Succession's Arian Moayed on Where Stewy and Kendall Stand in a Post-Logan World

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for Season 4, Episode 4 of Succession, "Honeymoon States." Read at your own risk!]

In the immediate wake of Logan Roy's (Brian Cox) death, exactly one person is feeling relatively content. That would be Stewy Hosseini, Waystar board member and Kendall's (Jeremy Strong) on-again-off-again friend, played slickly and savvily by Arian Moayed. "Honeymoon States" finds the Roys, their many associates, and plenty of others gathering for what is feasibly a wake — but what is actually, as Shiv (Sarah Snook) puts it, "coronation demolition derby" — at Logan and Marcia's (Hiam Abbass) Fifth Avenue townhouse. At certain points, the episode is as devastating as the one that came before it: Kendall, Roman (Kieran Culkin), and Shiv are working together until they're not, their fragile alliance brought down after a piece of paper on which Logan may or may not have decided to crown Kendall as the official heir to Waystar Royco is uncovered from a safe. No one can say for sure whether Kendall's name is underlined or crossed out, but fierce jealousy kicks in regardless, especially on Shiv's end. In Succession's timeline, it's barely been 24 hours after the death of their father, and the siblings are already falling apart. Of course Logan would find a way to commit psychological warfare from beyond the grave.

A resolute Kendall turns to Stewy for backup, as he often does. Years of history are on display as the two discuss what it would mean for Kendall to take over as CEO — is his head on straight, Stewy wants to know? Does he even like the GoJo deal? In a callback to Season 2, Kendall plays his friend card, saying, "Maybe do a solid for your oldest pal the day after his dad died." It's enough to secure Stewy's support, leading to Kendall and Roman being crowned co-CEOs before the end of the episode.

TV Guide caught up with Moayed to get his thoughts on where Stewy and Kendall's friendship stands, and Stewy's position as the final season of Succession pushes forward.

There's a lot going on in that scene between Stewy and Kendall, and it feels like a direct parallel to when Kendall asked for Stewy's help in Season 1. As an actor, how did you approach a scene like that?
Arian Moayed: What's crazy about Succession is that these folks are all trying to get to the top, and in the midst of all that you have all these people that really are trying to make sure that they win. And along the way, you have this guy named Stewy who went to high school with [Kendall], and had so many moments where they probably are like, "We should f---ing run the world, dude," and run it in a way where it's not sibling rivalry. When the scene comes up, Stewy says it: "Are we really going to talk about this? Are you sure you have your head on straight? Are you OK?" Stewy knows that at the core of Kendall, there's this man who just wants to win the whole f---ing thing. Stewy appreciates that, because Stewy wants that, too. And although he has the Furnesses, this is a bigger nugget. Not only that, it's a bigger thing to get to the very, very center of it all. I was talking about this recently to some friends, but the scene that you're talking about was a little bit longer. All these episodes are packed with stuff, much longer than the 60 minutes that are in there. In this conversation that we had together, I just remember there were some lines about — it wasn't much, it was a little bit — about how [Kendall's] dad treated him as a child. 

Right, because Stewy was there.
Moayed: Oh, he saw it. There was this whole section of like, "Do you remember?" Stewy sees all that. "Why the f--- do you give a sh-- about your dad right now? He treated you like trash your whole life." He even says it in that one line that is in there. [Logan] would probably die because of the Pierce deal, less about some sort of coronary, or whatever. I think Stewy sometimes wishes Kendall was more like that, but also, he cares about him. I know people think he's just a shark.

I think there's something very genuine between them.
Moayed: I think so, too. I've said this before, but I've known Jeremy since I was 19. I've known him for a long time. I've known Jeremy since we were all loser theater kids.

That binds you to a person forever. You've seen their truest self.
Moayed: Yeah. He's seen my true self, trust me.

