Brian Cox Applauds Succession for Not Overstaying Its Welcome Like Game of Thrones: 'They Didn't Know What They Were Doing at the End'

This post contains spoilers from Sunday’s episode of Succession. Proceed accordingly.

The star of one of HBO’s buzziest hits lobbed some serious shade at another of the network’s biggest shows on his way out the door Sunday.

Succession patriarch Logan Roy died in Episode 3, which aired this week. In an exit interview with The New York Times, portrayer Brian Cox praised his show’s decision to end at the culmination of the current season — and dissed Game of Thrones as he did so.

“You think about Game of Thrones, when they didn’t know what they were doing at the end, and they had an ending which was not really satisfactory. And the audience was furious,” Cox said. He referred to how, when the fantasy series drew to a close in 2019, fan backlash was so strong that one created an online petition for HBO to “remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers.” It currently has nearly 1.9 million signatures. (HBO boss Casey Bloys has said that re-shooting the final run of episodes was “not something that we seriously considered.”)

Cox has been candid regarding Game of Thrones in the past, most notably in his memoir Putting the Rabbit in the Hat. In the book, he says he chose not to take on the role of Robert Baratheon — which eventually went to Mark Addy — because “the money was not all that great, shall we say.” And because he knew from the start that Robert would succumb to a hunting accident during the show’s first season, “I wouldn’t have had any of the benefits of the long-term effects of a successful series where your wages go up with every passing season. So I passed on it, and Mark Addy was gored by the boar instead.”

In the Times Q&A, Cox acknowledged that Succession fans may also be very angry about his character’s fate, which came about without warning, as Logan was in his private jet en route to Switzerland. (Read a full recap, and hear what Cox’s co-star Sarah Snook has to say about the tough episode.)  “They might miss Logan and say, ‘Oh, what are you doing killing off one of the most interesting characters?'” he noted. “But it’s fine by me.”

How are you feeling about all things Succession in the wake of Episode 3? Hit the comments and let us know!

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