Every once in a while, a divine moment will occur when an actor gets to nod to a beloved past role of theirs while filming something new. This week, that moment came for James Cromwell, who casually uttered his most famous line from “Babe” during Sunday night’s “Succession” — and the internet didn’t let it go unnoticed.
Cromwell, as you’ll remember, played Farmer Hoggett in the 1995 family film “Babe,” about a pig who wants to be a sheepdog. In the climax of that movie, Hoggett praises Babe for his remarkable sheep-herding success, saying, “That’ll do, Pig. That’ll do.”
To be clear, no, there are no talking pigs in HBO’s prestige drama “Succession” (“boars on the floor” don’t count). But on Sunday night’s episode, Cromwell’s character, Ewan, did utter the line “That’ll do” when meeting up in a park with his bewildered grandson Cousin Greg (Nicholas Braun) and agreeing to help him secure a lawyer. And as soon as it happened, Twitter just about exploded.
For many, the go-to meme was of Leonardo DiCaprio in “Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood.”
Others appreciated the subtlety of the reference and how it was woven into “Succession” so seamlessly (or accidentally; we can’t say for sure). “James Cromwell’s Succession character saying ‘That’ll do’ to Cousin Greg: subtle, yet supreme ‘Babe’ reference,” writer Rachel Vorona Cote tweeted.
Some were just overcome with the nostalgia of it all, saying the sly reference actually made them “giddy.” And of course, no one seems to think the line was a coincidence.
“The writers sneaking in a “that’ll do” line in tonight’s episode of #SuccessionHBO from James Cromwell’s character is spectacular,” one viewer tweeted. “That couldn’t have been an accident.”
You can check out more excited reactions from “Succession”/”Babe” fans (who knew there was such a crossover?!) below.