The haunted house line is so fascinating, and Roman has that line earlier in the episode calling everyone ghouls. Stewy has to know the house is already haunted, right? It was haunted even before Logan died.
Moayed: I really do think that deep down — again, I have a little bit of evidence, because there were lines that backed this. I feel like deep down, he wishes that Kendall could just remove the bandage that is Logan Roy off of him. Yes, the ghouls all come in on the day after because the ghouls are all worried that the stock market's gonna f---ing plummet more than it already has. So the ghouls have to come in there. The house is definitely haunted, and all these energies come into that place, and they're all wearing black now. It's a death trap. The whole episode takes place in the house.

Kendall had a lot of amazing moments in this episode as a businessman. Obviously, the end. But he also sits next to Sandy and listens to Sandy. Jeryd, the presidential candidate, is coming. [Kendall's] like, "We have to make sure we kiss the ring." In a way, also, this is prime for Stewy. All Stewy knows, and this is what's amazing about the writing, is that Kendall's name is on a piece of paper. To be honest, the rest of it — crossed out, not crossed out — it doesn't really matter to Stewy at that point. [Frank] goes, "Has [Logan] said this before?" And Stewy's like, "A few times." Sure. He's said it a million times. It doesn't really matter.

Do you think Stewy's forgiven Kendall for what went down with the bear hug? Or is it not even about that anymore?
Moayed: Until Stewy hears why it happened, I think there's always going to be a little rock in that river. There's always going to be something. The currents aren't always going to be clear that way. I vaguely also remember trying to improvise. [Kendall] says, "I couldn't do it. He had me by the throat." It's so long ago, but I kind of remember saying, "Yeah, so what did happen?" That being said, Stewy has said it a million times: I'm going to do the thing that wins just a little bit more than the other thing, and right now the thing is your name is on a piece of paper. To go back to your question, does he forgive him? I think that hopefully one day over drinks he'll be like, "What the f--- happened that day, dude?" That's how I have to imagine it sometimes. I also wonder sometimes if Stewy actually knew. Like, he found out.

Is there part of you that thinks he knows?
Moayed: Maybe.

How do you think he would've found out?
Moayed: Oh, these people find everything out. I think there's one hundred percent [a] chance. I think he would know that there's something there.

I'm curious about what you think about the way Stewy balances those two sides of himself. He's obviously in it to win it, as you've said, but he's also in it for his friend.
Moayed: I think that's what's kind of amazing about this outsider of Stewy. I think of, "Everyone f---ing hates you," do you remember that? He's kind of embarrassed to tell [Logan] that. He's kind of like, "I'm sorry to tell you this, and I know that you know, but no one, none of your plebeians here are saying this to you." It's the same thing with, "It does not work for us, sir." There's a little bit of respect in there. I mean, I'm Iranian. The character's Hosseini, he has an Iranian last name. Maybe a little bit of that kindness is in there. But he's also playing the game that Logan is playing, not the game that the kids are playing.

Kendall goes to Tom and he goes, "Tom, I like you. Good luck." I think Stewy has that vibe, too. In all these scenes where there's a confrontation, I can imagine Stewy being like, "Because I f---ing said so, you asshole motherf---er. You f---ed me over." The reality is he's not doing any of that. In this scenario it's like, "Do you really want to f---ing talk about this right now? OK, so you want to? Here we go. You make choices, too." I think Stewy balances that. I don't think it's a back and forth, I think it's just a mix of everyone's DNA in this whole thing.

It's very funny and very Stewy to show up at a wake in purple. There was a modicum of respect for Logan when he was alive, but my first thought was that his wardrobe was a little bit of a 'f--- you' to Logan.
Moayed: First of all, Stewy's got to look good. He gives a sh-- about what he wears, all the time. I'm sure he probably thought, "I bet you everyone's wearing f---ing black." He can't be like everyone else. Yeah, that eggplant-y [color], it was also regal. It's a very regal color, so there's a little bit of an homage to [Logan]. But he's got to come in somewhat fashionable.

