Zoe Winters talks to ET about playing Logan's executive assistant on the HBO family drama.
Warning: Spoilers for Succession season 4, episode two, "Rehearsal," written by Tony Roche & Susan Soon He Stanton and directed by Becky Martin.
In the second episode of the final season, the Roy family members continue to wage war as Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) decide whether or not to partner with Sandi Furness (Hope Davis) and Stewy Hosseini (Arian Moayed) as they try to stay ahead of their father.
Logan (Brian Cox), meanwhile, takes a more active role in managing ATN. Determined to bring life back to the aging network, he decides to audition his executive assistant, Kerry Castellabate (Zoe Winters), for an on-air anchor role, much to the chagrin of Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) and Cyd Peach (Jeannie Berlin).
Unfortunately for Kerry, who is a formidable assistant, her audition lands with laughs around the newsroom. And it is cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) who has to deliver the bad news after Logan insists he can't be involved in the process. Needless to say, the conversation doesn't go well and ends with Kerry threatening to rip Greg "apart like a human string cheese."
"This is the first time that we see Logan undermine her," Winters tells ET. "And I think at the end of the episode, where we leave them, there's a distance." And that's particularly noteworthy considering that Kerry is one of the few people who hasn't been played by Logan throughout the entire series.
Winters adds that at the beginning of episode two, Kerry is on a personal high. "I wanted to make her start as high as she possibly could so that the breaking down of her was all the more painful," she says of the "distance" that develops between her and Logan.
Inspired by the likes of Ann Coulter and Candace Owens, Winters says Kerry is a very ambitious woman, whose aspirations have led her to overstep time and time again as she continues to insert herself more and more into the company as well as the Roy family.
Kerry first appeared in season 2, joining Waystar during the height of the cruise ship scandal before eventually becoming a permanent fixture in Logan's circle as his executive assistant and even pushing him to back a fascist, alt-right presidential candidate in season 3. But from the beginning, Winters knew exactly who Kerry was.
"When I first came in, in a very small part in season 2, I just had to tell Shiv that he had booked a flight," Winters recalls. "I was just rude… I wanted Kerry to have a point of view and to insert herself in places where she shouldn't be."
And from there, she watched her character blossom into a cold, calculated and ambitious underminer who is not afraid to overstep. "She's interested in power," Winters says, adding that Kerry has always wanted to have "a voice in the conversation." Not only that, but during that time, Logan and Kerry developed what Winters calls a "hugely intimate" relationship. "She's had his attention and it's been intoxicating and I think she's on a high," the actress says.
So, when Logan decides to try Kerry out for a news anchor position, Winters says it's not so much his idea as it is hers. "I think it's all of her idea," she says, adding that "I think she asked for it and he probably didn't know how to say no. And so he set her up on an audition."
But as viewers see in the episode, her time in front of the camera falls flat. However, Kerry doesn't seem fazed by it. "She feels uncomfortable but I don't think she knows how poorly she's doing," Winters says, explaining that Kerry feels like the whole process is "a chore" that she has to do in order to get the job. "It's like, 'OK. I have to get this thing out of the way because it makes it seem like it's not a nepotism grab. But, you know, really I'm too good to even be auditioning,'" she says.
If anything, with Kerry dressed in a bubblegum pink dress and her hair teased and teeth whitened, this is "her idea of what charm looks like," Winter says. But, unfortunately for Kerry, "it comes off as hugely uncomfortable."
In the end, it's Greg that's forced to give her the bad news about the audition and her future at ATN, resulting in a rare (yet hilarious) scene between Winters and Braun. "We did so many different versions of it," she says. "We had a blast and I love acting with Nick."
As a result, "she's in a different place," Winters says. And for the first time, there may be cracks in the foundation of Kerry and Logan's relationship. And as the family war continues to unfold, she has started to think, "What am I gonna do? How am I going to survive?" And what that means for Kerry and Logan? "Things can go in many different directions," she teases.
Succession season 4 airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and HBO Max.
RELATED CONTENT:
