“Connor’s Wedding” is a slightly misleading title for the bombshell third episode of Succession season 4. But it’s not inaccurate. Though Logan Roy’s death certainly overshadows the nuptials of his son Connor Roy (Alan Ruck) and bride-to-be Willa Ferreyra (Justine Lupe), those two do end up getting hitched.
What the audience sees of the actual ceremony is very brief, just a shot of them kissing and hugging as a very sparse crowd cheers, but Ruck and Lupe actually performed Connor and Willa’s vows even though they knew those wouldn’t make the final cut. It got emotional. “Right before a take, I just said to Justine, ‘I never would’ve been able to do this show without you,'” Ruck remembers. “And she goes, ‘Stop.’ And we were vulnerable.”
In the most recent two episodes, Succession has revealed new depths of Connor and Willa, as the former panics over whether his bride-to-be will finally do what everyone on the show has been joking about for four seasons and bail on him. It all builds to their most honest conversation yet, when Willa expresses genuine, if not love, then respect for Connor as she tells him that, yes, she is marrying him in part for his money, but she’s not going anywhere—or at least not anywhere quickly.
So, a relationship often played for laughs ended up providing a tender moment in an episode full of dread. To celebrate the nuptials, GQ got on a Zoom with Ruck and Lupe to discuss the happy couple.
GQ: I was so happy that Connor and Willa do actually end up getting married at the end of the episode. What was your reaction to realizing they actually go through with it?
Alan Ruck: I think it’s a logical progression, because in my humble opinion, Willa is delusional in her own way. Maybe a little more firmly rooted in reality than Connor is, but she’s still got stuff. They’re actually a pretty good match. [Creator] Jesse [Armstrong] has this theory that people never change. And I think for these characters in this show, it’s probably true. But in this moment in time, Willa and Connor had this little meeting of the minds and they’re like, “I see you and you see me, and I like you and you like me.” Now, we’ll see what happens. No guarantees. But in that moment, they actually were together.
Do you think she’s delusional, Justine?
Justine Lupe: Totally. It’s so funny because I can see Connor’s delusion so clearly, but Willa is also delusional. As an artist, you kind of have to have a certain level of delusion. So I feel like I could even pull back on my own life and my own path and be like, “What a delusional choice we’ve made.” It’s like water seeks its own level, and she is right there with him. You look back on the last seasons, and she’s got her own long list of wreckage that she’s done with her artistic career. Playing the part from the inside, you don’t really lead with the notion that she’s delusional, but hearing you say it, really resonates.
How did you find out that Connor’s wedding was also going to be Logan’s death?
Ruck: Way back in June, Jesse dropped the bomb that Logan was going to die in three. And I can’t remember if we found out then that it was also the wedding episode. At that same time, he dropped a really strong hint that this was going to be the last season. But I think a lot of us were in denial, and we kind of just put that in the back of our minds.
Lupe: At one of the table reads, I was like, “So they’re going to get married? They’re going to get married. What’s it going to be like?” And [Jesse] was like, “Well, it’s actually quite sad.” He basically just told me that Logan was going to die not en route to going to the wedding, but prior to the wedding. And it would throw everything kind of up in the air.
It’s thematically perfect that Logan is not going to Connor’s wedding, and he changes the whole course of the day. What did you think about that, Alan?
Ruck: I think if Logan had a choice, he would’ve kept living for a while. So I don’t think it was like, “Today, I’m going to die just to fuck over Connor, because I’ve never liked him.” Obviously I’m being silly, but I think so much happens so fast and everyone’s relationship with Logan was so strained, so complicated and thorny, there was a lot to process. He was just overwhelmed because they all loved their father. People are saying, “Well, Connor, clearly let go of that a long time ago,” and that’s not true. You don’t let go of that. There’s always some little piece of you that’s like, “Today’s the day the old man’s going to put his arms around me and give me a kiss.” So I just think with being amped up about the wedding and amped up about this political campaign, and then having my dad die, I’m just overwhelmed. And I think in the days following, he’d be like, “Oh, that son of a bitch, he died on my wedding day.” But I don’t think right now it’s really sunk in.
These past two episodes have revealed new layers of Connor. What has it been like exploring those?
Ruck: Well, we’ve seen this a couple of times now from Connor, where he says to his brothers and his sister, “You know what? I’m tired of your shit. I know exactly who you are. I know exactly how you feel about me.” He did at the end of season three and he’s done it just again in episode two. And then what happens? He always comes back to them because he has no friends and he desperately wants them to love him because he loves them. Willa is sent from God because without Willa, he’d be just a disaster. I mean, he is a disaster, but I mean, he’d be hopeless. And then I just think that just recently, Jesse and the writers have given me more to do so you can find out more about Connor if there’s actually an interaction that isn’t just being a cog in another scene.