I recently read an interview with Monica Jacobs where she spoke about how Stewy is often shown to have an oral fixation and has props to play with in scenes. I noticed here that for much of the episode he's empty-handed. Was that intentional?
Moayed: When we come on set, what happens is that the scripts are so f---ing good, and we don't rehearse. And so, basically a lot of it's happening spontaneously. To go back to the oral fixation, Monica and I talk about this a lot. Yes, I think it all happened with the donut. They wanted me to eat donuts, I wasn't going to eat that second donut, so I started licking the donut because I'm like, "What does he want from it, anyway? He just wants the sugar." And so then it led into, "Oh, he has a toothpick. Oh, he has lavender." Even that laughing [scene], we were talking backstage. I'll never forget this. Someone was like, "Oh, there's these new Japanese sweets that were really spicy." I was like, "I'll try that." I put it in my mouth, I was like, "Jesus, this is insane, who would want this?" And we started laughing. We knew that there was a laughing moment, and we knew that Shiv had to come up to Stewy. That happened, like, 30 seconds before the first take. A lot of that is just feeling the lived-in nature of these characters. Sometimes I wish we talked about it more, and sometimes I'm so glad we don't talk about it at all.

We also got a very brief glimpse into Stewy's backstory when he mentions his dad. Have you given any thought into what his relationship with his parents might be?
Moayed: Totally, a lot of thought, too. In Season 1, when we were shooting the boardroom episode, Episode 6, I went into Jesse's room. I was kind of giving him a reason why Hosseini should be the last name. I gave him, like, three or four options. I told him, "[Stewy's father] came in the '50s, he came in the '70s, he came in the '80s." I just gave him a bunch of options of how this can happen and how he can be a bajillionaire. I gave him a whole thesis on it, he listened to the whole thing. He's like, "Which version do you want?" I told him the version that I want, and I explained a little bit why I thought that version. And then I said, "I never want to talk about it on the show." It's important as an Iranian representing this stuff out there that we're not put into the category that like, "Iran defines us, or we're terrorists, or Islamic regime victims." I did think about that. Him being 90 was really f---ing fascinating because he's older than Logan, and he's alive, and he's suing the neighbor. He's suing everyone. Just like Logan was going to sue the contractors that might've put the squirrels in the [chimney, in Season 2].

Yeah, that connects Stewy and Kendall. Dads are all the same.
Moayed: Especially these types of dads.

Lorene Scafaria returned to direct this episode. How was it working with her?
Moayed: Unbelievable. It can't be easy for a director to walk into a set like Succession, where we're shooting on three cameras on film. When we walked into that scene with Kendall [and the siblings], I just want to let you know, the scene started with Sandy, Sandi, and Stewy entering in, us having a little confab, and then Kendall goes and meets with Sandy. And then Marcia and Greg are having a conversation, and then Kerry comes in, drops all the stuff, and then their bit, and then Jeremy comes through the middle of that and comes to our scene. We shot that as a oner. It's cut up now, but it was like 14 pages. I think 20 actors spoke. Imagine being the director.

At the end of it, we did maybe one take where we went into [Kendall and Stewy's] scene as well, but there was so much tape. But we were planning on doing the entirety of the f---er all at once! You have personalities, you have crews. Some actors aren't comfortable with these long takes, some actors are comfortable. She handled that with so much calm and ease. It takes a really skilled director to let us do our thing for a bit and then come in and carve in a little bit of, "Maybe this here." It didn't feel rushed. And there's chaos. You can imagine there's a lot of f---ing chaos going on. She fit in perfectly. I loved working with her.

You're in A Doll's House on Broadway right now, and it's not a direct 1:1, but I do see a lot of similarities between what Shiv's going through this season and what Nora goes through in the play. I'm curious if that's something you've thought about at all. 
Moayed: When I was shooting Episode 4, A Doll's House wasn't even in the ether, and to be blunt, I hadn't read A Doll's House at that point. But you're 100 percent right. How many times are women put aside? Why didn't [Logan] write down her name after he said it to her? "Look at the stream of light. Remember this moment." Logan also said to her face that being a woman is a disadvantage. I think sometimes Shiv is the closest to Logan, because she knows how to emotionally detach. She can emotionally detach from Tom, or she thinks she can. Just like Logan thinks he can, but he really wanted [the kids] at his party. Having to stick around in this all-boys club all the time, listening to all these men talk about their bullsh--. The idea that Karl thinks that he is the one who should be the next [CEO]! I see the correlations there evidently.

