Director Lorene Scafaria on Keeping ‘Succession’ Secrets and What Surprised Her in the End

Just like Shiv Roy, Lorene Scafaria is a powerful woman in a world full of men. Scafaria, known for movies like Hustlers and The Meddler, directed three memorable episodes of Succession over the course of the series. That includes Kendall's disastrous 40th birthday party in Season 3 (which netted her an Emmy nomination), as well as two pivotal episodes in Season 4: "Honeymoon States" and "Living+." "Honeymoon States" was the first episode after Logan died unexpectedly and was essentially a countdown to the board meeting about who would take over the company, leaving Scafaria with the task of beginning the journey to the end and walking the Roys through a few major moments in the wake of losing their dad. "Doing Episode 4 ["Honeymoon States"] was wildly daunting," Scafaria told The Messenger. "In a way, that episode was like the first real delivery on the title of the show." 

In Episode 6, "Living+," Shiv and Tom revived their relationship while new co-CEOs Kendall and Roman focused on launching a splashy real estate project that Kendall promoted with a custom flight suit and a doctored video of Logan. It was Kendall at both his best and worst, hilarious and cringeworthy and somehow extremely effective. "That's the beauty of the writing on this show. They just subvert your expectations every which way," Scafaria said. "I think in the show's history, there's already so much anxiety built into the idea of Ken getting up on stage and having a microphone in front of him, so to follow through and give him a win…that was the most surprising thing of all." 

In a chat with The Messenger, Scafaria reflected on how her episodes fed into the epic ending of the series. She also offered a few tidbits that might help reduce the sting of saying goodbye to Succession. 

Scafaria has known the ending of 'Succession' for a whole year

Before it was known exactly which episodes Scafaria would direct, a producer called her in May 2022 and walked her through the entire season.

"I was taking notes on a post-it and when he said what happened in Episode 3, I remember I wrote down 'Logan dies,' and just immediately crumpled it up," she said. "I was so scared, but I somehow successfully kept it a secret from absolutely everyone I know, which sort of added to this feeling of being on the inside of the Roy family. So I knew how it ends, I knew about Tom, but I never read ahead. I'm such a fan and want it to be a surprise, so even though I knew how it ended, it didn't really matter. I feel like the show can't be spoiled because it's all the execution of it."

Scafaria was most surprised by Kendall and Roman's hug

"I didn't know about the scene where Kendall hugs Roman and presses his wound against his shoulder," Scafaria said. "I was just squirming in my seat watching that. I thought that was maybe the most brutal thing I've seen on the series ever." 

'Honeymoon States' was inspired by the song 'Ring Around the Rosie' and the ghost of Logan

"I just knew we would have even more eyeballs on Episode 4, being the first one without the big man and no bells, no whistles, kind of just a real-time countdown to this board meeting, all in one location for the most part," Scafaria said. "Those limitations became a really fun challenge. I like to have a little philosophy for each episode, so for that, it was what philosophies we could apply to the camera and how to use this space, Logan's domain, without him. What happens when the person who creates the temperature in the room is gone?

"I kept thinking about 'Ring Around the Rosie,' with this sort of circle of power throughout the rooms, and a tornado kind of swirling, that claustrophobia of sitting in grief and watching it get twisted. That spirit is still there, that larger-than-life figure still looking at you. So in a lot of ways, sometimes that camera was like Logan's POV. Where would he want to be looking? Who would he look at and see how they're reacting, and how close is he to someone's face? Is he laughing at them? Is he waiting for them to cry? So that went into those haunted house vibes."

Scafaria did not know that Shiv or Sarah Snook were pregnant while filming 'Honeymoon States'

The scene at the beginning where Shiv talks to her doctor about her pregnancy was added into the script later, so Scafaria worked without that context, but she did develop some suspicions.

"I didn't know she was pregnant when we shot that episode. I don't know if anyone knew, but it certainly made her falling down the stairs, in hindsight, something that I'm even more terrified that we shot. Thank god she's just so brilliant and did that so well," she said. "Of course, we had a stunt coordinator and padding and all that, but still. It was something we were not aware of at the time, but as a woman, I started to wonder at certain points as we were going along with certain limitations and certain wardrobe decisions, and then I of course got that confirmed. Then it was a thrill for me to get to drop the bomb."

