In Severance season 2, every winding hallway has a new mystery around the corner. There’s a room full of goats, a scary corridor that Irving (John Turturro) can’t stop painting, and even the dreaded break room. But even when Lumon Industries attempts to distract us with cutesy animated training videos in episode one, we can’t help but remain on the lookout for hidden messages.
Here's an example. Listen closely to the claymation Lumon building's voice. I mean reeeeeaaally listen. Who do you hear? Because we’re damn certain that the voice of the building is Keanu Reeves. Right?!
The video starts around the twenty-six-minute mark in the episode. Do us a favour. Pause here and listen to the building’s voice again. There are two lines that really stand out. The first is when he yells at an employee and says, “Hey! No running in my halls!” with a John Wick-esque growl.
The second line is when the building asks, “But what makes a building truly happy?” I don’t know anyone else who would make the same Keanu-esqe inflections when the building pauses for “truly happy.” The similarities go on and on throughout the video—and I just can’t hear anything else. To us, the voice unmistakably belongs to Reeves.
He’s never appeared on the Apple TV+ series—and there’s zero news out there that indicates he ever will. Severance does list Sarah Sherman (Saturday Night Live!) as the voice of the water tower—which was an even easier spot, if you're an SNL fan—but the voice of the building is curiously uncredited at the end of the episode.
I have no proof that Reeves is the voice of the building. Esquire reached out to Apple for confirmation, but we have yet to hear a response. Still, I wouldn’t have even mentioned it if the series didn’t avoid listing the voice actor’s name in the credits. Severance, what are you trying to hide?
[Editor's note: Severance creator's Dan Erickson confirmed that it was Keanu Reeves who voiced the Lumon building.]
Originally published on Esquire US
By Joy L
Just under half hour to midnight, I gain consciousness. I am seated in a study room (indicated by the bookshelf, reading nook and table before me), facing an open laptop. My gaze falls on the screen amidst the dimly lit arrangement; a Zoom waiting room. Right, the Overtime Contingency Protocol.
The domestic setup was not entirely foreign. The activation is common for interviews with international talents residing a different time zone. In other words, outside business hours. I often either find myself in what I assume is the living room (indicated by the couch and obvious television), or this study. Before I could turn to get a glimpse at the rest of the house, Britt Lower appears in the virtual window.
Her auburn cropped bangs revealing distinct brows are consistent with Helena/Helly’s defining look on Apple TV+'s Severance, making the perceptible divide between actress and character(s) less pronounced. More so, as she speaks, I observe that not only accent but cadence barely contradict.
“We’re so delighted by how the audience has received the show,” Lower addresses the recent instalment, “It gave us the confidence that this strange little office created has wheels. The whole team is excited to keep expanding this world and dig into each element of this giant puzzle. So many people put thought and sweat into every prop, line of dialogue; each so well-considered.”
The new season comes a good two years after the first. We were just beginning to comprehend the workings of the uncannily familiar employment that is Lumon Industries; acquainting with its odd rules and jargon that parallel the eccentricities of corporate culture. Along with its employees on the cusp of uncovering who they are on the outside, we were all brusquely strung high on a cliffhanger.
The keen hunger for answers reflects in their latest foray. Though not immediately, without revealing too much. There are eventful changes and baby goat included side quests, so the path there isn’t straightforward.
“For me these are really humans on a really human journey of self-discovery and search for meaning,” the actress explains, “The plot point and [fan] theories are super fascinating, but what I'm drawn to is that human experience of what do they want, and what are they doing to get what they want.”
Screenwriter Dan Erickson has previously mentioned his favourite conspiracy being that Lumon was slowly turning its staff into baby goats. Lower, on the other hand, is not privy to any reddit threads, nor relents to guesses of her own. It was a crucial choice to keep herself in the dark within capacity; to be on the same page and investigative state of mind in the journey that the audience was following.
Like the last, shooting season two was not chronological. “It’s a 5D chess problem when we're shooting out of order. All departments cooperate to figure out continuity; it’s an extremely collaborative team where everybody's ideas matter,” she attests. And like last season, the self-described visual learner keeps a self-drawn graphic novel to track her characters’ emotional arc in the non-linear production.
The sequel further pushes the tension at play between Helly R and Helena Eagan. “I’m hesitant to name specific scenes,” Lower chuckles nervously, “but in season two you’ll come to understand why Helena is the way she is. We didn't have as much context of what's going on for her on the outside before. They are both trapped in the same company but in different ways.”
