Spoilers Ahead For Succession Season 3's "Connor's Wedding"There's a very good reason why Succession Season 4's "Connor's Wedding" has become the highest-rated episode of any TV show ever on IMDb. It not only shows off some of the best writing the HBO series has ever done but it also contains the most brutal on the show. And this is coming off the heels of Season 3's gut-punching finale. Showrunner Jesse Armstong and his team sure know how to make fans wish the series would go beyond a fourth season...
Without a doubt, "Connor's Wedding" contains the biggest twist in Succession history... Logan Roy's sudden death. Of course, the series has set this moment up from the first shot of the very first episode. But how and when it happens is what catches the audience off guard and cleverly sets up the tumultuous final episodes.
Many of the cast members have voiced their feelings about the fate of Logan, who is majestically played by the incomparable Brian Cox. Among them is Alan Ruck, the man behind Connor Roy. In an excellent interview with The Hollywood, the Ferris Bueller's Day Off alumnus revealed his true feelings about the internet-breaking episode...
How Connor Really Felt About Logan's Death, According To Alan Ruck
During Alan Ruck's interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he revealed that he and the rest of the cast were informed that Brian Cox's Logan Roy wouldn't make it through the third episode of the final season. The one thing he didn't know was that it would be during his character's wedding to Willa. But this story choice was something that made sense to Ruck.
Ruck explained that Connor's main drive was to impress his father, who always passed him over, even more so than his younger siblings. This is something that Connor actually utters when he first learns of Logan's death.
However, his reaction is far less heavy than Jeremy Strong's Kendall, Sarah Snook's Shiv, or Keiran Culkin's Roman.
According to Ruck, there are two reasons for this...
"I don't think I would have burst into tears immediately, and been inconsolable, and a big puddle on the ground," Alan Ruck explained during an interview with Entertainment Weekly. "This is the thing that has been foremost in Connor's mind, I've got to get the old man to be proud of me, I've got to get the old man to admire me, to say 'well done,' to put his arm around me and tell me that he loves me."
On top of this, the episode signifies the start of his new family. The union between him and Justine Lupe's Willa has certainly gone through turbulence. But there is a connection between the two of them.
In an interview with Vulture, Lupe even recalled a moment when Willa stands up for Connor in front of Logan.
"I think it was episode one or two of last season where Logan is sitting there telling everybody what their job is and she steps in and asks, 'What about Connor?' She does it publicly, and he takes note of it. They probably have heart-to-hearts about the way the family treats him," Justine Lupe explained to Vulture.
"You see it happening at the end of last season, where he’s venting; that’s the thing that kind of drives her into accepting his proposal. She’s like, 'You’re a good guy.' She sees the pain he’s in and she’s like, 'Okay, f*** it. Let’s do it.'"
But that doesn't mean the humungous story twist won't hit Connor where it hurts down the line...
"I do think that the old man’s death is going to catch up with him at some point," Alan Ruck admitted to The Hollywood Reporter. "But I do also think it’s true that Connor, being how old he is and how long this has been going on, has accepted the fact that his father is incapable of expressing the kind of affection Connor wants and needs. He knows that’s true about his brothers and his sister, too. It’s just not available. It’s just not a thing."
Ruck then quoted a line from a movie called I Never Sang For My Father.
"There’s some line like, 'When someone dies, the relationship struggles on in the survivor’s mind.' And I think that’s true. I think that’s going to be true for all of us. It’s true for all of us as humans," Ruck continued to say to The Hollywood Reporter. "When somebody passes, whatever you didn’t do or whatever you did do that you regret, that stuff is going to be with us, and we have to make peace with it."
Alan Ruck On How "Connor's Wedding" Was Filmed
The most important moment of "Connor's Wedding", where the Roy kids find out about Logan's death, was famously filmed like a one-act play. While they shot all of the coverage first, they eventually filmed the entire sequence as if it were a one-act-play. This meant that the camera team would be moving around the actors as they acted out the whole 20-plus minute sequence... This was highly unconventional.
And, according to Alan Ruck, it was downright exhilarating...
"It was a great idea. The thrill about that thing was, we had everything in the can. This was just extra. It was just for us, really," Alan Ruck said to The Hollywood Reporter.
"We wound up using a lot of that footage. Our crew is so amazing. Everybody is top shelf. We pulled that thing off — we actually pulled that thing off. The exhilaration among people when they finally said 'cut'? There was a huge cheer that went up. It’s like it was a sporting match and we had just won. It was a wonderful thing to do. A high point of that episode."
Ruck went on to say that he was blown away by what his castmates did with the moments he wasn't on set for.
"The golden trio of Kendall, Roman, and Siobhan … they really knocked it out of the park, the sequences they had when they found out the old man is, at least, dying, if not already dead. It was brilliant," Ruck gushed. "It’s stunning. Their reaction, to me, is the heart of the episode. It’s the way they’re dealing with this, or not dealing with it."
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