Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Succession Season 3 through Episode 7, "Too Much Birthday."
From creator Jesse Armstrong, the highly acclaimed and much-beloved HBO drama series Succession is back for a stinging third season, with the power dynamics in the Roy family shifting in a rather perilous way that feels like it could take down anyone in its path at any time. After Kendall’s (Jeremy Strong) decision to expose the depths of the company’s scandal, patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) has pitted his other adult children – including Shiv (Sarah Snook), Roman (Kieran Culkin), and Connor (Alan Ruck) – against each other, wanting them to spy, snitch and claw their way into what could become a family civil war.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Snook talked about enjoying the confidence and strength she gets from playing Shiv, what helps her get back into the character after a break, the sense of collaboration on set, Shiv’s best and worst qualities, being on the lavish birthday party set, letting go and dancing, Shiv’s renewed determination by the end of the season, and how she feels that whenever the show comes to a conclusion that it will be done in the right way.
Collider: Did you miss Shiv at all, in the time between finishing Season 2 and starting Season 3, or is she a character that you’re happy to pack away for a bit?
SARAH SNOOK: It’s a strange thing, I get so much confidence and fun from her, and she’s so different from me that the strength that I find in playing her is enjoyable, but it is nice to throw off the complex baggage for awhile.
Yeah, she’s kind of extra.
SNOOK: Yeah.
I know you’ve said that it was hard for you to get back into her and find her again because it had been a bit of a longer break this time. How did you ultimately get back into that groove and headspace? Is it putting the wardrobe back on? Is it having a specific prop with you? Is there something that really gets you there?
SNOOK: Yeah, it’s all of it, really. Putting the wardrobe on certainly helps. Putting high heels on helps. I’m not a heels wearer in my daily life. Putting on those pantsuits and the blazer certainly helps. And then, just to be honest, listening to everybody on set. Kieran [Culkin] is doing his Roman thing and I’m like, “Oh, well, if he’s doing that, then I must be Shiv and I’ve not realized.” I’ve just gotta open my ears and eyes and just listen to everybody on set. I find that the easiest way to get in.
Is there a light bulb moment where you’re like, “Okay, I’ve got this, I’ve found her again,” or is it more gradual than that?
SNOOK: It’s more of a light bulb later, where at some point, I must have found it and here we are, six months later and what have I been doing?
On the other side of it, when you’ve finished the season, is it easy to then put her back in her box and leave her behind until the next season?
SNOOK: Yeah, and it gets easier. I’ve never done a TV show that has run like this, in terms of playing a long-running character. I’ve mostly done film or limited series or theater. Coming back to a character is fun and I actually really love it because there’s always something new to discover. And certainly, with writing like this, you’re always gonna find something. I love reading the scripts. You get to read new insults and jokes, and you go, “Where’s my character gonna go next?” The fact that I get to put her shoes back on again, and hang them up at the end of the season, and pick them up at the beginning of the next, I love it. It’s great.
Do you have enough of a sense of ownership of your character where you feel comfortable making suggestions about story points or dialogue, or is the writing too good to even try doing that?
SNOOK: Both. There’s definitely a sense of collaboration on set, and Jesse [Armstrong] is so open and willing to hear your opinion, and respectful of you having an opinion in the first place. But also, the buck stops with him and all of the other top creatives, so we are respectful of their decision-making as well. I never feel comfortable saying, in terms of plot, where I think my character should go. But a piece of advice for how they might feel about where they’re going, I feel comfortable sharing that.
Has there ever been anything for your character that you’ve disagreed with? How do you approach that, if that happens?
SNOOK: I don’t know if there’s been anything I’ve disagreed with. Even if there has, and you read a scene and go, “I don’t think my character would do that,” that’s boring, right? To say, “I don’t think my character would do that,” well, what if the character does? Isn’t it interesting to see if your character might? Maybe they do, and your job as an actor is to find out how they would. People do odd things, all the time. No one is the same person, all the time.
What do you think Shiv’s best quality is and what do you think her worst quality is?
SNOOK: I love her strength and her determination. She definitely can be very focused, very quick-thinking and quick to action, and has an ability to strategize in the long term. But perhaps her determination and her focus is also her downfall. Through those kinds of behaviors, she probably has a few more walls up than she needs to, and there’s an unwillingness to be vulnerable that is definitely a downside to her. But it’s fun to play.
With as well as you know the character, if you met Shiv, is she someone you would want to be friends with, or is she someone you would avoid ever crossing paths with again?
SNOOK: Yeah, totally. I feel like I’ve had these great friends in my life where, the first time I met them, I was like, “Oh, my God, we’re not gonna be friends. It’s not gonna work out.” And then, the next time I meet them, you fall in love with them and you’re like, “Oh, my God, they’re amazing!,” and you’re friends forever. I feel like Shiv would be like that. It would take a few more meetings to really get in there. I would have admiration for her and respect, but perhaps be like, “Wow, she’s extra.”
