Actor Brian Cox, star of Succession, speaks to Sky News at the Edinburgh TV Festival, telling us why he disagrees with his co-star Kieran Culkin and what’s in store for the Roy family in season four of the hit series.
Brian Cox has told Sky News that playing Logan Roy – the terrifying head of the Waystar family empire in the drama Succession – has had “a terrible effect” on him.
Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, the 76-year-old star, whose career has taken him from Dundee to Hollywood, said: “I was not really a swearer until I played this role. And now I swear all the time. It’s catching, it’s infectious.”
The Sky Atlantic show about the Roys and their affair with politics, power, and money has been a hit both with fans and critics, and the third season leads this year’s Emmy nominations, with 25 nods.
Cox is currently on a break from filming the fourth season while the rest of the Succession cast shoot scenes he is not needed for in LA.
But instead of putting his feet up, he’s here in Edinburgh. And he’s pretty busy – giving a talk about his career at the TV festival, promoting the play She/Her he has produced, which stars his actress wife, and also appearing at a book festival to talk about his 2021 memoir, Putting The Rabbit Back In The Hat.
With two Emmys and two Olivier Awards to his name, Cox has worked on more than 200 films and TV shows during his impressive career, which spans over half a century.
“From playing Goering which I won an Emmy for, to Churchill, it’s a great challenge, and it’s a great way of stretching my instrument. And I’ve been very grateful and had a really good time doing it.”
While he won’t pick a favourite role to date, saying it would be like “choosing a favourite child”, he does have a soft spot for the part that has made him a household name, father from hell Logan Roy.
Cox explains: “Logan is quite a fascinating character because he’s so mysterious, we don’t really know how he thinks. We know how he acts. We don’t really know how he feels.”
