Note: This story contains spoilers from “Succession” Season 4.
Sunday’s episode of “Succession” saw newly appointed Waystar co-CEOs Kendall and Roman head back to the negotiating table with billionaire Gojo CEO Lukas Mattson (Alexander Skarsgård).
The episode follows the pair, as well as Shiv (Sarah Snook), Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), Greg (Nicholas Braun), Frank (Peter Friedman), Karl (David Rasche), Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron), Karolina (Dagmara Dominczyk) and Hugo (Fisher Stevens) head to Norway in order for Mattson to assess compatibility and decide who to fire in the event the merger goes through. The episode hilariously sees the companies’ executives performing an audition of sorts for Mattson, as rumors swirl of a kill list that will determine who will stay in their jobs after the acquisition takes place.
By the end of the episode most of Waystar’s old guard is on the chopping block — except for Karolina and Gerri.
Friedman sat down with TheWrap to discuss the HBO drama’s latest chapter, the final season and some of his favorite memories of working on the series. Check out TheWrap’s full conversation with the actor below.
In Episode 5, Kendall and Roman are constantly asking themselves how Logan would handle the revised offer thrown out by Lukas Matsson. How do you think Logan would have handled it differently from his sons?
What I remember is Karl and Frank being impressed by their dealings and going well, ‘What do you know, they did something good’ and by that extent ‘We’re gonna be ok, Carl, we’re gonna get our stuff and get out of here.’ That’s as far as I went with how much they’re like their dad.
What are your thoughts on the decision to make Roman and Kendall co-CEOs?
What I remember from the guys being co-CEOs is identifying immediately with Sarah Snook, who must be boiling. Forget the two guys, there’s somebody here who’s gotta be out for blood at this point. And that’s where my thoughts are the whole time once that decision is made. She’s the one to watch and will they keep her close like they say and will she be included? And she finds her own way to Lukas and has her own relationship.
At the end of episode 5, Frank is ultimately on the list of people who Matsson intends to fire if the deal goes through. What was your reaction to that decision?
It’s a different generation. Of course, they’re gonna get rid of the old guy, I would too. It’s fine. But what I love about Jesse [Armstrong] all the time, but especially in this one, is when Karolina has the line with the Scandinavian and the American groups coming together to see who to kill and who to keep “musical electric chairs.” Absolutely. He’s got such a wide range of reference from Greek history to nursery rhymes. It’s just wonderful. My favorite of the season.
What was it like shooting the scenes for Logan’s death in Episode 3? What was your reaction when you first found out he was being killed off?
Jesse [Armstrong] had put together a couple of Zoom calls where he told us what was going to happen, and that it was gonna happen in Episode 3 way before we started. So we had a lot of time to process it and just be amazed at how bold, how strong a choice and how unexpected and how daring and how good he is at what he does. So we were all ready to go.
I can’t remember if the plane stuff or the yacht stuff came first but when they were shooting all of the yacht stuff, the famous 27-minute scene and all those takes, they had David [Rasche] and me and I think Matthew [Macfadyen] in England — they even brought him in sonically from England. They had me on the boat in some back room with the sound and a tech person being live, answering questions from the plane, and I suppose that they might have done something similar for when we were on the plane and talking to them.
There was somebody lying in for Brian [Cox]. To put people off the scent they brought in Larry [Pine] who plays Sandy just for the day. So he’s on the call sheet and just in case they wanted to use him as the person who died in terms of whatever gets out. But it was a compressed area because we’re inside of a fuselage so it already has a certain tension to it, and there was a lot of stepping around a big old body, getting to and from the cockpit to talk to the pilot and stuff like that. But it was a normal day, I suppose. Perhaps, may not for Matt who had to carry so much of the emotional weight of that. I think the rest of our characters were just trying to keep our heads.
What did you think of Jesse’s decision to kill Logan early on in the season as opposed to later in the season?
It’s so smart and it’s just so unexpected. So at any time after Episode 5, you’d be expecting a demise. But this is like, bam. It’s wonderful.
What was it like working on Episode 4, where the “old guard” and kids are arguing over who will take over as interim CEO?
After the darkness and the tragedy of Episode 3, number four seemed like an out and out romp reading it. But it wasn’t. It had its ups and downs and depth to it. And I felt like ‘did I read it wrong?’ No, I talked about it with David Rasche and we thought [Jesse] just changed up the whole feeling to a romp right after the death. But he didn’t. There’s something that transpired between that revised script and the final edit where it has a more measured tone, a more varied tone. I thought it was gonna be a farce but it changed.
Fans have picked up on this line about a “little princess” that Frank and Carl mention when they first find the letter in Logan’s safe, then when they share it there’s no woman mentioned. What do you think of speculation that Frank, Karl and Gerri flushed the original letter that named Shiv Logan’s successor and replaced it with a fake letter they drew up themselves?
I had in my hand what I took out of that damn safe and I’ll go to my grave stating that as the truth (laughs). It was Kendall’s name. There was no girl. I don’t feel like we would have called Shiv that.
What have been your favorite scenes to shoot over the course of the series?
They would probably be the scenes when I have a personal dialogue with one other person. You can sort of sink into it. You’re not just running by with shooting a line in and creating everything up to that point and everything after that point. You’re able to percolate a little bit and I enjoy that a lot.
At the very end of Season 2, they had written a part where Frank tells the three kids off, and it was cut because they had different things [going on]. I got to say everything the audience has thought for two seasons. ‘You’re uncautious, you’re nasty, you’re brutish.’ I don’t know, ‘craven.’
The three kids have just been dismissed in Italy from Logan having done the deal with his ex-wife. And so they’re disenfranchised now and Roman comes to Karl, Jerry and Frank who are down at the end of the room and pleads to us Karl says something and Gerri says something and then Frank takes out the zoro epee. That was fun.
What will you miss most about playing Frank?
Probably the sociability of the entire engagement. It’s a wonderful group, no idiots involved. Lovely people, fun to be in a foreign country with them. Some of them really know how to experience it and have spent time other places and being part of something that’s top of the line. That’s always great.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
“Succession” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and HBO Max.
