Succession’s Sarah Snook on playing Shiv Roy: ‘I love being able to be tougher than I am’ (2024)

In episode two of season three, Kendall says to Shiv, "You think you're a good person but you're not a good person." Do you think that’s true?

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.

What do you relish about playing Shiv?

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.

Who's your favourite Roy family member?

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.

And Shiv and Tom's relationship. Why are they together?

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.

What have you learnt about power and wealth from starring in Succession?

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.

How do you think Succession deals with female power?

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 tit*. 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.

Do you think Shiv's a feminist?

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.

Have you ever experienced sexism?

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.

What do you think playing Shiv has taught you about yourself?

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.

You've spoken about suffering from imposter syndrome. How do you deal with your inner critic?

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.