following the shocking twist of Episode 3, and among those mourning the death of the president of Westar Royco was Logan’s second wife, Carolyn Collingwood (Harriet Collingwood). Walter).
Walter spoke to TheWrap about returning for the HBO drama’s final season after learning about Logan’s death during a costume fitting, keeping that shocking twist a secret while filming Episode 9, and how his character Why be intimidated by Shiva (Sarah Snook). Watch TheWrap’s full interview with Walter below.
How much of the story did Jesse Armstrong prepare for the cast for this season before filming? What was your reaction upon learning of Logan’s death?
I didn’t get much head. Now I don’t know how close family has to go with “this is what’s gonna be your line” and “this is what’s gonna happen.” I get the impression that they also did not receive the goods for a long time. But I knew there was no point in asking, I knew I could count on Jesse [Armstrong] And the team was going to do some amazing things.
I thought how do you build on the success of that? You know, every season is getting richer and richer, where can it go? What could happen next? Some of you say, “Well, obviously Logan has to die, or does he or will he?” It’s in the back of your head. But I managed to forget it because when I went to New York for my costume fitting, without reading the script, I didn’t know for sure what was to happen between the end of season 3 and where I was going to be in episode nine, I didn’t know anything about the plot and I walked into a room full of black robes and I said, “Did anybody die?” Those were my first words. And he said, “Yeah, the big one,” and I was actually quite upset because he’s so huge and he leaves a huge vortex where it should be. But the skill and talent is that people have gone on to fill that niche in interesting ways. You’ve got four episodes before it’s really buried. Keep it up, it’s amazing.
How have Caroline’s relationships with Kendall, Roman and Shiva developed over the course of the series?
Well, oddly enough, it isn’t, is it? I mean, in a weird way, they’re stuck in a certain loop in that area of their lives. So I don’t think he’s developed that much because he has an effort to talk things out sometimes, as in that scene with Shiva, but when things are too painful and you After talking about them, there’s a stopping point where you go, “I can’t go on here anymore” and you turn it around and I think Caroline in any intimate conversation Really disappointed. She doesn’t want to go there.
I reasoned in my head that it is because he never learned this from his parents. If anyone knows anything about the British upper middle class, it’s not to talk about your feelings, it’s not to scrutinize yourself in any way that can be called self-indulgent. And so she’s about those things because I think she wants to be close to her kids. Every time you meet her for the first time in an episode, she’s very endearing and then it goes wrong very quickly, but she wants to be.
I think that’s part of our problem and I said this to Jessie once, I think she wants to be his sister rather than his parent. She wants to smoke with them in the back in the boat house, she’s not really a grown up. I think that’s what I have in mind because I’m basing it on several people. My age group is the age group that grew up with the Stones and the Beatles. And for the first time young people were calling the shots and setting the style and it was our world. We have inherited this. We made the rules and that’s why we always think of ourselves as a young youth movement and the idea that our hair will turn gray, I mean, you look at Mick Jagger, he’s still a young guy, and a young His whole posture as compared to what you think of an older man, it’s that kind of mindset.
I think it’s too late with our kids now, but I think he has great affection for them. I think she is afraid of Shiva for some reason, I think she is terrified of Shiva, I think she is more sensible than the other two and more detailed in how she thinks.
but it’s funny because i get into the series like that [Caroline] does and you have this very fast bond. You’re not really intrinsic or important in some ways and you can feel that as an actor, you feel like I’m not really a part of this thing. But then there’s another bit where you say “they’re my kids.” So it’s a weird kind of parallel universe where you’re a part of it but not a part of it.
What were the biggest challenges filming episode nine? What was the experience like actually attending Logan’s funeral in person?
It was a whole deal to keep everyone hiding the fact that Logan had died because there were so many street interests in New York. When you start shooting something, obviously people will recognize it, they knew what we were shooting, were trying to keep that profile down and were there as invited guests at the funeral Trying to stay away from all kinds of crowd, he tried to get them out of the picture saying it was someone else’s funeral. But it became very clear that this had to happen and also because people were praising Logan.
So you really can’t put it down and it’s a whole new thing that’s come into filming that you have to be so protective of the story, not because it’s like top secret stuff but because you want to share it with people. Don’t want to spoil, you don’t want to tell people the results of the match before they see it. So it’s as simple as that. So it might seem like you’re being awfully secretive and mysterious, but really, it’s just that you’re trying to save people from disappointment. So that was the experience and we kind of put our heads down. This is the first time I have shot in New York, which was a bit exciting for me, the streets of Fifth Avenue. There I was in a film, which was a little too exciting.
How was it working with Sarah Snook on this episode and learning about Shiva’s pregnancy?
There’s another little part that was cut, a little moment when she’s on FaceTime with Caroline in episode 4 and she’s trying to tell her mom that she’s pregnant, that she can’t make it . And it becomes about “I’m so sorry that your dad died.” And I had a small window of opportunity to show that. I was really sad about it because I don’t want him to be a complete emotionless monster who is boring. I don’t believe in people like that and I think if you were ever married to someone and you had three kids with them and they die, you have a certain pocket of your memory that’s treasured and I Was actually going there, good day and feeling a special kind of effort for my kids.
She doesn’t have much maternal instinct. Shiva isn’t showing much, but “Uh, uh, uh, I think you might be…” There he is walking and it’s all in the church, it’s a very important event. So she can’t really be involved in this. So she breaks out her usual jokes about her silly husband, who’s trying to do all the senators and things for me with his autograph book. And that’s his way of dealing with things.
And then she sees this wonderful opportunity to bring all the mistresses and wives together, puts them on the same bench and it’s very naughty and so she is, but there’s a real message underneath when she says all this There is water under the bridge. Now we can all be friends. what the f-k? So there’s some of that. So I think it’s in-character in a way that she does that.
What has it been like working on one of the biggest drama series of our time and returning for the final season?
It’s been great. I didn’t really realize that anything could be this big because I think when I was growing up and even until the last 15 years, I think things didn’t go so viral and so global . But having said that I don’t know what the actual viewing figures are and I know you have to watch people repeat things all the time and again and all that. But when I was doing something like “Inspector Morse” back in the day, it would have 17 million viewers or 20 million viewers, and now when people say, “Oh ‘Downton Abbey’s crazy gone viral,’ they’ve got 10 million viewers.” went.” You know, that’s half of what we used to get. So the audience is making more noise, but maybe in smaller pockets for everyone. But they are definitely feeling their emotions and I love that.
I’m a fan of both the series and him in it and it’s a great place to be. I don’t get to script anything I’m not in, so I can watch as an audience member with the same jaw hanging in astonishment up to a point. I know a few things but I find out about things quite late in the day, and then I get winded and I go with a very light load. And for that light work, I’ve got enough work out of it, it’s taken the focus off. It has brought me different things and it is extraordinary.
