Succession's final season is approaching its conclusion - and its viewers were hit with a major shock last week that occurred off-screen.
The acclaimed TV series is in its final season, with episode four out today. However, many fans are still reeling from the major shock from episode three.
For those who haven’t caught up on Succession or are seeking further questions on the events in episode three, we have all your questions answered here. Of course, there are major spoilers ahead.
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What happened in episode three?
Logan Roy, the head of the feuding Roy family played by Brian Cox, died in episode three during the wedding of his son Connor and partner Willa Ferreyra, played by Alan Ruck and Justine Lupe respectively. Fellow children Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) received a call from Tom Wambsgans, played by Matthew Macfadyen.
He explained that their father had fallen ill on a plane. Logan was flying to Sweden to seal the Waystar Royco-GoJo deal and, according to Tom, he was found ill in the bathroom and flight personnel could not save him.
Kendall and Roman informed their sister Shiv (played by Sarah Snook) about this. Tom then gave the phone to Logan so all the children present could say their goodbyes. Connor had departed with Willa for their honeymoon beforehand and therefore wasn’t present for his father’s final phone call.
Did Logan definitely die?
The fact that Logan’s death occurred off-screen has left some viewers questioning whether he actually passed away. The writers could have made the death as ambiguous as possible to make way for a return later in the series.
Of course, anything could happen in the remaining episodes, but a shock return appears unlikely. The whole premise of Succession is based on which family member of the Roy’s will seize control of his media empire after his death.
Therefore, Logan’s death is built-in to the show. Series creator Jesse Armstrong confirmed this in an episode of the Succession podcast released immediately after the third instalment.
Armstrong said: "He was always going to die. It felt like that had to happen. That was always coded into it once we decided it was going to be the final season.”
He added: “Occasionally, when I was going crazy about what the end would be I would think, most tragedies end with the death at the end and we go back and look at that as a shape. But it really was this feeling of wanting to see how they would cope afterwards that was the prevailing one."
Succession writer Mark Mylod, who was also present on the podcast, agreed. Addressing why Logan’s death happened off-screen, he said: "Big events don't happen in a perfect way, do they?”
He added: “They happen sometimes in a hum-drum way. And this idea of taking away all the television clichés of the kind of perfect TV death I thought was really brilliant."
When Logan’s repeated health problems throughout the series are factored in, it seems that the titular head of the Roy family is gone once and for all. This also makes it more likely he died of natural causes, rather than any underhand tactics by Tom.
How will the rest of the Roy family react?
Despite the children’s repeated feuding with Logan and between themselves, his death will likely bring them together for a time. However, with Logan’s Waystar up for grabs and talks of mergers with other companies fast approaching, it will not be long before the fighting begins again to inherit Logan’s crown.
With just six episodes left of the drama of deceit and power, the victor will be decided very soon.
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