How Succession Star Brian Cox Feels About That Big Moment From The Season 4 Premiere

This post contains spoilers for the season 4 premiere of "Succession."

In the season 4 premiere of "Succession," Logan Roy (Brian Cox) is in rare form. The formidable media mogul has a rare moment of introspection in an unassuming diner. Isolated from his family, he finds solace in one of the few consistent figures in his life: His security guard, Colin (Scott Nicholson). Logan is comforted by his stoic commitment to his work, and uses him as a sounding board to reflect upon life's most pressing question: Is this it?

Logan's birthday party finds him in a lonely place, surrounded by people for whom he has very little love or trust. His decision to sell Waystar has alienated most of his family, and the emotional consequences of a life of cold, calculated business have finally begun to weigh on him. "He's obviously in a bad place with three of his kids," series creator Jesse Armstrong explained in a behind-the-scenes featurette, "and if he was asked whether he cared he would say no, but his every gesture, I think, suggests otherwise."

It may not always seem like Logan has any affection for his children, but their absence makes his true feelings much more obvious. Few things could make such a powerful man so vulnerable, but loneliness is one of them. "If he didn't love his children, it would be so much easier," Cox said in a recent interview with Variety. "But the fact that he loves his children is his Achilles heel."

The trouble with the Roy children is that their love is anything but unconditional. In fact, it comes at a price of several billion dollars. They are constantly vying for Logan's position, waiting for the empire that he worked so hard to build to be handed to them. "The children have no consistency whatsoever," Cox admitted. "And that's [Logan's] sadness."

Colin acts as a perfect foil to the scheming and spoiled ways of Logan's children. He is a man of few words who aspires for little more than he has. He doesn't try to gain anything from Logan — he just does his job, and this earns him a lot of respect in the old man's eyes.

"All Logan wants is consistency," Cox explained, and Colin provides exactly that. "The great thing about Colin — and why he thinks Colin's probably his best friend — is because he's never on the make. The relationship is straight. He's his employer, and he likes being employed by Logan."

This brings us to their shared moment in the diner. After insisting that Colin is his best friend, Logan presents his own personal philosophies in the form of rhetorical questions and quickly cuts Colin off when he starts to talk about his own background. Jesse Armstrong described this scene as "quite an unreflective man having some feelings of reflection" in a clip following the episode. For Logan, Colin is but a mirror, a wall that he can bounce his own ideas off of. "He asks him a couple of questions, but they're really rhetorical questions, aren't they, for him?" Armstrong said. "He's pretty much decided what he thinks about life after death."

Logan's immense wealth and shrewd business tactics have long made him seem invulnerable, save for a few key moments in the series when his health waivers and his impending death is ever-so-jarringly brought back to our attention. His money has made him a giant among p*gmies, as he would put it, but it cannot save even him from the inevitable fate of all life on earth.

"You can keep that at bay for a long time," Armstrong pointed out, "but no one can keep it at bay forever."

It's clear that Logan has an abundance of respect for Colin — as long as his employee keeps his mouth shut and his head down — but is that admiration reciprocated? Scott Nicholson, who portrays Colin, seems to think so.

"As far as Colin is concerned, I think he has a respect for Logan," the actor explained to Vulture. "They're both self-made men in a way. Colin feels accomplished; he likes his job, and he's loyal to Logan. Episode to episode, even if it's a look that Logan gives Colin, there is that mutual respect."

Nicholson also sees Colin as an ever-present figure in Logan's life, even if only ever in the background. In fact, his statuesque deportment works to his advantage. "I think Colin has to be omnipresent," he said. "He's an interesting character because he doesn't need to speak all the time. He carries the weight of Logan."

As for whether Colin would consider Logan a close friend himself, it is entirely possible. His intimate knowledge of the Roys, along with his dedication to his work, has likely given him little time or mental energy to cultivate a life outside of Waystar. "I think he's so loyal that he lives through his work," Nicholson said. "I've not necessarily spoken to Jesse [Armstrong] about this, but I feel he's really married to the job."

Don't be too worried about Colin, though — Nicholson insists he's happy with his lot in life. "I personally feel that it's sad, but I don't think he sees it that way," the actor added. "The show is in many ways about power and getting ahead [...] but I don't think he has any aspirations to move up because he's in a very powerful position himself. I think he's very content!"

Colin's importance in Logan's life is clearer than ever, but the audience still has very little insight into his background. Scott Nicholson imagines that he may have been in the military police before working for Waystar, but that is purely the actor's speculation. It seems that Logan has an affinity for people with shrouded histories — his third wife Marcia, from whom he is estranged in season 4, also has a mysterious past.

Logan seems to appreciate this lack of attention to one's own personal narrative. He typically avoids reflection altogether, which is part of what makes this diner scene so unusual. The media titan's alienation from his children has brought on a hard and unwelcome look in the mirror. "When the kids aren't around, he is very focused on who he is," Cox explained to Variety. "And not in a good way."

It seems that Logan is searching for something that is now entirely unattainable — a sense of having lived a life of purpose. "He wants some kind of completion to what he does, and who he is," Cox went on. "But of course, he's not going to get it. Not with those kids — because they're too busy plying their own horrendous furrows."

With Logan totally disillusioned and alone, Colin is one of the last vestiges of hope and trust in humanity that he has. This diner scene brought to mind another vulnerable moment for Logan in the series — when he suffers from the mind-altering side effects of a UTI, he asks Colin for his input on a crucial deal. It might seem like a senseless move, but it highlighted a simple truth: When sanity and reason leave us, our heart becomes our only guide.