‘Succession’ Directors Filmed Tense Fight Scene Without Knowing Shiv Was Pregnant

etcanada.com:

“Succession” is known for surprising twists, but even the directors didn’t see this one coming. The high-stakes HBO drama got even more intense on Sunday night’s episode when a cut-throat fight between Sarah Snook’s Shiv and Matthew Macfadyen’s Tom broke out.

The cut-throat fight had a brutal exchange of words, most notably when Tom tells his wife that she is “maybe not a good person to have children,” an insult that jabs a pregnant Shiv deeply. READ MORE: Kieran Culkin Clears Up Confusion About Roman’s Wife And Child In ‘Succession’ Tom is unaware that Shiv is pregnant, but he isn’t the only one, as the directors of the tense series also didn’t know when shooting the scene.

Director Shari Springer Berman recently spoke with Vanity Fair, explaining that she and her co-director Robert Pulcini did not know Shiv was pregnant during Sunday’s episode because episode 4 when she learns that she is carrying a child, had yet to be written. “We knew that Sarah was pregnant,” she begins. “But we didn’t know that Shiv was going to be pregnant.

We didn’t have that specific piece of information when we shot it.” READ MORE: Kieran Culkin On Reuniting With Alexander Skarsgård On ‘Succession’ The creator of the hit drama, Jesse Armstrong, eventually told Berman that Shiv’s pregnancy would be added to the series, but she says, “we didn’t know when the audience was going to find out.” Speaking of the intense fight on Sunday, Berman and Pulcini told Entertainment Weekly that both stars are “remarkable actors.” “Succession” airs Sundays at 9 pm E.T.