Succession seasons 1-4 spoilers below
Succession fans have become used to being spoilt by the show. Every episode is jammed full of drama, cackle-worthy lines, and ever-winding storylines that are impossibly hilarious and captivating.
The penultimate episode of the show, which aired on Monday morning, did not disappoint. Nearly all of the central cast gathered in a cathedral to bid adieu to patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) and, of course, emotions ran high.
One of the most thrilling moments of the funeral was when Logan’s ex-wife Lady Caroline Collingwood (Harriet Walter) – Shiv, Kendall and Roman’s mum – collects Logan’s girlfriend Kerry, and someone called Sally-Anne, and then walks them both to the front of the church to sit alongside Marcia, Logan’s current wife.
“Sally-Anne was my Kerry, so to speak. So, it’s all water under the bridge now,” says Caroline.
It’s a fabulous moment that launched a hundred memes: “Sally-Anne was my Kerry… so to speak” gagged me a little” said one fan.
“sally-anne was my kerry… so to speak” gagged me a little #Succession pic.twitter.com/3kYR3W1bzf
— elo ³ (@cozyricciardo) May 22, 2023
shady spice, bangs spice, british spice, random spice pic.twitter.com/F5YKjT7sZS
— meg succession text posts (@successtextpost) May 22, 2023
Sally-Anne has been brought up in previous episodes of Succession: in season two, when Logan was having a very brief affair with ex-Waystar CEO Rhea Jarrell, the younger Roys referred back to Logan’s old infatuation, calling her “Sally-Anne with the harp” and “Sally-Anne and the Summer of Horses” .
Then in season three, Frank is talking about some of Waystar Royco’s biggest challenges. “There were the tabloid suicides. When we nearly went kablooey because of Argentina,” he says. “The Tiananmen accommodations. The black cloud after Sally-Anne.”
So it was thrilling for hardcore fans to finally get a glimpse of the woman who had caused Logan so much anguish decades earlier.
But the writers hadn’t stopped having fun, as Brian Cox’s real-life wife, Nicole Ansari-Cox, was cast as Sally-Anne.
“Brian cox’ real life wife playing sally anne had me screaming,” said one fan on Twitter. “I am actually obsessed that they got Nicole Ansari (Brian Cox’s wife) to play Sally-Anne,” said another.
brian cox’ real life wife playing sally anne had me screaming pic.twitter.com/kosTyuST0l
— alexandra (@ternhavens) May 22, 2023
The cameo is indeed a delicious Easter egg for Succession fans. German-born Nicole Ansari-Cox is an actor who has had roles in Law & Order, FBI and Apple TV+’s Little Voice. She married Cox in 2002, when she was in her mid-thirties.
Although it wasn’t necessary for Brian Cox to turn up to the funeral filming scenes for obvious reasons, he still made an appearance to stop paparazzi from working out the plot.
“On my funeral day, they were going to do a scene with me, a fake scene with me at the church, so, just to throw people off the scent... then they called me and said, you don’t need to come in now,” Cox explained. “I said, look, I’m coming in, because I know there’s going to be a whole lot of paparazzi there, and they’re going to be wondering what that funeral is. I am coming in.”
