The Real Reason 'Severance' Season 2 Is Delayed
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Season 1 of AppleTV+’s masterful psychological thriller Severance wrapped up with a mind-boggling cluster of cliffhangers, with several characters making devastating discoveries about their lives outside of Lumon Industries.
For the uninitiated, the show follows a group of employees who have made a (seemingly) voluntary decision to have their work persona “severed” from their regular self, meaning that they remember nothing about their non-work lives while at the office, and vice versa. But by the Season 1 finale, Mark (Adam Scott), Helly (Britt Lower) and Irving (John Turturro) have all begun to question what the company is hiding from them, and pull off a daring escape that looks set to upend the show’s entire premise going forward.
Although Season 2 is on the way, production has been delayed by the current WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and reportedly by issues behind the scenes. Here’s everything to know about the show’s second season.
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How did Season 1 of Severance end?
The Season 1 finale, “The We We Are,” ended with Mark, Helly and Irving pulling off their plan to break their “innies” (that is, the version of themselves that should only exist at Lumon) out of the offices, and into the outside world.
All three of them are rewarded for their efforts by a huge revelation about their “outie” lives. Mark learns that his wife, Gemma, whose death he’s been grieving, is alive and working alongside him as a severed employee at Lumon. Irving discovers that his outie is conducting some kind of investigation of the company (while his lover, Burt, played by Christopher Walken, appears to be married in the outside world). Meanwhile Helly, the most rebellious of all the employees, makes the unthinkable discovery that her “outie” is the daughter of Lumon’s CEO, and an enthusiastic proponent of the severance procedure. In the final moments of the season, Helly seizes her brief window of opportunity in the outside world to try and reveal the truth, announcing at a black tie event that the procedure is “torture.”
Even before those cliffhanger-packed final moments, the season set up plenty of mysteries that are yet to be resolved. What’s the deal with the scary numbers? Who, or what, are The Board? And why all the goats? All in all, fans were left desperate to know how long they’d have to wait for more episodes.
Will there be a Season 2 of Severance?
Yes. Ahead of the Season 1 finale, which aired back in April 2022, AppleTV+ confirmed that it had renewed Severance for a second season.
“It’s really exciting to see the response from people who are loving the show—and the level of fan engagement,” producer Ben Stiller said in a statement. “It has been a long road bringing Severance to television. I first read [Dan Erickson’s] pilot over five years ago. It has always been a multi season story, and I’m really happy we get to continue it. I’m grateful to our partners at Apple TV+ who have been behind it the whole way. Praise Keir!”
Which cast members are returning for Severance Season 2?
The full ensemble are expected to return for the second season. This includes:
Adam Scott as Mark Scout
AppleTV+
Britt Lower as Helly Riggs (aka Helena Eagan)
AppleTV+
Patricia Arquette as Harmony Cobel
AppleTV+
John Turturro as Irving Bailiff
AppleTV+
Zach Cherry as Dylan George
AppleTV+
Tramell Tillman as Seth Milchick
AppleTV+
Christopher Walken as Burt Goodman
AppleTV+
Jen Tullock as Devon Scout-Hale
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Michael Chernus as Ricken Hale
AppleTV+
Dichen Lachman as Ms. Casey (aka Gemma Scout)
AppleTV+
A whole host of recognizable names will also be joining the cast for Season 2. So far, a total of eight new actors have been announced, although details on their roles have yet to be revealed. They are:
Gwendoline Christie
Alia Shawkat
Bob Balaban
Merrit Wever
Robby Benson
Stefano Carannante
John Noble
Ólafur Darri Ólafsson
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What is Severance Season 2 about?
Plot details on the new season have been kept tightly under wraps, which isn’t a surprise given how much the show relies on carefully constructed mysteries and twists. But creator Dan Erickson has shared a few tidbits, most notably in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. So far, the only “outie” the show has spent any significant time with is Mark, but Season 2 will focus heavily on the other characters in the outside world, and their reasons for choosing severance.
“Similar to Mark, they each had their own reason for getting this procedure, and they're all at some stage of a healing process for one thing or another,” Erickson said. “Being able to take what Adam did in the first season—with the differentiation between his innie and outie, and how they feel like the same person but with this vastly different lived experience—seeing the other three characters' version of that dichotomy is, I think, the most exciting part.”
In another interview with Esquire, Erickson also said that Season 2 would involve “some expansion of the world” of the show. “Within Lumon, we're going to see more of the building, and we’ll see more of the outside world, too.”
More broadly, the entire show will of course be transformed now that the characters have glimpsed the outside world. “Their whole perception of the world has been altered,” Stiller told Deadline. “That’s going to be a lot of what the second season has to deal with—a big part of the engine of the second season’s beginning.”
There’s also a potential love triangle—or is it a quadrangle?—brewing between Mark, Helly and Gemma. “With 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," Stiller pointed out. "That’s an interesting juxtaposition and conflict we’ll explore in the second season.”
What is the Severance Season 2 release date?
Like all productions in Hollywood, Season 2 of Severance is currently on hold amidst the ongoing WGA and SAG strikes. Principal photography began in October 2022, and shut down in May 2023 after the WGA strike began.
Why is Severance Season 2 delayed?
Officially, the second season of Severance has been delayed by the ongoing WGA and SAG strikes. However, some reports suggest that trouble had been brewing prior to the strikes. According to Puck reporter Matthew Belloni, Erickson and co-executive producer Mark Friedman “ended up hating each other” on the first season, and their dispute spilled over into Season 2, with scripts being delayed for several months for rewrites. Belloni also reported that House of Cards creator Beau Willimon had been enlisted to help write the final five episodes of Season 2.
Stiller was quick to downplay this reported behind-the-scenes drama. “No one’s going to the break room,” he wrote in a tweet. “We’re on the same really slow schedule we’ve always been on. Same target air date we’ve always had. Love our fans and each other and we all are just working to make the show as good as possible.”
Whatever the case, it’s safe to bet that Season 2 won’t be airing for a while. But the good news is that it’s unlikely to be the final season. Erickson has revealed that there’s a multi-season plan in place for the show. “I have an end point in mind, and I intentionally didn't plan it season by season, because I wanted it to be flexible enough that we could get there in two seasons or six seasons,” he told Esquire.
“I want to allow us to be surprised by where the show goes. There’s a sense of what Lumon is trying to do and the role that our main characters are going to play in that, and where it all will culminate. It's really exciting to think about taking the next step on that trip.”
How many episodes are in Severance Season 2?
The second season of Severance will consist of 10 episodes.
Is there a trailer for Severance Season 2?
There is not a trailer for Severance Season 2 just yet, but watch this space.
How to watch Severance Season 2
As with Season 1, the second season of Severance will be available to watch on AppleTV+.
