The cast of hit HBO series Succession enjoyed their ‘one last hurrah’ during a bittersweet night at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Saturday.
Kieran Culkin, 41, Nicholas Braun, 35, and Matthew Macfadyen, 49, were seen sharing a warm hug at their last awards show together, before joining the rest of the talented cast inside.
They later reunited on stage with co-stars Alan Ruck, Alexander Skarsgard, J. Smith-Cameron, Justine Lupe, Fisher Stevens, Dagmara Dominczyk, David Rasche and more.
The critically-acclaimed tragicomedy was upset several times in the television categories, including by Elizabeth Debicki who beat out Sarah Snook for The Crown, and The Last Of Us star Pedro Pascal who triumphed over Culkin, Brian Cox, and Macfadyen.
However, the Jesse Armstrong series did ultimately take home top honor Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
The cast of hit HBO series Succession enjoyed their ‘one last hurrah’ during a bittersweet night at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Saturday
Kieran Culkin , 41, Nicholas Braun, 35, and Matthew Macfadyen , 49, were seen sharing a warm hug at their last awards show together, before joining the rest of the talented cast inside
The critically-acclaimed tragicomedy was upset several times in the television categories, but did ultimately take home top honor Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
Also present were Juliana Canfield, Justine Lupe, Arian Moayed, Scott Nicholson, J. Smith-Cameron, and Zoe Winters.
Missing from the action — as he has been throughout the awards season — was Jeremy Strong, 45, famed for his portrayal of Kendall Roy, who’s currently busy with another project.
Brian Cox, 77, and Sarah Snook, 36, were also not in attendance, as they are currently busy working on stage plays.
The fan-beloved show beat out an impressive field including The Crown, The Gilded Age, The Last Of Us, and The Morning Show.
Alan Ruck accepted the prize on behalf of cast of the drama as he began his speech saying: ‘One last hurrah, I think.’
‘I think right now you’re looking at some of the luckiest people on the planet and some of the most grateful because not only did we get to all work on one of the best television shows, you know, maybe ever, we made friends for life.
‘And I think the magic of Succession was that the writing was so fabulous. It inspired all of us to bring our A-game from the very beginning.’
‘And we got off on watching each other work, and we caught lightning in a bottle. Lucky, you know? So, now we’re thrilled to be recognized by our peers.’
Alan Ruck accepted the prize on behalf of cast of the drama as he began his speech saying: ‘One last hurrah, I think’
The fan-beloved show beat out an impressive field including The Crown, The Gilded Age, The Last Of Us, and The Morning Show
The trio cozied up while finishing their awards season
Macfadyen and Scott Nicholson posed with Kieran and J. Smith-Cameron, whose characters enjoyed a forbidden-love connection on the series
Ruck shared a warm hug with Kieran at the event
(L-R) Macfadyen, Culkin, Smith-Cameron, Nicholson, Alexander Skarsgard, Dagmara Dominczyk, Zoe Winters, Fisher Stevens, Nicholas Braun, Arian Moayed, Ruck, Yvonne de Bark, David Rasche and Justine Lupe
Missing from the action was Jeremy Strong, 45. Brian Cox, 77, and Sarah Snook, 36, were also not in attendance, as they are currently busy working on stage plays
Macfadyen and Skarsgard posed together backstage
Kieran, who won fans over with his portrayal of immature and insecure Roman Roy – son of media mogul Logan Roy (played by Cox) – proudly held the award, despite losing in the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series category
Kieran looked dapper as ever on the red carpet, and was joined by his wife Jazz Charton
Macfadyen looked handsome in an all-black suit
‘So on behalf of Brian and Snooky and Jeremy, who can’t be here, thank you to our fellow actors for giving us this award, thanks to everybody at HBO for being so smart.’
‘Thanks for casting us and giving us this gift, thanks to our lovely crew, all our directors who guided us and mostly thanks to Jesse Armstrong for having this idea and hiring the most glorious writers’ room. You honor us and we honor them.’
Succession has been nominated for numerous awards, including 75 Primetime Emmy Awards (19 wins), 18 Golden Globe Awards (nine wins), one Grammy Award, 18 Critics’ Choice Television Awards (eight wins), two Producers Guild of America Awards (won both), six Writers Guild of America Awards (four wins), and one Peabody Awards (won).
Succession’s fourth and final season aired in May, and the show was praised across the board by critics – despite its shocking tragic Shakespearean conclusion.
The episode saw the fate and future of the Roy family children and the company their late billionaire media mogul father Logan Roy (Cox) created hanging in the balance.
The entire series has been building up to the last few episodes, as all of Logan’s children – Kendall (Strong), Roman (Culkin), Shiv (Snook) and Connor (Ruck) – get ready for the final Waystar Royco board vote on the merger with Lukas Matsson’s (Skarsgard) GoJo.
The 90-minute series finale was directed by Mark Mylod and written by series creator Jesse Armstrong, and after many twists and turns, it was Tom Wambsgans (Macfadyen) who ultimately takes over as Waystar CEO, under new owner Lukas Matsson.
The Daily Mail’s TV critic, Christopher Stevens, gave the show five stars and said the ending was ‘everything we hoped it would be.’
Succession’s finale received rave reviews from critics across the board, who warned ending should come with a ‘psychological warning’
The episode saw the fate and future of the Roy family children and the company their late billionaire media mogul father Logan (Cox) created hanging in the balance
He wasn’t surprised about the ‘strong language from the start and throughout’ — it was the very last episode of the ‘sweariest £@%&ing show in television history. We’d have been horrified if there wasn’t strong language.’
But he added: ‘We should have been cautioned that what followed was 90 minutes of drama so bruising, so punishing that by the end my internal organs felt like Roman Roy’s face looked — stitched up and bleeding all over the place.’
At the very least, we deserved some admonition: ‘This program contains intense scenes of psychological and emotional meltdown.’
‘The idea of Tom being the eventual successor, that had been something that I thought was the right ending for quite a while now,’ series creator Jesse told HuffPost about the finale.
‘Even though he’s not exactly the most powerful monarch you’ll ever meet — his power comes from Matsson [Skarsgard],’ he added. ‘Those figures that drift upwards and make themselves amenable to powerful people are around.’
The series went out on top as it drew 2.9million viewers across linear telecasts and streaming service Max.