If you’ve been scratching your innie while waiting for the Severance Outies (and Innies) to receive followup for Ben Stiller’s first season-finale cliffhanger, you are not alone. Stiller, as well, knows that the world wants to see what happened to Adam Scott’s Mark after he screamed about his supposedly dead wife still existing inside Lumon Industries headquarters. He even lobbed an “Ok ok got it” after SZA “[w]as tryna be polite but I really need a new season of severance right the f*ck now.”
Also, what of those goats? That answer has already been promised by creator Dan Erickson. Yep, goats, and Apple TV+ is crushing the addictive series between Slow Horses, Silo, and Presumed Innocent, so it’s certainly swell that people are clamoring to know more. Let’s talk about the clues that have been dropped about what will come next for those who were severed.
Plot
As viewers will recall, the first season ended with Innie Mark (Adam Scott), Helly (Britt Lower), and Irving (John Turturro) masquerading as their Outies in an attempt to communicate with the outside world. Meanwhile, Innie Dylan (Zach Cherry) held down the control-room fort while Seth Milchick (Tramell Tillman) worked to breach the room and shut down the process. Mark had managed to communicate what was happening to his sister, Devon (Jen Bullock), and he was attempting to shout that his “dead” wife, Gemma, was actually alive and existing inside Lumon as wellness counselor Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman), who has apparently been “fired.” Meanwhile, Helly was in the process of telling a gala crowd that Lumon tortured Innies, and Irving had discovered that his Outie was obsessed with Lumon. Whew.
Clearly, the second season has a lot to answer for right off the bat — how much will the Innies remember about their Outie switcheroo, and how will they be disciplined? Well, no answers have surfaced there yet, but Scott and Stiller did speak with Variety to address the romance brewing between Mark and Helly, and what this might mean for his marriage. Scott called Mark’s situation “a confusing cocktail of feelings,” and Stiller followed up by confirming that this will figure into the second season:
“There is this growing connection between Mark and Helly happening during the season, and then on the outside, Mark is trying to get over his wife’s death — and then we’re going to find out that his wife is still alive. To put him in this position where the Innie Mark, we’re starting to root for him and Helly, but now we also want to root for Outie Mark to find his wife. That’s an interesting juxtaposition and conflict we’ll explore in the second season.”
Scott also offered that Mark had probably “made some decisions in his life” and truly appeared to want to leave severance, although that act doesn’t seem possible, given what happened to Yul Vasquez’s character when he left. Additionally, Zach Cherry kept things simple while telling Entertainment Tonight that the second season premiere script is “good!”
Importantly as well, Stiller told TV Line not to listen to any rumors about turmoil, delays, or budget issues with the followup. “No one’s going to the break room,” he clarified. “We’re on the same really slow schedule we’ve always been on … Love our fans and each other and we all are just working to make the show as good as possible.”
None of this delivers insight into an especially odd finale moment when a partygoer was extremely proud to claim credit for finding Devon’s baby. Perhaps that will be the most lingering mystery of the series.
Cast
Let’s just say that the Lumon workforce appears to be expanding. Adam Scott definitely returns, and he will be joined by Britt Lower, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro, Zach Cherry, Dichen Lachman, Jen Tullock, Christopher Walken, Tramell Tillman, and Michael Chernus. Unless Yul Vasquez appears as a clone (you never know with Lumon) or in flashback, we can count him out for the second season.
New cast members include, according to Variety, Gwendoline Christie, Alia Shawkat, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Bob Balaban, Merrit Wever, Robby Benson, John Noble, and Stefano Carannante.
Release Date
After much fuss, Severance will return on January 17, 2025.
Trailer
A brief teaser trailer has revealed Mark, Helly, and Dylan back at work while Gwendoline Christie’s character tells them, “You should have left.”
No full trailer exists yet, but Apple has also released a sizzle reel, in which Mark is carrying balloons that sort-of look like his paperweight in the Lumon Industries office. The reel also shows Mark glitching from Innie to Outie before he tries to get the hell out of there.