Succession boss Jesse Armstrong has opened up about writing Kendall’s confession scene in the season three finale.
- READ MORE: ‘Succession’ and the humiliation of Shiv Roy – what happened to the least sociopathic sibling?
The writer and showrunner detailed his process with Variety, including the moment Kendall that admitted to killing a man at the end of the first season.
“I knew that scene was going to happen,” Armstrong said of the scene in which Kendall confesses to his siblings Shiv and Roman.
“I knew what was going to happen with Tom and Shiv at the end. But honestly – I found it hard. I’m kind of a workman-like writer. I don’t have writer’s block. I get down to it. I go for it, and then I refine and work on things.
“I knew that we had good shape. But then there’s also the part which is execution, and I knew I had to execute that. And I don’t normally get wobbly, but I found I was scared of that. I rewrote it a bit; I rewrote it in the UK, and I rewrote it when we were in Florence.”
On Kendall’s dialogue, Armstrong added: “It’s a difficult thing to get someone to say the one thing they don’t want to say. And I felt like we’d put building blocks in place that made it feel psychologically real.
“But making the actual trigger be something that Jeremy was then going to be able to achieve in the moment, and to get his siblings to respond in a way that was actually just true was a challenge. It was tough. But it was exciting, because you know you’re writing for those brilliant people.”
Meanwhile, director Aaron Sorkin recently defended Jeremy Strong over a divisive profile of the actor in The New Yorker.
“Jeremy Strong is a great actor and a great company member. There isn’t a writer, director or producer on Earth who wouldn’t grab at the chance to cast him,” Sorkin said.
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