Like most Succession fans, you probably commemorated the show’s finale by blankly staring into the void for several hours after the credits rolled, traumatised beyond words by the bleak brutality of its climax. And, honestly, nobody could blame you.
Luckily, a salve for this torrent of psychic agony quickly appeared on social media. First, it was revealed that the final scene shot for the show was the one in the kitchen in Barbados, where the Roy siblings got to experience their last moment of fleeting happiness. And second, someone took a video of what happened as soon as the cameras stopped rolling. In the video, Jeremy Strong immediately starts shaving his head, to shed himself of Kendall Roy’s overwhelming emotional heaviness, while Kieran Culkin did the most Roman Roy thing imaginable and slapped a raw egg across Strong’s newly bald scalp.
Despite the ending, and Strong’s recent revelation that he isn’t in touch with any of his castmates any more, the video is a perfect ending. It is the last thing we’ll ever see from a Succession set, and it shows the three leads just larking around. They’re happy again. We can all breathe a sigh of relief.
Usually, there are no formal rituals for the end of a production like this. How a show or film wraps reflects its unique tone, schedule and set of professional relationships. Not everyone needs to rush off and blast eggs at the heads of noted method actors.
Sometimes a simple speech will suffice. When Better Call Saul ended last year, a video quickly emerged of the moments after the final scene was shot. The show’s creator Peter Gould, along with actors Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn all grabbed microphones and made speeches of varying emotional intensity. They explained what the show meant to them, thanked the crew and were then presented with miniature Better Call Saul sets. It was small and sincere, but it seemed to fit the moment perfectly.
after newsletter promotion
It’s also expected that actors will clear the set of any and every loose prop they can lay their hands on. Actors are now so regularly asked what they took from the set that it has long since lapsed into trope. Maisie Williams revealed that she owns Arya Stark’s jacket from Game of Thrones; Jennifer Aniston took the Central Perk sign from Friends; Tracy Morgan walked off with a fish tank from 30 Rock; Josh Radnor has a french horn from How I Met Your Mother; and Sarah Jessica Parker was reportedly allowed to keep 95% of Carrie Bradshaw’s wardrobe after the end of Sex and the City.
The other big ritual, more often seen in big-budget movies than on television shows, is a big ostentatious wrap gift. When John Wick: Chapter 4 finished shooting, Keanu Reeves gave each of his stunt team a Rolex, while Tom Cruise bought a bottle of champagne for everyone who worked on Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. Not to be outdone, Adam Sandler reportedly bought brand-new Maseratis for Kevin James, David Spade and Chris Rock when they finished filming Grown Ups.
But, as the Succession actors have shown, you don’t need to spend heaps of cash on a showy present to mark the end of a years-long professional relationship. Sometimes, just cracking an egg on an actor will do just as well.
And if there are no eggs to hand? Take the lead of Werner Herzog. Production of the director’s 1970 movie Even Dwarfs Started Small was troubled, with one actor being run over by a van and accidentally set on fire. To lighten the mood, Herzog promised the cast that if they could make it to the end of production without any more incidents, he would let them film him flinging himself into a cactus patch. They did, so he did.
In a later interview, he said that some of the spines were still “sticking in my knee sinew”. Honestly, though, a nice speech probably would have been fine.
