Brian Cox: ‘I Resent the Fact’ That ‘I’ve Lost My Anonymity’ Because of Succession

Brian Cox says that playing Logan Roy on Succession was great and all, except there’s just one small problem: now everyone associates him with his character on the HBO drama.

“Having played Logan Roy, I resent the fact, or I’m sad about the fact, that I’ve lost my anonymity, which was one of the things that served me well,” Cox recently told The Times.

“It’s one of the great roles and there’s nothing I can do about it. You get hoisted by your own petard. Hopefully I’m not going to be defined by it, but we’ll see.”

Succession follows the Roy family as siblings Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin) and Shiv (Sarah Snook) squabble over who will take over their father’s media company after his death. That happened in Episode 3 of Season 4, with Logan (Cox) dying suddenly while in the air on his private jet. Now, the chips are taking their final fall as the last few episodes of the season play out.

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Here’s Was Brian Cox Is Doing Post-Succession

With Succession behind him, Cox is looking forward to going back to the stage, where he’ll play James Tyrone, an unhappy actor in Eugene O’Neill’s play Long Day’s Journey into Night in London’s West End. Playing his morphine-addicted wife will be Patricia Clarkson (Easy A). She previously starred opposite Bradley Cooper in the play The Elephant Man in 2015.

Alex Lawther (The End of the F***ing World) and Daryl McCormack (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande) also star in Long Day’s Journey Into Night.

The fact that the story revolves around an actor who feels he’s been pigeonholed into one role his whole life speaks to Cox’s post-Succession apprehension about the future of his career.

“I was fascinated by the fact that he was this actor who regretted selling his soul. He ended up playing one role, which was commercially very successful, but it also clipped his wings. His career could have been much broader,” Cox told The Times.

He adds: “There’s always going to be that role that tries to define you.”

Main Image: Brian Cox as Logan Roy and Jeremy Strong as Kendall in Season 4 Episode 6 of Succession. Photograph by David Russell/HBO