by Stephanie SoteriouBuzzFeedBuzzFeed StaffI’m an innately nosey and chronically online celebrity and pop culture journalist, with my specialist areas including deep-diving lyrics and calling out Terrible Men™.

Brian Cox just opened up about his time as Logan Roy in Succession, and it was seriously fascinating. In addition to heaping praise on his costar Kieran Culkin — and acknowledging the Culkin brothers’ “troubled” past — Brian directly addressed claims that he didn’t enjoy working with Jeremy Strong, and even revealed the one and only thing that he would change about the series.

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For reference, the Scottish actor is now 79 years old, and while he had already been acting for more than 50 years when he was cast as billionaire media tycoon Logan in the hit HBO series, his public profile skyrocketed off the back of the role.

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But it wasn’t just Brian who reached new heights through Succession, with the actors who played his three children — Jeremy, Kieran, and Sarah Snook — also going on to have thriving acting careers, with Kieran even winning his first Oscar last year.

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And Brian couldn’t hide his pride for his former costar when he was asked about Succession during an appearance on the Off Menu podcast, with the actor reflecting on just how far Kieran has come in a conversation with hosts Ed Gamble and James Acaster.

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After being asked if the Succession cast was intimidated when he improvised on set, Brian said: “I didn't improvise all that much, I didn't feel the need to improvise. I mean, the genius improviser — who was terrified of it when we started — was Kieran Culkin, and Kieran became a genius, but he was panicked when he was first asked to improvise.”

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“I remember he said: ‘Well, what do I do?’ I said: ‘You make it up,’ he said: ‘Really?!' I said: ‘Yeah, it’s fine, you just make it up. Whatever you feel is happening to your character at the time, and you just go with it,’” Brian recalled. “And then we couldn't stop him; he was like a tap that we turned on, and we couldn't turn it off! He was brilliant, he was brilliant.”

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“And he's got so much success now,” the star added. “And he deserves it because… I mean, that boy was… He comes from a very troubled family, you know? They've had a lot of tough time, that family, and his sister was killed in a car accident. They were very close, a very close-knit family, and before he came to do Succession, he had a really tough time. And now he's flying, and he deserves to, because he's a wonderful guy.”

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If you didn’t know, Kieran is the younger brother of child acting prodigy Macaulay Culkin, who has always been incredibly open about how difficult his upbringing was. The boys are two of seven children, and the nine-person family grew up in a four-room apartment in New York City, with their parents struggling to make ends meet.

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In addition, Macaulay has repeatedly accused their father, Kit Culkin, of abusive behavior, alleging to New York magazine in 2001 that his dad would physically abuse him, his mom, and his six siblings. Last year, Macaulay confirmed that he hadn’t seen his father in 30 years, and that "none of" his siblings want "anything to do with him."

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Meanwhile, Kieran opened up about his older sister Dakota Culkin’s tragic death during a 2024 interview with CBS Sunday Morning. Dakota died in December 2008 after she was hit by a car while crossing Lincoln Boulevard in Marina del Rey, California. She was 29 years old.

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Kieran was 26 years old at the time, and said that her death never gets easier. He explained: “I only knew who I was because of who my siblings are. So, to lose one was losing a big piece of myself. Losing one of my favorite people in the world, it doesn't get easier. But you get used to it, I guess.”

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Kieran also revealed that he found himself inadvertently channeling Dakota when he was playing Roman Roy in Succession, saying: “I realized there was some stuff that Roman did that I was like, 'Oh, that's my sister. That was her sense of humor.’ She could find exactly what the right thing to make fun of you was that would get to you, but be really funny and make the room laugh. That was her."

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He previously told the Hollywood Reporter that Dakota’s death was “the worst thing that’s ever happened,” and that he has accepted that “this is going to be forever, and it’s never going to be fine, it’s always going to be devastating.” He added in the 2021 profile: “I still weep about it out of nowhere.”

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Back to the Off Menu podcast, Brian also refuted speculation that he didn’t enjoy working with Jeremy, who played his son Kendall. In case you missed it, Brian said in

Brian Cox On Succession, Kieran Culkin, Jeremy Strong