Succession director reveals alternate ending to shocking third episode

Director says unedited version of the ending was like ‘Ocean’s 11’

Succession’s monumental third episode of its fourth and final season nearly had a different ending, director and executive producer Mark Mylod has revealed.

*Warning – Major spoilers ahead for Succession*

The most recent episode follows the sudden death of patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) and the ensuing fallout.

In the final scene, the camera focuses on Logan’s son Kendall (Jeremy Strong) who watches on, distraught, as his father’s body is carried off the aeroplane he died on.

However, Mylod told Variety in a new interview that they shot “quite a way beyond that [moment]”.

The director explained that in the unseen, longer version: “[Kendall] walked over to his car, to his driver, as Roman was coming back from the aircraft, and shared a look before the two of them got into their respective cars, and the cars drove away.

Brian Cox (left) and Matthew Macfadyen in ‘Succession’ (David M. Russell/HBO)

He continued: “As the cars drove away, the camera just landed on the ambulance, which then drove away. And all the vehicles kind of – oddly, like the end of Ocean’s 11 – all the players exited the stage, to leave us just with this blank runway. Which was very powerful.”

Mylod said that Strong performed multiple iterations of the same scene so that the producers could decide how emotional they wanted him to be in the final edit.

“Jeremy’s character, in some takes, really fell apart emotionally, in some takes was more stoic. We chose a more stoic take. It just felt right with the balance,” he said.

Following the shocking episode’s release, the LA Times has faced heavy scrutiny from fans for sharing the news of Logan’s death in a parody obituary shared moments after the show aired.

Meanwhile, Strong and the rest of the cast have spoken about the emotional toll that filming Logan’s death had taken on them.

Succession is available to stream on NOW and Sky Atlantic every Monday, and continues in the US on HBO on Sundays.

Find The Independent’s recap of the episode here.