What was your reaction to the loony cake?
Lupe: You know what’s funny about it? On the page, it was sad, but I didn’t quite internalize how sad it was. But I don’t think it really hit me how sad it was until we were on the day and doing the scene and we were playing out that moment where Kendall explains it to her. And then I kind of fully realized what that meant.
Ruck: Something that the writers are so wonderful at is just coming up with that little detail about a person’s life that has scarred them in some way, and it makes perfect sense. And we’ve dropped these little hints along the way about my [character’s] mother having these challenges and being in and out of institutions.
Lupe: I’m just glad we got to shoot that scene with them explaining it to me before we did the wedding or the conversation before the wedding. Both of them are just so open and tender and say things to each other in a way that they haven’t before. Obviously, a lot of that comes out of this death and this existential moment. But also that loony cake thing did contribute. I just remember just looking at this man and being like, there’s no way around your heart wanting to take care of that a little bit in some way if you have that affection for someone. I do feel like she really cares for him.
Ruck: I do too. I wouldn’t say that she’s in love with him, but I think she loves him. What do you think, Justine? I saw you screw up your face.
Lupe: I think that’s true. I mean, it’s an interesting thing. I think there’s a lack of passion. There’s a lack of that sexual passion that one dreams of when they’re idealizing what their relationship is going to be like when they settle into something. I think that’s what she was dealing with when she went on her existential kind of field trip [in episode two]. But there’s a whole lot of other stuff going on. And I don’t know if passion equals being in love. So I don’t know if she’s not in love with Connor. I think she loves him a lot. And I do think it is a romantic love. I just don’t think it’s fed with the fire that one would kind of hope.
What was it like doing that heart-to-heart especially in the midst of such an intense episode?
Ruck: That was kind of a pause in the disaster. It was a respite from war. And look, the writing is so good and Justine is so good. I’m crazy about her and I trust her completely. And I just know that when we do something, it’s going to be—this is such a stupid word—truthful. It’s going to be honest. It’s not going to be bullshit in any way because neither one of us work that way. We’re given that opportunity to just talk with each other, as you say, in a tender way. And I think it just shows because we like each other, we’re crazy about each other. I’m just going to say that, Justine.
Lupe: I’m crazy about you too, buddy.
Honestly, that scene felt like a luxury for me. I was really grateful to have the scene because I also feel like there’s [some of] what Alan said earlier about them serving as a function in other people’s stories. And this felt like it was just our little story. It just felt like we had been touching this over and over and over again over all the seasons and having this dialogue of just touching it and not really quite naming it. It felt cathartic for both me as an actor and these characters to be doing that scene.
Ruck: It’s funny, in the actual little wedding bit on the page, it was an eighth of a page, and it was like “the celebrant has just married Willa and Connor.” And then it said, “They embrace,” or, “They kiss,” I guess, or they embrace, whatever. But it was a little tiny bit. But then when we did it, we had big words to say, we had vows, we had all this stuff. And I think it was just to get that little moment of us hugging in the right zone. But [director Mark Mylod] is like, “Feel the whole day, feel everything that’s happened. I need to feel some of that sadness.”
Where do you think Connor’s political ambition feeds into everything that’s going on? Or do you think he has stopped thinking about it at this point briefly?
Ruck: He wanted to do all this crazy bullshit for the wedding, much to Willa’s chagrin, bum fights and firetrucks and all that kind of ridiculous stuff. Obviously, that was all dismissed. I don’t think on the wedding day and on the day of Logan’s death, Connor’s thinking too much about the political career, except the whole reason he wanted to run for office was to impress the old man. I don’t think he’s thinking about it today. Then you’ll see what happens with the rest of it and where he goes with that. I can’t tell you anything.
Lupe: I will say, I feel like it stood out, just that you’re the only sibling that doesn’t kind of turn to, how are people going to receive this? How is this going to look like? What is this going to do financially? Really, there was no acknowledgement of how politically that would affect you.
Ruck: I think it might occur to him the next day. I I can’t actually remember what we did in four. I mean, I remember little snapshots, but I can’t exactly remember if Connor acknowledged that in any way, like this would be a boost.
Has it fully sunk in that this is the last season yet?
Lupe: I think it’s sunk in. Don’t you?
Ruck: Yeah, it’s just one of those weird things. I mean, I’m sure we’ll get to see each other. I know there’ll be awards for people and for the show, and we’ll get to see each other again as a group. I know it in my mind, but I don’t think I know it in my heart yet that I’m not going to be at work with these buddies.
Lupe: Same. I don’t know if there’ll be ever a time where I feel like I could fully mourn losing that. It’s so big that it’s hard to quite go, “Yep, I’ve internalized it.” But I do think I really feel that it’s closed.