Sarah Snook wasn't sold on 'Succession' at first. Now, she feels a 'sense of loss'

NEW YORK — When she was first approached about playing Siobhan "Shiv" Roy, the only daughter of a ruthless but ailing media tycoon in HBO's "Succession," Sarah Snook was apprehensive of the project despite its obvious pedigree.

As a performer on the rise, thanks to a string of award-winning film and television roles in Australia and a well-received turn in the 2015 biopic "Steve Jobs," Snook was wary of being marginalized in a show that, at first glance, seemed to be about "a bunch of white men in business."

"Do I want to be a prop in this story that doesn't focus on me at all?" she recalled recently at a cafe in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, near the apartment where she lives while filming "Succession." "I read the pilot and went, 'I want to watch this, but I don't know if I want to be in it.'"

Snook's trepidation was understandable, particularly given the gender dynamics of prestige TV circa 2016 when, as she put it, "'Game of Thrones' was huge and there was a leaning across the board in TV for more female nudity." Thankfully, it also turns out to have been misplaced: Shiv has proved to be an essential player