-Our next guest is an Emmy-nominated actor
you know from films such as "Pride & Prejudice"
and "Anna Karenina." He stars in the third season
of the hit HBO series "Succession,"
which premieres this Sunday, October 17th.
Please welcome back to the show, Matthew Macfadyen.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Thank you for being here. -Thanks for having me.
-We only met over Zoom last time you were on,
so this is a big deal for me to have you here in person.
-In the flesh. -In the flesh.
With a live audience for you, as well, so...
-[ Cheers and applause ] -And this is --
This is the first time back, no? -Second day.
-Second day. Wow. -Second day back. Yeah.
So they're a little tired now. -Yeah.
-Yeah. Yeah, yeah. -This must be --
I would imagine actors don't have this happen that often,
where you're part of a project that people are so excited
to have return for a third season.
-Yeah. It doesn't always happen, so it's really nice.
It's really gratifying.
-This was one of those shows when --
I feel like when the pandemic first started
and before we realized exactly how bad it was going to be,
the thing that bummed me out the most was, like,
"Wait. That means how long do I have to wait
for another season of 'Succession'?"
-I was talking about this with Nick Braun,
who plays cousin Greg.
And, actually, when we were shooting the second season,
people would -- people would stop --
recognize us and stop us, occasionally.
And it wouldn't be for selfies.
They'd -- They'd sort of say, "When's it coming back?"
And I'd say, "In the fall, I think, October."
"Are you sure?!"
And I'd say, "I think so." They'd say, "Okay. Good.
Okay. We need to know. Bye-bye." Very sort of, you know --
-From the beginning, did you know --
I mean, it's such a well-written show,
and all the characters are so incredibly well-formed.
Did you know what gold you had in Tom
when you first read the scripts? -Yeah.
-Yeah. In the pilot, there's a scene at the end.
We were -- Well, we started shooting the pilot on --
Then we had the read-through for the pilot on Election Day 2016,
which was bizarre, just watching Elizabeth Warren there.
-Yeah. -[ Laughs ]
She wouldn't be a natural bedfellow of the Roys.
-No, she would not love the Roy family.
-No. I don't think so.
And -- And then in the --
The pilot was such a thing to read.
And there was this scene at the end where I sort of
turn on Greg and bully him, and I thought, "Oh, this is --
This is going to be fun." -Yeah.
-And -- And then there was more of that.
-The -- There was a congressional testimony scene
in season two, which was just fantastic.
Both you and Nicholas Braun both got to flex your chops.
-Yeah. -But -- And -- You know,
Tom is such a nervous character at its core,
but are you actually nervous
when you're doing those scenes, as well?
-Totally. Because they made --
They built this enormous set, like,
you know, a congressional hearing.
And it was -- There was not a leap of the imagination
to walk into this --
into the studio in Queens and imagine you're there
and being grilled by all these senators.
And it was just -- And spouting absolute nonsense, you know?
And then trying -- being aware of Nick
is behind me and trying not to laugh.
And just awf-- just...joy.
-One of the upsides of playing a show
about an incredibly wealthy family is the locations.
You're not always in a studio in Queens.
Sometimes -- 'Cause they can't build Tuscany in Queens.
-Yeah -- No, they can't. -'Cause you --
So you guys -- We were actually talking.
You were on vacation in Italy last --
last summer when we talked.
-Yeah, it was quite a glamorous Zoom.
For me. -You were stunning.
It was a little -- I found it a little in-your-face.
-You were very -- You were stunning, too.
You had a nice nautical picture.
Or you had a sort of sea -- -Yes.
Sea Captain. -Like an old sea dog.
-Yeah. -[ Cheers and applause ]
-Is that here? No.
-Don't encourage me. -I -- Yeah.
-No, he didn't want to come. -Okay.
-Yeah, I asked the Sea Captain painting to come,
and he's like, "Not close enough to the ocean."
-Okay.
-But you -- you shot, then -- So you're in Italy as --
as a family, and then you got to shoot.
And it just must have been stunning.
-It was beautiful, yeah.
-Now, do the Roys, your fictional family,
go to nicer places than your actual family?
-Yeah, it was -- it was more sort of classic Italy.
-Mm-hmm.
-Like, sort of, joke, rolling countryside, Tuscany.
-Yeah.
-And various sort of castles and beautiful villas,
and -- and also, I was in --
I'd never been to Florence before.
And I arrived to -- We had a few days in Florence.
And there were no tourists, of course, because of COVID.
So I wandered into -- I wandered into a museum.
I sort of got lost on my first day wandering around.
And I walked, and there was Michelangelo's "David."
But there was no one in the -- -So you took it?
-I took it home. -Wow.
-I took it home. It's in our house now.
-Wow! -I know. And no one saw.
-I mean, that's -- That's just museum rules.
If no one's there, you can take it.
Yeah, it's free dibs. Yeah, yeah. So that was --
-That was really -- Congratulations.