At Kendall’s birthday party in Episode 7, Shiv spends a good portion of her evening dancing. What do you think led her to make that choice? Was that something she just felt she needed to do?
SNOOK: There is a quality to Shiv where she has this ability to strategize long term, but she also acts before she thinks, and the dancing was definitely a moment of that. She had a desperate need for catharsis. Her brothers are the worst. Also, for me, for Sarah, it’s a pandemic and I haven’t danced in a room full of strangers for a year. It was written into the script and it said, “She dances,” and I was gonna take that moment and dance as hard as I could. It tickled me to think about what Shiv would have been like in her 20s, and who she would have been at 21 or 22, just leaving college and beginning.
How long did you have to dance for? Did you put any thought into the way that she would dance, or did you just go for it?
SNOOK: In the script, it said that Shiv was dancing at something. She wasn’t just dancing, she was dancing at something, and I loved that as a descriptor. I didn’t put a lot of thought into how she was dancing. A lot of that is probably how I would dance. Did I get to dance for awhile? Not long enough. It was a good half-hour or so, but it certainly was not long enough. My stand-in said to me the following day, “I got to dance for maybe over an hour,” because they kept on resetting and there was a background shot they needed her to be in. She was like, “Thank you so much because I got to dance as well.” We both needed a damn dance.
It seems like the best kind of release.
SNOOK: Yeah, totally. And also the most unusual release. I love when we get to see Shiv spit, for instance. We get to see this animal stuff and this base stuff, and we get to see them physically express this sensorial stuff. Seeing her dance is just brilliant.
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Kendall’s birthday is quite the lavish affair, but it’s also just strange. What was that set like to be on?
SNOOK: Can you imagine going to a birthday party like that? I can’t. I’ve never been to a birthday party like that. The narcissism, right? Only this family and only Kendall. I can’t see Shiv having a 40th birthday party like that. Would she admit she was 40 even? I don’t know. I loved being in that episode and being at a party like that, even if it was just pretend. I’d love to go to a party like that, just to be a fly on the wall and look around. I wonder if people are having fun at parties like that. Certainly, the set design and production was the fun bit for me.
By the end of that episode, Roman pretty brutally tears Kendall down, as per usual, but we Shiv seem to crack a little bit, as far as showing that she might actually care that Kendall has feelings. Is there still a chance between then and the end of the season that Kendall could actually get her on his side, or is it just a temporary moment of her feeling for somebody else?
SNOOK: Maybe that’s all Shiv’s life is, temporary moments of feeling for somebody else, and then closing back up again. I think that’s the dynamic with the siblings. They do have this great wealth of feeling between each other and this deep undercurrent of love, but they can’t help who they are. They can’t help their fatal flaw of being a Roy and being raised in this family to chase power and success. That’s always gonna be the dynamic between the siblings.
Brian Cox has said that Logan loves his children, but do you personally believe that’s true? If he’s even capable of love, do you feel like there’s no way he possibly loves them all equally, if he does love them?
SNOOK: I dunno, man. He has an interesting way of showing his loves. I think he does love his children. On Colbert, he said that Shiv was his favorite. I don’t know anything about that, but I think he loves his kids in a way that he thinks is appropriate and suitable. It’s not the greatest version of parenting or love, but it is what he knows to give and how to give.
Jesse Armstrong has said that this show could be only one more season or possibly two more seasons, but that it’s not likely to go on for more than five seasons. Have you heard anything in that regard? Have come to terms with the fact that it could be done in one more season?
SNOOK: No. We’re all desperate for any shred of rumor as well. We’re like, “Can you casually confirm? Do you know what’s gonna happen?” I have no idea what Jesse has imagined or planned, and he may not even know himself. What I do know is that Jesse is enormously classy, and I think that he’ll do the classy thing and the right thing for the narrative and the story. I would imagine that, however long or short it runs, it will feel whole.
Without spoilers and without telling me why, how would you describe Shiv’s mental state by the end of the season?
SNOOK: Maybe renewed determination. She’s constantly going through that cycle. She’s always gotta pick herself back up and begin again. Each season, there’s a version of a battle, but the war isn’t over.
For some reason, Shiv is the one that I always find myself rooting for, even when she does terrible things.
SNOOK: I oscillate as well. I’ll be rooting for Kendall, and then I’ll be rooting for Roman, and then I’m definitely rooting for Gerri. But I really shouldn’t be because these aren’t good people.
Succession airs on Sunday nights on HBO, and is available to stream at HBO Max.
