As Shiv Roy in Succession - the cult HBO behemoth now streaming season 3 - Sarah Snook plays the only daughter of the reprehensible Roy dynasty. As one of the four siblings jostling for the keys to the Roystar Wayco kingdom and the endorsement of their monstrous, billionaire tycoon father, Logan, Shiv is a fascinating portrayal of female power amongst the super-rich and super-ruthless. And like all the characters, despite her atrocious behaviour and conniving machinations for power grabs, cover ups and treachery, that makes the show so jaw-on-the-floor compelling, Shiv gets under our skin.
Along with the acerbic one-liners, razor sharp bob, impeccable cashmere turtlenecks and red lipstick - that last year saw Shiv Roy become a surprise Halloween costume - fans can’t get enough of her. As Sarah says of her character and all the cast on Succession:
‘They've all got that little complex and fatal flaw that makes them attractive.”
For the latest episode of GLAMOUR Unfiltered, the 33-year-old Australian actor opens up on mental health, power, wealth, who her favourite on-screen sibling is and whether Shiv Roy is a feminist.
WATCH: Sarah Snook on Roy family politics, Succession’s handling of female power and feminism.
I think everybody can see in some way, unfortunately, a little bit of their own family in the Roys. I think though they are unlikable, there are many elements that are familiar, and we all see that they are fallible in terrible and unjustifiable ways, they've all got that little complex and fatal flaw that makes them attractive. They might be unlikable in some ways, but there's some sort of redeeming quality within each of them.
There's a lot of vulnerability in Shiv. There's defences and the way that she puts in place to defend that tiny little molten core, but that's something that is also attractive to me about Shiv, that she's somebody who throws here defence up in a confident way, and that she's able to use humour to deflect or just ... a terrible kind of blank face or a bit of side-eye.
I think in the way that she's moving away from season one and season two. She had a career outside of the family and then she got married, and now she's with her husband inside the family business, and he's inside the family a little more. And I think at this point after Kendall's revelation, it really is a part of the journey for Shiv is really about defining who she is and who she wants to be for this season.
Yeah, but I think the same could be thrown back at Kendall. I think that he thinks he's a good person, but he's not a good person. And I think part of that is the sibling rivalry and part of that is probably accurate and truthful on both accounts. What is the meaning of "good" in this family is maybe a little more flexible and permeable than what is actually good and altruistic and maybe something more philanthropic or just a better human being outside of this vicious Roy family. But yeah, I think each of the characters, no matter who they are, Logan, Tom, Greg, Kendall, they all think they are good but not necessarily are.
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I love being able to be maybe tougher than I am. She's got some great one-liners and some great moments of sharing her opinion silently, whether that's through a bit of side-eye or something else.
Roman [Kieran Culkin] for sure. We have such a great rapport and repartee and battle in sort of words and looks. And physically, genuinely physically.
I think that's part of the fun is discovering why they're together. And the longer we get to play these characters, the more we understand their history and who they are and who they are together. And that's also, what is really fun about it is that it's constantly evolving and developing. And Jesse and the writing team are so engaged with these characters and trust us as well to perform what they throw down for us.
Money doesn't make you happy, I think, is what I've learned about wealth, and certainly the Roys, in terms, aren't happy in a lot of ways. And they are in others, but I'm not sure that it's money that makes them happy. And then power is a corrupting thing, I think. Absolute power corrupts absolutely is that old saying, and I think that's definitely true for the Roys.
There’s something for everyone: Shiv and Stewy are objectively incredibly hot and terrible people; deeply uncool Number One Boy, Kendall, is a pity-magnet; Roman is a mischievous, sexually-repressed nightmare; Gerri is a “stone-cold, killer bitch”; and Greg...well, Greg is tall.
I think we deal with promoting female power in Succession as we would with any other gender in that they are equal and seen as such, and it's only when it's a character element I think for Logan or for Kendall, there's a moment in episode two where he calls out Shiv for only being valuable for her tits. Which says more about the men in the show that decide to treat women differently than it does about the women, because ostensibly they have equal power.
I think she wouldn't call herself a feminist, but she definitely is. Feminism is about equal opportunity and about being equal to men, not having a higher power or more power than men. And so I think yes, the show is innately feminist because of that, the expectation that women are equal.
I mean, every woman has in some way in some form, absolutely. But I think that for Shiv, one of the things that I love playing her for is that she deserves to be in every room she's in. And there's a glass ceiling. For her, it doesn't really exist because she's beyond privilege and beyond money and power that she can afford to buy the building and smash the ceiling of that building in the first place. So yes, she might have limitations in some ways, but for Shiv, I feel that just not acknowledging those limitations due to gender means that they don't exist. And I kind of like that. It's like, don't engage with it, and then it doesn't exist.
Maybe that I have more power than I would otherwise believe. Because, as you grow up as a woman, you sort of presume a sort of secondary nature to things, and that you're allowed to be confident and it doesn't mean that you have to be mean or nasty. You can be confident and still proud of yourself and nice, and it doesn't diminish who you are as a person, nor who you are as a woman.
Like everybody does, really, just have a good firm chat with them! I mean, I sort of developed an older sister character for a while. If I was having a fit about not fitting into a dress in the way that I wanted to, or not feeling the right sort of confidence level that I wanted to, it was like "Well, what are you going to do about this Sarah? Are you just going to complain all day or all night, or are you going to buck up and get out there and do something?" You know, you can. You're allowed to. I acknowledge your feelings. You're allowed to be upset. But make a decision." Just develop an alter ego who believes in you a little bit more than maybe you do at the time.
It's not dealt with poorly, but the characters deal with it poorly… I mean, Kendall is going through quite a lot... I think there's an unwillingness to admit weakness within the Roys, and so often that comes across as defence and grab and lust for power. And often that is hiding something that is maybe depression or lack of confidence or those kinds of things we don't really explore, but they are hinted at, certainly in Kendall, in the character. And Shiv we don't really see that so much of, but I'm sure there's something there. But I think that probably it affects each of the characters in their own way. And I think that it's something certainly that Logan has probably had the experience of in the past but has pushed down and dealt with poorly. And that is why we get such great drama from who he is as a character and how he treats his children.
I love nature and I just get out into nature as much as possible. And I think really growing up in a way that I had access to nature, and I was given a lot of free time and allowed space to be bored.
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I'm learning to deal with it I guess. I still feel very at the beginning of a lot of things in my career, and my personhood, womanhood, and sort of working it out as I go along. But I've certainly always felt pretty strongly about being proud of oneself...oftentimes I find, as a woman, you're more likely to be far more cruel to yourself than you ever are about other people or to other people and so why can't you give yourself the grace and kindness as well? And that's not always easy, of course.
There's a scene that we have in episode two where some donuts arrive and they get called "irrelevant donuts," and then in turns, very relevant donuts. And I just love that the pastries, that sweet desserts, can be the thing that turns a whole moment. And we had a lot of fun shooting that scene.
I said "plastic Jesus" to Kendall at one point and I think that's perfect.
I mean, it's a really easy Halloween costume. Go out there and get a red bob wig and see what you can do. But I want to lay down a challenge to do a zombie Shiv or a zombiefied Shiv!
Succession, a Sky exclusive, is available on Sky and NOW on Mondays at 9pm and on demand.
