HBO’s Succession and the Sinister, Searing Appeal of Brian Cox
The star of HBO’s blistering family melodrama is what makes the show work.
I remember the first time that I saw the actor Brian Cox in a film. It was 2003, and I was watching X2, in which he plays the villain William Stryker, a cruel but brilliant man who has masterminded a plan to bring about the end of all mutants in the world.
From the moment he appeared on the screen, I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. There was just something, searing and intense about the way he brought this character to light. Watching him, you could believe that this was indeed a man who would put his own son’s mutant abilities to work to bring his own plan to fruition, who was willing to sacrifice that son’s life and well-being for his own designs. Though he was supposed to be the villain, there was no question that he was one of those people who, just by their presence, seems to command every eye.