Scafaria supported Shiv's decision not to tell anyone — especially Tom

"Some people said, well why would she not reveal it to people?" Scafaria said. "I mean, there's so much going on. She's dealing with the death of her father in real time, and I don't know that you want to bring up something like that. I don't know if she's made all of her decisions. I don't know if she wouldn't want to feel things out with Tom before saying, 'I've got that thing you've been wanting since Italy.' I think she's feeling it out, and they say the things that change a person the most are the death of a parent and having a child, so I think in that moment, she's just reeling from all of it and trying to figure out who's on her side here. There's so much to play with." 

Scafaria definitely thinks Shiv's pregnancy was a surprise

"I can't imagine she would have planned for it, especially when the last time they spoke, she wasn't even sure about freezing embryos," Scafaria said. "I think she must have been caught by surprise and can only imagine when that actually happened."

On Kendall's flight suit...

The flight suit that Kendall Roy wore in "Living+" was a Jeremy Strong collaboration with the costume department. Scafaria called it a "stroke of genius." 

Strong did five takes of the full Living+ presentation

"It was the day on the schedule I feared the most," Scafaria said. "We went in with a solid plan and wanted Jeremy to just be able to run the presentation beginning to end, including talking to press, all the way through Tom coming up on stage. We did five full takes, with two setups on stage with him to give that visceral feeling of public speaking, and then facing the crowd. What was strange is when we had the video camera on Ken's close up on one side of the stage, it looked like a typical Microsoft corporate product launch, and then when we switched to the other side, it suddenly felt incredibly fascist. I can't explain why, but we went with that, of course."

Scafaria has no issue with Strong's method acting

"He's brilliant," Scafaria says of Strong. "I'd rather work with the brilliant, thoughtful actor than a lazy one any day of my life. I would follow Jeremy forever. … I love working with Jeremy. It's been incredibly collaborative. We talked all the time about various things, but we also wouldn't over-talk because I like keeping things alive for actors, and in general, with a show like this, that's the best way to work. You just play and keep it alive, and I love working with actors who are all different. I really just love this cast so much. I'm gonna miss all these people, like talk about an embarrassment of riches. Every single one of them are a joy to work with, and I think Jeremy's approach is what works for him, so why not?"

On whether Kendall's name was underlined or crossed out in Logan's will addendum…

"Here's what I can't understand," Scafaria said. "Why would he do either? I'm hung up on like, is it either or is it both? Is it just the most brilliant pencil stroke Logan has ever done? I don't know. I can't imagine him crossing it out, but of course underlining seems crazy too. So I don't know, maybe it was like this final game, this final test, the last domino he hits before he dies. But I don't know, I wouldn't dare to assume."

In Scafaria's eyes, none of the siblings could win

"I think all three siblings all had to go down with their fatal flaws," Scafaria said. "Roman was so grieving his abusive father that he wanted to be beat up. That was his weakness, and he just couldn't carry the burden. Shiv, I think, technically could have carried the burden, but you could see her in that first scene [of the finale], a little manic, unable to lean back on her heels. And ultimately, she had to pick the winner, but it was all sibling stuff. There's something about Roman going first in the boardroom and still voting for Ken, and I feel like that's what set her off. It was petty. It was childish. It is a little, 'If I can't have it, no one can, or moreso Kendall can't.' And I think when Kendall says he lied about the killing? I think that's the craziest thing he's done on a list of crazy things, whether he's lying now or he lied then. I think Shiv had to pick a winner, which was somehow her husband, and somehow it's worse than her brothers being in charge or her dad being in charge. She couldn't outrun her fate. This man who was supposed to be the opposite of her dad is now just like her dad."

...and Tom's win isn't really a win, either

"We know Tom 'wins.' He inherits the chocolate factory, but for how long? Two to five years?" Scafaria said. " "He'll still get another job and fail up, retire with money, but he's just the most masochistic man willing to eat the most dirt. He wins all the dirt. He wins the dirt pile."

Scafaria, an admitted Kendall lover, says his ending was 'the punishment he deserves'

"Something about seeing him shuffling along with Colin behind him, looking out at the ocean that's now just passing him by… He's not in it, up or down. It just rolls on without him," Scafaria said. "That's the punishment he deserves. It's a tragedy. It's biblical. It's Shakespearean. He's left to wander like a ghost, and it almost doesn't matter what he does. I heard Jesse Armstrong say something like, 'Maybe he does a thing.' And to me, the doing of the thing, it just killed me. There's so much other stuff in that. The restraint of what you don't see. You don't see Kendall jump off a roof or drown himself or get arrested. It's kind of incredible… I think everyone ended up where they should. It's unfortunate for Ken, obviously, but he did himself in, sort of like all great Shakespearean tragedies."

All four seasons of Succession are streaming on Max.