“All characters—innies and outies—are grappling with parts of themselves. The competing forces continue to evolve, and there's a real reckoning with identity on both sides. It’s nature vs nurture. Helena has a lot of conditioning of how to be in the world, while Helly has this raw, unmediated, almost teenage angst that couldn’t care less what people think about her.”
“But these are the same person with a shared subconscious. The body stores their trauma and joy, so they inevitably start to have an effect on each other,” she says after deliberating, “They have a lot to learn from each other.”
By Joy Ling
Just minutes past midnight, I realise I’m looking at my desktop wallpaper. All apps are closed and the recording on my phone has stopped. The duration reads 29:21. Great, well within limit. I hit the transcribe button and glance outside the room. The house remains dark and still.
See, the study is where I situate myself for the Overtime Contingency Protocol if the interview occurs past evening. It’s the furthest room in the house, preventing the work call from disturbing my family. And to save everyone the awkwardness; vice versa. Daytime however, oversaturates with sunlight and I shift to the wider den since no one else is at home.
There is a peculiar line to toe when profession bleeds out of office parameter. Anyone else reminiscing the glorious time we were merging two things that shouldn’t coexist that way? Just me? It’s probably why the show resonated with viewers when it premiered during the pandemic. It was when we were reckoning with our relationships to our occupations. Reevaluating the meaning we attach to it, and the sense of identity we acquire from it.
In the playback, Britt Lower points out the added meta layer being an actor on Severance. “There’s almost like a Droste effect where Britt goes to work: I go into my trailer and I put on Helena's outfit and assume a new name and identity, as she goes to work under a new name and identity,” she muses before a quick laugh, “The difference being that I enjoy my job for sure.”
Another tangible effect of the process is déjà vu, courtesy of those darn hallways. “We filmed so many scenes in them, there are corners where I’m like, ‘Oh yeah. I remember filming a scene here …like three years ago’,” she recalls wryly.
Fun fact you’re probably dying to know like I was: The set is a stage comprising tons of modular partitions that rearrange for the day according to the scene. Doesn’t help that to get to said set, actors have to navigate somewhat similar-looking hallways. “There’s a kind of recursive quality being in our studio because you’re walking down these hallways to more hallways,” she smirks at the memory. “The maze changes so we do get lost on our way often.”
Other design elements are effectively immersive; the fluorescent lights, golf-green carpets and those stifling, soul-killing windowless rooms. Time is amorphous within the space, but the work-family dynamic between cast and crew is something Lower appreciates.
“You lean on your coworkers to find levity, and we’re fairly easy to entertain. We make up childish games that help us stay awake. Adam [Scott] is often flicking a paper clip at me. We have a healthy balance of seriousness and silliness, and all genuinely enjoy each other’s company between takes.”
The physicality her role encompasses is also what the former high school basketball point guard relishes. Whether it’s sprinting through hallways or smashing glass with a fire extinguisher, playing Helly lets her actively maneuver the strait-laced walls of Lumon.
Yes, Lower has never held a corporate job. Her closest comparison? High school speech team where office attire is default. “There's something about pantyhose and pumps that is super inspiring to Helly’s urge to escape,” she divulges as the thought occurs.
“She wakes up and she's been dressed by someone else. It’s this thing that’s been put on her; this stereotype of feminine office wear. She has no cultural understanding of why she’s wearing it, and couldn’t care less. She goes about as if she’s on a basketball court, not in heels and pantyhose.”
While most innies are generally reticent versions of their outies in the real world, I notice that Lower’s characters interestingly embody the opposite. To her, each of the series’ four horsemen, if you will, represent typical kindergarten classroom archetypes: Teacher’s pet, rule follower, class clown, and rebel.
It may surprise some which archetype she actually relates to most. “I come from a long line of farmers and teachers. I think I've always loved teachers—they’re kind of our first authority figures outside of our parents, right?” she raises with a smile, “Naturally, I didn't necessarily question authority growing up because I like teachers. What Helly has taught me is that there is a time and place to question authority, especially when that authority is infringing upon your humanity and free will.”
“I would say on the whole I like to be a good citizen, but playing Helly over the past four years has given me more strength to advocate for myself where in moments prior, I would never have.”
