‘Succession’ Season 3 Finale Deleted Scene Made Things Even Worse for Roman Roy, Brian Cox Reveals
The Succession Season 3 finale was a shocker to everyone who’s been following the Roy family. Siblings Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin), Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook), and Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong) banded together. Their attempt to overrule Logan Roy (Brian Cox) didn’t work. There was even a deleted scene that made things even more brutal.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Succession Season 3 finale.]
Cox was a guest on the Hell & High Water podcast on Feb. 8 to promote his new memoir, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat. He discussed his hit HBO show as well. Cox revealed a scene that was left out of the Succession Season 3 finale.
The ‘Succession’ Season 3 finale almost went harder on Roman Roy
Roman got more vulnerable than ever in the Succession Season 3 finale. He begged his father to listen to his children out of love. Roman, of course, chose business and there was a scene where Frank Vernon (Peter Friedman) let Roman have it. Coming after the d*** pic incident, Frank couldn’t bottle up his frustrations anymore.
“Right at the end, there was a wonderful thing that was written and we never saw it,” Cox said on Hell & High Water. “Frank, who’s put up with Roman ridiculously, he suddenly said, ‘You know, you’re a spoiled boy.’ And he lets him have it in a way that is kind of devastating. Right after that scene and then we see where he has become detached in a way.”
The reason the ‘Succession’ Season 3 finale did not include this scene
Cox lamented that the Succession Season 3 finale ran out of time for this scene. Once Caroline (Harriet Walter) reveals she changed the children’s stake in Waystar Royco, the denouement quickly reveals it was Tom (Matthew Macfadyen) who sold them out.
Unfortunately, you didn’t see that because they focused on the Shiv and Matthew thing which carries you into the next season. We had a lot of problems with time. It has to be said, normally it was a 10 episode thing. [Creator] Jesse [Armstrong] suddenly said, ‘I’m going to do eight episodes.’ Finally he came back and said, ‘I’m going to be nine.’ Actually, quite honestly, we could have done 10 quite easily because we had enough material. For me it was a lost opportunity to see something else arrive that was there. They wrote it. It’s all there but they decided to excise it and move into another direction which is their choice.”
Brian Cox, Hell or High Water podcast, 2/8/22
Brain Cox is actually pulling for Roman Roy
Cox felt the extra scene would have also driven home the point of Roman asking for love too late by the Succession Season 3 finale.
“Roman is the one who raises clumsily the notion of love,” Cox said. “And it’s because it’s something he feels. He feels that there’s some love that he has for his dad. But to raise it at that point when no love has been forthcoming from any of them, but just avarice and greed and want and selfishness. I just thought that was such a wonderful beat, and then everybody lays into Roman. So you’re left with a Roman that he does take a battering.”
Despite the d*** pic misstep, Cox feels Logan sees the most potential in Roman of all his children. Roman advising against the deal with Eduard Asgarov (Babak Tafti) impressed Logan.
That, to me, showed me that this boy has something considerable. But it’s so wrapped up in this, he’s so potty mouthed and so masturbatory bound that he can’t shake that off. Once he shakes that off he will start to grow up and he will get realer. He’s funny, he’s witty, he’s sharp and he’s got, I think, ultimately a lot more to offer than Kendall has because he hasn’t got the Kendall curse of the drugs and all of that. He’s probably a wild boy as well but he’s still forming as a character, Roman, because he’s still young enough to form. In a way, he just saw this d*** pic thing as a set back to something that was on the way to become something.
Brian Cox, Hell or High Water podcast, 2/8/22
