(This story contains spoilers for Succession Season 4 “Dress Rehearsal” Episode 2.)
First, they stole their father’s birthday present . Now, they are in the future after his birthday. Following an intense bidding war for Pierce Global in the final Succession season premiere Media, the second episode sees siblings Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin ) plotting again against Logan’s (Brian Cox) special cuts: vote against upcoming home sale business , and forced their father to grovel to the purchaser, Lukas Matsen (Alexander Skarsgård).
Logan had a huge thorn in his paw, which hurt him during an impromptu appearance at eldest son Connor’s house ( Alan Ruck) is also impromptu karaoke bachelor party. Alas, Logan didn’t sing for his dinner, but he made a painful reason to his children for holding them back – a reason too little, too late for Kendall and Shiv, but seems to work with Roman Landed, ready to return to his father by the end of the episode.
The gift of it all: Logan’s friend/assistant/counselor Kerry Castellabate, played by Zoë Winters. The multi-hyphenate (almost certainly also Logan’s lover) used the episode to play off another title: the news anchor. The episode, which reveals the ambitious Kerry’s ambitious design for the top job at USA Network, comes with a test reel that’s little more than a formality. At least, that’s how Kerry sees it. Logan took a different view, clearly pointing to Kerry’s lack of talent for the job, not to mention her lack of qualifications.
In order to reject Kerry’s job without getting his hands dirty, Logan tasks
Next, THR talks to Winters about the mysterious Kerry’s rise to power, her ATN ambitions and more.
Kerry is such a powerful figure that she often confronts Logan and uses his voice to speak to others. Where does that power come from?
I think Kerry saw in Logan how he became a winner in her eyes. I think she employs certain behaviors and methods. As Logan said, “It’s a world of killing. You have to be a killer to be successful.” I think Kerry firmly believed in that. The culture of these media conglomerates is largely about fandom. There is an obsessive frenzy about who is at the top and how they win. I think she’s a huge fan of his, emulates a lot of his methods, and is ambitious. I think she has worked hard for it. Even in moments that felt like adventures, she chose the path of expressing her views and thoughts.
When I auditioned for the first time, these lines from Kerry were well-timed Two to Shiv… It was a very small part, but [the lines] were delivered around some news. But I did it with a big attitude. My approach as an assistant is to do the job well and not get in the way. So I want to choose a version where is not . What if she was an assistant who decided to get in her way?
How much of Kerry’s backstory did you invent compared to what Jesse Armstrong and the writers gave you?
We did have discussions, and I talked a lot with [director and executive producer] Mark Mylod about who she is. I’m a bit of a workaholic so I have a 500-page Word document on Kerry. Last year was 400. I was talking to an actor and I told them about it and they said, “…but don’t you have any lines?”
Savage!
This is all a joke. (laughs.) But I do a lot of backstory. I’m a theater guy, and I believe in developing really rich histories so that when you show up, you can come with your full story.
When we were filming the phone scene in the first episode, Kerry was trying to get the kids to call their dad for his birthday, and Mark Mylod took me aside and said, “Let’s Let’s talk about Kerry.” We talked for half an hour about her double majoring in political science and journalism and her family and blah, blah, blah… and then we filmed this scene on the phone , like four lines or something, and then I asked Mark, “Do you feel all the [backstory] in there?” So, I developed a rich history for her.
They gave me a lot of room to play and play. They gave me such an incredible arc. I’ve had a lot of conversations about her journey and her relationships with people. But I also did a lot of creating about who she is and her spine. More than anything, I want her to be a bad assistant.
Kerry’s ATN ambitions are on display in this episode. I was going to ask if you were surprised by the turnaround, but considering what you said about her political science and journalism background…
Yes, I think she’s always politically motivated. I’m not surprised she wants to be a political commentator.
She had a big take on the presidency in Season 3 “What It Takes.”
Exactly. In season three, you see her pushing Logan towards a fascist far-right candidate, so she clearly has dangerous and scary political leanings, and she’s not afraid to expose that. But I think Kerry is ambitious. I think what she wants, more than money and anything else, is power. WayStar is having a huge sale, but they’ve spun off from ATN. The promise she got was the position. From her point of view, I think auditions are just a formality. She wants to have a say in this crucial groundbreaking election. She hopes to have a platform on the international stage in this hotly contested election. She thought it would give her a lot of strength. She always had those tendencies and ambitions.
Let’s talk about the Kree scroll, it must be fun to shoot because you have to act in some kind of Kind of intentional, right? …What do you mean? Uh… I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Cousin Greg? Can you come in and complete the interview? (lol) because you want it to be bad but you don’t want it Getting so bad… I mean, it’s being bad, but you want her to get through it. You don’t want to comment on the joke. You want to be in it. Right, because it’s definitely not a joke to her. No. I think she knows she’s uncomfortable, but I don’t think she thinks she’s as bad as she is. I also think she has enough ego that she thinks, “Okay, let’s get this chore out of the way.” She thinks it’s a chore because she doesn’t want it to look like nepotism, even though she Really thinking, “This is mine, I’m going to take over, I’m going to be great.” To prepare for that, I watched a lot of Laura Ingraham, Tomi Lahren and some Conservative political commentator. But I also wish Kerry had her own version. My point is, I think women have this pressure to be attractive, which is amplified on television. So you see these political hosts and commentators being glamorous, and I think what we’re seeing here, and what I appreciate about Kerry is, she’s not interested in glamor. Instead, she’s trying to present her vision of glamour, and failing, making people uncomfortable. Her hair is brushed, she’s wearing this bubblegum pink dress, she’s on this platform, she’s probably using whitening strips that morning, and everything out there is telling her she’s not who she is. I’m a drama buff so I was reminded of Nina in Chekhov’s The Seagull when she realizes she When she was a badass actress, she said, “I don’t know what to do with my hands.” Kerry didn’t know what to do with her hands. To be nice to the TV reporters, it’s very much about connecting with the audience, and I don’t think Kerry knows how to connect with a lot of people. I don’t think she’s interested in it. Well, she’s connected to Logan, but we get to the scene where the kids welcome her to the karaoke bar and enter “You’re obsessed with Logan Roy “club. When Kerry and Logan leave, you can really see the relationship change on her side. Of course, that’s where I’m going because he gave an incredible speech as they walked down the alley. What’s the matter with her, she knows that she has been cheated, and now there is a distance. The kids were a wake-up call for her? I think she knew it when she talked to her cousin Greg, whom she thought had no powers. So that means it’s from Tom, and Tom’s too smart to do something that would put him at loggerheads with Logan. So, that leaves Logan. I think she was on the defensive in that scene with Greg, but deep down, it was very awkward and she felt humiliated. From that scene, she walks straight into the office where she knows Logan is. I think in that walk that we don’t see, she’s putting the pieces together. When she walked into that room, the momentum of her anger and shame was hijacked by the larger issue that kids would vote against the sale and change the trajectory of the vote. So she can’t open it with Logan in any way. I’m not sure she will. But that moment was over as something more serious entered the room. When they go to karaoke [confronting Kendall, Shiv, and Roman], I think her idea is to take a softer approach with the kids. Her wheels are still turning. She couldn’t say, “Fuck you!” She couldn’t be mad at him. She still needs him. And I don’t think she’s one to give up, any more than Logan wouldn’t give up. I don’t think she will fail. So I think she still feels like she has a way out of it. Interview edited for length and clarity. New episodes of Succession air Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max. Following THR success2023n1235360447 Last season report .
