Celebration (Succession)

Logan Roy (Brian Cox), the patriarchal head of the global media conglomerate Waystar RoyCo, is about to celebrate his eightieth birthday.

Elsewhere, Logan's distant great-nephew Greg Hirsch (Nicholas Braun) is fired from his job at one of Waystar's theme parks after smoking marijuana and vomiting through his mascot costume.

Roman agrees to sign off on his father's original plan if he is named COO, replacing Logan's longtime deputy Frank Vernon (Peter Friedman).

Kendall learns about his father's condition only after conceding to Yee a significant package of cash, shares, and a board position to close his deal.

Armstrong eventually expanded the scope of the story to include the larger landscape of Wall Street, which he felt better suited for a television format.

Armstrong wrote a new script centered on original characters loosely inspired by various powerful media families such as the Murdochs, the Redstones and the Sulzbergers.

[6] The production used the American Irish Historical Society on Fifth Avenue as the location for Logan's apartment, while scenes of the Roys departing on their helicopters were filmed at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport on the East River.

For scenes depicting the interiors of the Waystar RoyCo offices, the crew used towers 4 and 7 of the World Trade Center, while 28 Liberty Street was used for exterior shots.

[8] During a round-table discussion for The Hollywood Reporter, McKay remarked that he encouraged improvisation on set while filming the episode, which many of the actors were initially uncomfortable with but later embraced.

'"[12] Jen Chaney of Vulture found the pilot less compelling than the rest of the season, but praised the ensemble cast, particularly Kieran Culkin for imbuing the character of Roman with "an arrogant know-it-all-ism that would be a total turn-off in real life but is absolutely delicious to watch on television.

"[13] Chaney also praised the writing, likening the series to "a profane mix of Billions and Veep" and comparing the characters to both the Murdochs and the Bluths from Arrested Development.