[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Succession Season 4, Episode 3, “Connor’s Wedding.”]
Succession delivered a monumental plot twist on Sunday (April 9) night’s episode when Roy family patriarch Logan (Brian Cox) suddenly died. But how did such a major moment like that remain secret?
Georgia Pritchett, a writer and co-executive producer on the hit HBO series, took to Twitter on Tuesday (April 11) to reveal that she and the other writers used a code name to refer to Logan’s death, and that name belonged to another HBO icon: Larry David.
“This was a tough secret to keep!” Pritchett tweeted. “We decided it in the #Succession writers’ room in Jan 22. So nobody found out we used code on the whiteboards. Larry David meant Logan Dies. So episode 403 said Connor’s Wedding, Larry David. Mind you, that would also have been a great episode.”
This was a tough secret to keep! We decided it in the #Succession writers’ room in Jan 22. So nobody found out we used code on the whiteboards. Larry David meant Logan Dies. So episode 403 said Connor’s Wedding, Larry David. Mind you, that would also have been a great episode. pic.twitter.com/VH1HuHCFOC
— Georgia Pritchett (@georgiapudding) April 11, 2023
Fans reacted to this revelation excitedly, many wishing for a Succession and Curb Your Enthusiasm crossover.
“HBO has the chance to do the funniest thing ever,” tweeted one fan, while another added, “Larry David in a Succession episode is now the crossover event I will forever yearn for!”
“Great, now I’m imagining LD on the boat. Walking around, making fun of different things he sees on the boat. Taking issue with the whole concept of eating while on a boat, the motion sickness issue. Having a conversation with Cousin Greg,” wrote another viewer.
HBO has the chance to do the funniest thing ever. https://t.co/BHZ0poSQbJ
— Rachel Roderman (@rachelroderman) April 11, 2023
Larry David in a Succession episode is now the crossover event I will forever yearn for! 😅 https://t.co/9FSX3YtcBD
— Heyitsstevehunt (@heyitsstevehunt) April 11, 2023
Great, now I’m imagining LD on the boat. Walking around, making fun of different things he sees on the boat. Taking issue with the whole concept of eating while on a boat, the motion sickness issue. Having a conversation with Cousin Greg.
— George W (@GeorgeRW1981) April 11, 2023
The whiteboard code wasn’t the only way the Succession team kept Roy’s death a secret. The show’s director Mark Mylod told Variety that they filmed “dummy scenes” with Cox as “misdirect.”
On top of that, Cox also showed up at his character’s own funeral to throw people off the scent.
“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,’” Cox told Deadline about the funeral shoot. “So, I said to my driver, I said, ‘Joe, let’s go, we’re going.’ So, 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?’”
He added, “If I hadn’t done that, if I hadn’t come, they would’ve gone, ‘it’s Logan’s funeral.’ 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.”
Succession, Season 4, Sundays, 9/8c, HBO and HBO Max