Severance Season 2 airs 17 January on Apple TV+.
Listen, we’ve waited for 983 days. The first trailer for Severance season 2 is here (yes, I counted the exact number of days since the season 1 finale)—so scroll down right now, watch it, and let’s dive right in.
Okay! So Apple TV+’s stingy teaser from a few months ago showed us Mark S’s inevitable RTO after Mr Milchick tackled him in the season finale. The trailer seemingly picks up right after that; Mark S wakes up in the Lumon elevator still in a panic. He rushes through his office space, only to find out that… he has new coworkers! (Is there anything more horrifying?)
Milchick, brandishing a brand-new blue turtleneck, walks into the room and says, “Mark S… Been a minute.” I’m interpreting this as a classic stroke of Milichickian humour because Mark probably perceives the time between his confrontation with Milchick and this moment as a literal minute. God, I missed this show.
Elsewhere in the teaser, a photocopier is making MISSING signs of Mark’s wife. Did his sister understand the message after all? And there’s another melon party! The centrepiece is Irving’s melon-y likeness, so you have to wonder if Lumon is celebrating his return or his retirement. Don’t forget that Harmony Cobel is sniffing around as usual.
The new season will premiere on 17 January, 2025 but in the meantime? Watch the trailer a hundred more times because I’m still noticing new odds and ends. (Is that a Kier Eagan trinket on New Dylan’s desk?)
Now, team Severance has been tight-lipped on potential season 2 plot reveals but honestly? It feels like a small miracle that a trailer even exists. At one point, as a result of the WGA strike and rumours of drama behind the scenes, production on the show was halted indefinitely, according to Deadline—forcing audiences to sit with the first season’s amazing cliff-hanger.
Plus, in April 2023, director Ben Stiller shut down rumours of drama between series creator Dan Erickson and co-executive producer Mark Friedman. The two partners “ended up hating each other on the first season, per multiple sources,” according to The Town’s Matthew Belloni, with Apple TV+ going through several rewrites for season 2. “No one’s going to the break room,” Stiller responded on Twitter. “Love our fans and each other, and we all are just working to make the show as good as possible.” Lumon Industries, I’m sure, is furious about the lack of efficiency. Those numbers aren’t going to sort themselves!
Now that talk around the Lumon watercooler is officially heating up, here’s a quick rundown of everything we know about season 2 so far.
Who Will Star on Severance Season 2?
Considering that just about every major character was left in the lurch in the season finale, it’s safe to assume that all your favourite stars will return, including Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro, Christopher Walken, Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman, Zach Cherry, and Dichen Lachman. As for new faces, the series has added a stacked cast of players, among them Bob Balaban, Robby Benson, Stefano Carannante, Gwendoline Christie, John Noble, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Alia Shawkat, and Merritt Wever.
For season 3 and beyond? Severance’s creative team is shooting for the moon, with Erickson saying that he hoped to pitch Barack Obama about a guest role at the Emmys (where the former president was nominated for outstanding narration for the Netflix docuseries Our Great National Parks). “If he is [there] I’m going to see if he wants a role on this show,” Erickson said. “I think he’d be really good; he’d bring some gravitas.” Jen Tullock, who plays Mark’s sister, Devin, joked, “If we could get Barbra Streisand to come around, I’d pretty much give you every American dollar I’ve got in my bank account.”
Stiller, for his part, has more realistic expectations. “For me, there are a lot of people like Christopher Guest; I kind of imagine, ‘Wow, that would be amazing if someday he might be a part of the show,’ ” he said. “It’s fun when you have a show like this where it allows for people to maybe come in for an episode or two but also fit into the world of Severance.”
What Will Happen in Severance Season 2?
We don’t know much about season 2 beyond the new trailer but Erickson offered tantalising hints in our conversation with him following the season 1 finale. “There’s definitely going to be some expansion of the world,” he teased. “Within Lumon, we’re going to see more of the building and we’ll see more of the outside world, too.” He went on to comment on the storytelling architecture of the entire narrative:
There’s an overall plan 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. 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.
The first season ends with a spectacular cliff-hanger: Mark, Irving, and Helly manage, with great difficulty, to bring their innies into the outside world. The consequences of their subterfuge are enormous: Mark finds out his supposedly dead wife is in fact his coworker, Irving discovers that his Lumon lover is married, and Helly learns of her Eagan heritage, then announces to a gala of industry bigwigs that the severance procedure is torture. Dylan is apprehended by Mr Milchick but as Stiller pointed out to Deadline, Dylan has already seen the Matrix, back when his innie discovered that he has a child.
