‘Succession’ Cast Member Brian Cox Asked Creator Jesse Armstrong if Logan Roy Loves His Kids and Found out the Truth

All of Logan Roy (Brian Cox)’s children are vying for his approval in Succession. Even Roman (Kieran Culkin), who usually remains aloof, practically begged for his love in the season 3 finale. Love is a tricky topic for Logan, so much so that Cox had to ask the show’s creator, Jesse Armstrong, if he did in fact love his children. Cox got his answer, which may interest the rest of the Succession cast, too.

Cox appeared on the Fresh Air podcast on Jan. 18. Discussing the series, Cox confirmed once and for all whether Logan loves his children. HBO has renewed Succession for a fourth season. Seasons 1-3 are now streaming. 

Jesse Armstrong answered Brian Cox’s ‘Succession’ question

Cox confirmed he asked Armstrong if Logan actually loved his children. The answer may reframe some Succession cast member performances and settle some debates, if not raising even more questions. 

“I needed to know because is he just cruel?” Cox said on Fresh Air. “Is he needlessly cruel? Because I thought if he’s needlessly cruel, this is going to be a very boring show for me. I’m going to be playing one line throughout.” 

Look at the ‘Succession’ cast through the lens of this answer

“And Jesse said, ‘No, he loves his kids,’” Cox said.

Of course, business still comes first to Logan. Sorry, Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Kendall (Jeremy Strong). Love won’t win them any favor when it comes to Waystar Royco.

The key question for me was does he love his children because once you have that, once you establish that then the conflict is there, however inner the conflict is and we don’t see it. That’s the other thing about Logan. We don’t see a lot of what’s going on in his inner thinking and he’s angry. He’s an angry man. He’s a very, very angry man and he’s angry because of his own wants and his own frustrations. He’s created this monster, this thing and at the end of the day he loves it. It’s his creation but at the end of the day it’s highly questionable morally.

Brian Cox, Fresh Air podcast, 1/18/22

The Roy kids have to grow up sometime 

Cox acknowledged that even he wondered whether Logan loved his children. Now that he knows, he relishes the drama that entails. However, they’re all adults now and will have to find a way to cope with Logan.

“There comes a point,” Cox said. “I remember the great actor Brian Dennehy saying this to me. He said, ‘You know, after a certain age all bets are off. You can blame your parents for everything but finally there’s a point where you gotta say hang on, I’m 30 now .I can’t just keep blaming my mom and dad for my conditioning. There’s a point where I have to use my own intelligence and say oh, hang on. Let me get perspective on this.’ Of course, this is what human beings sometimes, a lot of the times, fail to do.”