Starks Walked So Roys Could Run: How Game of Thrones Helped Succession Cast Its Biggest Star

There is no doubt that the popularity of a show like Game of Thrones has been a huge success for HBO, introducing the network and its riskier formats to a wider audience.

Today, HBO is home to a plethora of shows with huge budgets and amazingly high production values, but when they were working on Game of Thrones, the network was struggling to even support the CGI of dragons.

At the time, they certainly could not afford all the actors they wanted to cast, no matter how much they wanted to.

Brian Cox, known to today's HBO viewers as Logan Roy, the patriarch of the family that owns and runs the Waystar Royco media company, had been on the network's radar for years.

He was invited to play King Robert I Baratheon on Game of Thrones from the very beginning of the series but had to turn the offer down.

"When it was originally offered the money was not all that great, shall we say. Plus I was going to be killed off fairly early on, so I wouldn't have had any of the benefits of the long-term effects of a successful series where your wages go up with each passing season," the actor explained in his memoir Putting the Rabbit in the Hat.

The actor explained that he's looking for some kind of security or continuity, and he feels better knowing that the show he's signing on to has the potential to go on for the next few seasons with him still involved.

That's what he liked so much about Succession that he was willing to give it a shot.

Having an ongoing deal with HBO also had to have an impact.

Knowing all about the budget issues from their previous experience, the network was clearly able to provide enough this time around for the actor to actually stick around and portray Logan Roy exactly the way he was supposed to.

If you were able to get over the heartbreaking finale of Succession and are ready to give the series a rewatch to try and catch even more details and metaphors you may have missed earlier, you can stream it on MAX, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video.

Source: Putting the Rabbit in the Hat via GQ