“Obviously, that’s a huge question and something that really is important to be dealt with, because their whole perception of the world has been altered by having this glimpse,” Stiller said. “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.” Similar conflict abounds for Mark, whose revelations will cause strife in his love life. “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 said. “That’s an interesting juxtaposition and conflict we’ll explore in the second season.”
Though season 1 centred on Mark and his perspective, meaning that we got scant few glimpses of his colleagues’ outies, Erickson promises that everything is about to change. “In season 2, we’re going to be showing all of these people on the outside,” he told EW. “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.... 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.”
Mark’s outie is under near-constant surveillance by his boss, Harmony Cobel, who moonlights as his kindly neighbour Mrs Selvig. Mark now knows the truth about Cobel’s double life, but Erickson teases that we haven’t seen the last of her schemes. “I think that she does have some special attachment to Mark,” he told Polygon. “And I don’t think it’s entirely Lumon-based. That’s what I’ll say. I think that she’s—without giving away too much of what we’ll see—there’s a professional interest for sure. And obviously, we’ve seen that there’s some sort of experiment or something happening with him and his wife, and sort of observing them. But I think that you can see it in her eyes that it’s become about more than the job."
If you really can’t wait for season 2, mosey on over to the Severance subreddit, where fans have already posted thousands of compelling theories. Many latched onto a comment made by Helly’s father (“One day, you will sit with me at my revolving”), postulating that the Eagan family members upload their consciousnesses to a computer and become part of the board that so tormented Harmony. Could Kier Eagan still be alive in the ether, by that logic? Another fan suggests that Irving, an ex-military man, may be an undercover operative who underwent the severance procedure to investigate Lumon, judging by his obsessive research and documentation about its employees.
“What if the severance procedure was initially developed for use in war?” one Redditor wonders. “You have enlisted soldiers that are easily indoctrinated to do your will and they have no recollection or PTSD after their tour is complete. Irving would have been involved with this severance program as a soldier and it explains why he’s so interested in secretly tracking down other people.” In a recent Reddit AMA, Erickson nodded at this theory, saying, “One of the nice things about opening up the world a bit is that we’ll get to see other applications of the technology. Other ways society willingly ‘segments’ itself from unpleasant truths.”
And what about those damn goats seen wandering around Lumon? Theories abound, with explanations ranging from cloning to brain experimentation. Erickson isn’t saying much, but he assures viewers, “I don’t think we have seen our last goat on the show.” In an interview with Variety, Stiller confirmed that we’ll learn more about the goats in season 2, saying, “There’s no way the goats are there for no reason.”
Erickson’s AMA confirmed some season 1 mysteries and teased what’s to come in season 2. One thing’s for sure: “The office is real. It exists physically, and everything we see there is actually happening (except the black goo, which is Irv’s dream).” If your money was on the good old “it’s all a simulation” theory, you’ve lost your bet. Erickson also hinted at another season 2 mystery: Just why did Helena Eagan conceal her innie’s suicide attempt from the board? “Good question. I think more of that will reveal itself in season 2!” he replied.
Alas, until season 2 makes its debut, there’s not much we know for sure. As Erickson told IndieWire, “It turns out it’s easier to ask interesting questions than answer them.” We may not have many answers, but here’s one thing we can do: trust Ben Stiller. In an Esquire profile of Stiller, Severance star Patricia Arquette said, “He’s merciless. He never stops. He never stops rewriting, he never stops thinking. Weekends, holidays—you’d get phone calls late at night, you’d get phone calls early in the morning. Ideas. New things. He has incredibly intense focus on everything—every little set piece, every little wardrobe thing. I’ve never seen anybody so focused on everything.”
While we wait, there’s still a lot to chew on. Fans who want to delve even deeper can check out the Lexington Letter, a free supposed “tell-all” book from former Lumon employee Peggy Kincaid, which Erickson confirms is, in fact, canon. We may soon have another book to enjoy, if his tease from the AMA is anything to go on: Replying to a fan who asked if Ricken’s The You You Are would ever make it into print, Erickson said, “I think the chances are pretty good it will happen...” Praise Kier!