-It was amazing. -Yeah.
--Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. -I mean, a lot of people have --
You know, a lot of people have said that thing of, like,
"I know COVID was bad, but it turned out well for me."
But this is really -- -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It really did. It really did. Yeah.
-Your wife, Keeley, is an actor, as well.
Was she -- I mean, is there some, like, you know,
sort of spousal jealously when you land a job
that gets to take you to, like, the finest p-- Yeah.
-Yeah. I would FaceTime her from Siena
or, you know, somewhere in Tuscany --
you know, this countryside.
And I would angle my phone away from the window
at the views and, you know...
'Cause it was just upsetting for anybody else.
-Your children, do they -- do they like the show?
You have three, is that correct? -I do, yeah.
-Do they -- are they "Succession" heads?
-No. -Okay.
-No, they're not.
My daughter would be happy if I was in a --
in a show with vampires... -Okay.
-...and Ian Somerhalder.
-Okay, interesting. -Yeah.
-Do they like -- Is there any of your work over the years?
'Cause you and your wife met together on a show.
-Yeah, we did. -"MI-5," as it was known here.
A fantastic show. -Yeah.
-And very -- I would like to say,
really shows your range as an actor, because that is not
a Tom Wambsgans character that you're playing.
-No, it really isn't a Wambsgans.
-You were like a super spy. And so you met on
Did they go back and watch the show their parents
were on together? -No.
-Really? -No.
Well, they went -- they just -- they --
They watch the thing I did called "Quiz"
because it was lockdown, and we had -- they had to.
-Okay. -It was like, "It's on.
You're going to watch it." And they did.
And they manfully sat through it all and -- Yeah.
Yeah, they were like, "Oh, good, Daddy, good.
Yeah, that's right."
But anything else, they're not --
They're really not -- -I heard --
You talked about the fact that --
So, your wife, Keeley, she was here in person,
and one of the -- one of the nice things we do
when we have guests is they get a T-shirt.
And then we heard your son, Ralph, loved the shirt.
-He wears it all the time.
And he's -- Yeah, and he is going to be very, very pleased.
-Yeah, 'cause we gave you extra shirts.
Because when you were on, you were in Italy. No shirt.
-That's right. Yeah.
And he's still wearing -- He's 6'1" now.
He's 15, and it's, like, here. And here.
But he wear-- Yeah, it's really lovely.
I mean, it's -- But he looks ridiculous.
So, um, yeah.
I'm going to be covered in glory when I get home.
-Gotcha.
Hey, can I do my Kendall Roy impression for you, real quick?
-Please. -Okay.
-All right. Thank you.
[As Kendall Roy] "Uh."
[ Laughter ]
Please. As an actor, I need silence.
-Sure.
[ Laughter ]
"Uh...Dad?"
-That's really good! That's really good.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Can you do Wambsgans? -I can't do a Wambsgans, no.
-No, no, no. -I can barely do Wambsgans.
Tom can't do one. I don't think he knows who he is.
That's the joy of the character, yeah.
-Do you -- It does seem like -- I mean, part of it must be
that you all get to take such nice vacations together,
but it does seem like an incredibly close group --
-It really is. -A close-knit cast.
-It really -- Yeah, it really is.
It feels like -- I don't know. It feels like a theater company.
Feels like a really, really lovely group
of really good actors.
And it's -- That's why -- Yeah, it's really exciting.
I feel very lucky.
-I have -- I -- I've never had the --
I should say, the pleasure of meeting Brian Cox,
but he seems very irascible on the show,
but he seems quite lovely in real life.
-Yeah, he's -- Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
-I baited you.
-He can be irascible, but, no, but he's --
No, he's a sweetheart. -That's great.
-He's lovely. -That's really good.
And, you know, one of the things I --
You know, I don't want to take this up with you,
'cause this is -- this is my issue with HBO,
but I would like you to pass it on to them.
-Yeah. -You know, you came out today,
and usually we'd show a clip.
No clip. -They didn't send you a clip?
-They wouldn't give us a clip. -That's rude.
-That's how highly they're valuing this show right now.
Which, by the way, I respect.
They're like, "It's too good to even give 'em a taste."
-This is it. -This is it.
-This is it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. -But I was saying you've --
You've seen some. You're very excited about it.
I -- You know, sometimes, people will send me episodes
ahead of time, and I'll get a little ahead.
They'll be like, "We'll send you the first three."
And I'm glad they didn't do that
because I would've watched them in an afternoon
and then have to wait a month for a new one.
But I am as genuinely excited for this as --
as I've been for something in a long time.
-Good. That's really lovely to hear. That's great.
-Don't let me down. -No.
I'll try not to. I think it's okay. Yeah.
-I think it's great. Thank you so much for being here.
It's so nice to have you here in person.
-Nice to see you, Seth. -Matthew Macfadyen, everyone.