- Warning: There are major spoilers ahead for season four, episode three of "Succession."
- Brian Cox said he purposely showed up to set when he wasn't needed so he could fool the paparazzi.
Even when Brian Cox isn't playing Logan Roy, he's still thinking like his "Succession" character.
Cox, who stars as the powerful and calculated matriarch at the center of the Emmy-winning series, revealed that he came up with the idea to show up to the set to avoid paparazzi getting suspicious about which character would get killed off on the fourth and final season.
Logan's sudden and unceremonious death happened off-camera during episode three, released on Sunday, as he was on a plane en route to Sweden to meet with GoJo CEO Lukas Matsson.
Even though Logan's health had been declining since the show's premiere in 2018, his death so early in the final season came as a surprise to many.
In an interview with Deadline, Cox said that he showed up to the New York City set on the day Logan's funeral was being filmed, to keep the major plot point from being spoiled.
"I did actually turn up for the funeral," Cox said.
"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," the actor explained.
Cox said that the crew was running out of time and couldn't film the planned scene, which was especially low-priority since it wouldn't be included in the actual show.
Cox said he was notified about the scheduling change while heading uptown to the church to film, but decided to show up anyway to preserve the secrecy of the show.
"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," he recalled. "So, I said to my driver, I said, Joe, let's go, we're going."
Cox continued: "And as soon as I got out of the car, there were paparazzi shooting me left, right, and center, and therefore, they thought, Logan's at the funeral, what is he doing?"
Paparazzi did indeed spot Cox arriving at the set for a funeral scene, as seen in photos posted by Daily Mail back in January.
"If I hadn't done that, if I hadn't come, they would've gone, it's Logan's funeral," Cox said. "And I was the one who took that responsibility. They didn't even think of it. They were so rushed, and so much, you know, this last season was very difficult to film."
As the season progresses, Logan's kids and the executives at Waystar Royco will likely be battling it out for control of the media conglomerate, while also mourning his demise.
Cox told Deadline he doesn't know who will be named Logan's successor, but he doubts that his kids, who have been shown to be largely inept and unqualified, will get the highly coveted position.
"My suspicion is that it won't be the kids," he said. "I think that they will get locked out."