Is Lukas Matsson from 'Succession' based on Elon Musk? Alexander Skarsgard reveals the real inspiration
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Alexander Skarsgard reportedly opened up about the similarities between Elon Musk and his character on ‘Succession’. In HBO’s hit drama, the 46-year-old Swedish actor portrays the role of tech billionaire Lukas Matsson, the founder of GoJo, a cutting-edge tech company that wants to acquire the Roy family’s Waystar-Royco and ATN.
The scandal-ridden tech mogul was first introduced in Season 3 but his toxic quirks and mind games have loomed large over the final season of 'Succession'. In the final season, the eccentric character sends bricks of his frozen blood to an employee he had an affair with and has no qualms about peeing on rocks in the middle of business negotiations. Just as the Roy family is modeled after media titans such as the Murdochs, Matsson also has many traits in common with influential tycoons in the tech industry. However, fans have been highlighting the character's resemblance to one particular tech honcho: Musk.
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'I definitely didn’t try to play an Elon Musk character'
Addressing the fan theories, Skarsgard recently spoke about the comparisons between Matsson and the 51-year-old Twitter boss. “I definitely didn’t try to play an Elon Musk character. I think it’s an amalgamation of different people in the tech industry and other business leaders that I’ve met, seen, or read about,” the actor told Rolling Stone. He revealed that Matsson’s quirks were definitely inspired by many things the tech mogul did but he was not him. “I tried to draw some inspiration from a lot of them and instill some ideas that I came up with in order to find something idiosyncratic about it,” he continued.
Skarsgard continued by stating, “It wouldn’t be interesting to say, 'I’m playing Elon Musk!' That’s not what I went for. There’s a lot of Elon Musk out there. He’s a very visual character and a very interesting character, but I wanted Lukas to be something else. I’m sure I’ve been inspired by some things I’ve seen [Elon] do and other tech giants do, but I didn’t go for that type of character.”
'There’s definitely a singularity'
“I drew inspiration from a lot of titans of the tech industry,” Skarsgard said, adding, “But it’s an amalgamation and I drew inspiration from a bunch of them, and then, obviously, sprinkled in some other components and ideas to create the foundation for Lukas," he told Entertainment Tonight. He continued, “There’s definitely a singularity and eccentricity that some of them also have that Lukas shares, but he’s not modeled after one individual.”
During his interview with Rolling Stone, Skarsgard also spoke about Matsson’s infamous life motto, “privacy, p***y, pasta,” and revealed who came up with that. “I believe it was Jesse [Armstrong]. I’m not sure, so don’t quote me on that. But it was basically the introduction to the character — the first time you meet Lukas at Kendall’s weird birthday party, and he’s really bored, and he’s surrounded by sycophants that he finds incredibly boring. All he wants is to sit in the corner, eat pasta, and find some p***y. That’s kind of what he’s after there,” the actor stated.