'Succession' star Justine Lupe says her character Willa was only supposed to be in 3 episodes of the HBO show
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Claudia Willen
Dec 23, 2021, 05:12 IST
Justine Lupe plays Willa on season three of "Succession."HBO
Willa Ferreyra was initially written as a three-episode role in "Succession," Justine Lupe said.
She and Connor Roy were supposed to break up in season one, but the writers shifted gears.
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When Justine Lupe joined the "Succession" cast ahead of season one, she only expected to play Willa Ferreyra for three episodes.
The writers on Jesse Armstrong's HBO series initially planned on having the character go separate ways from Connor Roy (Alan Ruck) on "Austerlitz," the seventh episode of season one.
"I was auditioning with the breakup between Connor and Willa that was supposed to be in Santa Fe," Lupe, 32, recently told Insider.
After the actress, previously known for her roles in "Mr. Mercedes" and "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," landed the role, she noticed that the writers were still tweaking the script.
"There was one — the Santa Fe script in particular — where they kept on doing rewrites over and over, and Willa kept on sticking around just a little bit longer," Lupe recalled.
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She added, "I was like, 'Wait, am I not going to get thrown out? This is awesome.'"
Though Willa does appear in "Austerlitz," the breakup never came. Instead of calling off her relationship with Connor, she agrees to stay in his Santa Fe compound with him in exchange for an allowance she can put toward her theater projects.
The escort-turned-playwright stands by Connor's side throughout seasons one and two of "Succession."
And, ahead of season three, Lupe was promoted to series regular, which makes sense considering she leaves the finale engaged to Connor and, subsequently, more involved with the Roys than ever.
She isn't in love with Connor when she accepts his proposal ("Fuck it. Come on. How bad can it be?" she says with a nervous giggle in the final episode), and she doesn't pretend to be.
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But Lupe does think the character has formed a soft spot for the presidential hopeful over time.
"There's something about their dynamic that has become comfortable and also has evolved into something that's very, very strange and also sweet. She's grown to have a lot of affection for him," she said.
After Willa spends three seasons around the volatile Roy siblings — Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin), and Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) — and their partners, a marriage to Connor seems somewhat stable in comparison, Lupe reasoned.
"The relationships in this world are so completely toxic that there is a bit of a 'Fuck it. Why not?'" she said. "Our relationship actually might be one of the more healthy ones out of this bunch."
Season three of "Succession" is currently available to stream on HBO Max.
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