Cathartic Greg-Ewan Scene Never Made It Into Succession Finale

The finale of Succession is as beautiful as it is tragic. The siblings failed to prove to their late father that they were worthy heirs and never took over Waystar Royco, with the company becoming a subsidiary of GoJo, while Tom Wambsgans was appointed American CEO.

Despite all the betrayals, Greg Hirsch remained the new CEO's right-hand man. Throughout the series, Greg was one of the most compelling characters to follow, evolving from a naive and even infantile kid to a soulless corporate monster.

But it turns out that Greg's transformation arc hasn't been properly completed in the finale, as one deleted scene between him and his grandfather Ewan was supposed to be the point of no return.

'[The deleted scene] was cathartic for those two characters to actually hash it out,' Greg's actor, Nicholas Braun, shared.

In the penultimate episode, dedicated to the funeral of the family patriarch, Logan Roy, his brother Ewan delivered an incredibly powerful, tragic, and resentful eulogy about the traumatized little boy he knew in the past who had become the ruthless media mogul.

For many of Logan's conservative supporters, Ewan's speech was disempowering, unlike Kendall's contrasting speech glorifying his father's finances and power. Of course, Ewan's grandson, Greg, also disapproved of his grandfather's words, but according to Braun, their dialogue was supposed to be much more painful yet clarifying once and for all.

'Greg comes into that scene [after Ewan’s eulogy] bragging to him saying, "First of all, thanks for lying to me in the church." And saying, "You're not my grandpa who can tell me what to do anymore. You lied to me; you disinherited me. And you know, I fire people now. I fired 100 guys last week",' Braun continued.

By Season 4, Greg had not only risen to a high position at ATN thanks to Tom, but he had also become as ruthless as his boss, capable of firing people without a second thought and backstabbing others.

'It's someone reflecting to Greg: "You used to be a little boy who would come to the house and we would fish together and look at birds. And now look at you. You're a firing machine",' the actor added.

The deleted scene was also meant to show the family's actual indifference to the children's upbringing, since Ewan didn't see his grandson very often and eventually lost him, just like Logan had lost his children. Despite trying not to become like his soulless brother, Ewan had fallen into the same trap, allowing his grandson to grow into a morally corrupt person like the rest of the Roys.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter.