How ‘Succession’ kept shocking episode three plot twist from leaking

‘Succession’ shocked fans Sunday night when they killed off a major character in an investable plot twist. Many fans are wondering how they didn’t see the loss of a character coming.

In the age of social media, where sets of major shows and actors are constantly photographed while working, it’s difficult to keep a major plot twist under wraps until the episode airs, but ‘Succession’ managed to do so flawlessly.

After the episode aired and fans had time to process the loss of a character, the show’s longtime producer and writer Georgia Pritchett finally revealed how the cast and crew managed to keep Logan Roy’s death a secret for so long.

Code word ‘Larry David’

Pritchett revealed on Twitter that the ‘Succession’ team used an HBO-friendly code word when planning Logan’s death so that it wouldn’t reach the public ahead of time. “This was a tough secret to keep!” Pritchett wrote about Logan’s death.

He continued, “We decided it in the ‘Succession’ writers’ room in Jan 22. So nobody found out, we used a 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.”

Brain Cox continued to be on set

Director Mark Mylod also revealed another way ‘Succession’ managed to keep the plot twist under wraps. Actor Brian Cox, who plays Logan Roy continued to film on set after the episode wrapped up to give off the impression he was still alive in the series.

Cox was even on set for the filming of his character’s funeral, just to really prevent any vital information leaks to the public.

“The stuff [filmed for] a subsequent episode, we basically brought him on to shoot dummy scenes — scenes that didn’t actually exist. As a misdirect,” Mylod said.

Mylod was informed by ‘Succession’ creator Jesse Armstrong that Logan would be dying back when the team was in pre-production for the fourth and final season.

“That’s when he first told me about this idea, that it should happen early in the season in an episode slot that you would not necessarily expect,” Mylod said. “This idea of actually creating, hopefully, great drama out of mundanity — you know, the inconvenience of it all. Which just seemed wonderful to me.”

‘Succession’ Season four airs weekly on Sunday nights at 9 pm ET on HBO.