I know you're going to be in future episodes this season, and I'm curious if the loss of Logan, the lack of Brian Cox in scenes, impacted your performance at all. 
Moayed: It does, because I think that Stewy always knew Logan to be volatile and actually sometimes a problem with regards to the money and the market. The moment that he died, the moment that we knew he was gonna die in the Zoom meeting that Jesse gave us, I knew immediately that Stewy has a chance to get in on that. A big power is gone, and I think his connection with Kendall is really deep. There's a little bit of confidence walking into this mix. He's already a pretty confident guy, but the swagger comes out.

I remember when we were shooting that scene, it's not in the edit, but when I was looking at Frank and Karl, played by the amazing Peter Friedman and David Rasche, when I said, "A few times," the two of them looked at each other every take and they rolled their eyes. Every time they did it, it was so beautiful, because they know "a few times" is so f---ing vague, but they also know that I'm right. They don't f---ing believe Stewy, so rage was coming. When it comes to, "Who me, Frank?" it was a pinpoint. I f---ing hate you. I think Stewy hates Frank.

There has to be an element there, too, where Stewy's probably been dealing with Frank for his whole life because Kendall has been dealing with Frank for his whole life.
Moayed: Well, they're close. I don't know if Jeremy or anyone else sees this, but I always find that Frank's responsibility to Kendall is to do the father-y things that Logan doesn't do. It happens a few times, and in this episode it happens again.

I think a lot about how Kendall's the only one of the siblings who has relationships outside the family. He has Stewy, he has Rava. He kind of has Frank, even though Frank is so ingratiated into it. Kendall's always looking for these connections in people.
Moayed: So much of this show is trying to find the family love. Is family more important than capitalism? That's really the spiritual question of what's happening here. Kendall and the kids are all dealing with that. Some of them are more advanced and some of them aren't, and some of them go up and some of them go down. That's the constant struggle that all these people are going through. It's so sad.

I need to ask about a video of you that's been going around online where you said you're not a Tom Wambsgans fan. Can you elaborate on that?
Moayed: I am not. I am not a Tom Wambsgans fan. First of all, Matthew Macfadyen is a f---ing genius. Let's just start there. I love him more than life. He is so unlike Tom, he is such a regal British gentleman, is how I describe him. Very kind. I don't like people that brownnose their way to every f---ing thing without merit and without f---ing working for it [like Tom does]. I don't like backstabbers. I don't like brownnosers. I will say, oddly, I think the first time that I was like, "OK, you did something," was at the end of Season 3. But being in a car and looking at your your fiancée and saying, "Hey, maybe my name could be Tom Roy," is so uncomfortable. Or the human footstool, I really find that stuff vile. He's this Minnesota guy that got to the top and now he's forgetting all the paths. Stewy is also an outsider!

They feel like very direct parallels to each other, but Stewy knows how to play the game in a way that feels normal and natural.
Moayed: Totally. I mean, Stewy comes in in the first episode that he's in, somehow or another gets [Kendall] to be like, "Why don't we f---ing get it together?" Instantaneously, he does coke in the bathroom and says, "Let's make a deal." That's ingenuity, it's quickness, it's responsiveness, it's business dealings. It's funny, I do think that in the first three episodes [of Season 4], Tom was someone that I could admire because he was playing the game. And then what is he doing in this episode? "I am at your service. I'm here to serve." Pass. I find that stuff really cringey. 

I do think he loves [Shiv]. And I think she loves him, and there's something redeeming about that that I appreciate. One of my favorite lines of this episode was, "Let me show you some kindness." The writing of that is so simple and pure.

Very similar to the hug, I would say. Simple.
Moayed: I agree. Stewy knows that [Kendall] probably doesn't do this to his brothers and sister in the same way, or in a different way. He knows that he can't do this here. He also knows that he's the only one who can make fun of Logan.

How great is that moment where he gets Kendall to laugh?
Moayed: Making a joke about Kendall and his dad at the same time! Stewy's the only person who could do that.

Succession Season 4 airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.

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