Future GoalsIn season two, Mark must discover what became of Ms. Casey, while reconciling his feelings for Helly—unaware that her other self is one o
Future Goals
In season two, Mark must discover what became of Ms. Casey, while reconciling his feelings for Helly—unaware that her other self is one of the leaders manipulating the employees of the Lumon corporation. Ms. Cobel continues her scheming despite being cast aside by Lumon, and the overall mystery of what the company does becomes even more vital as the employees are required to answer for their disobedience and violation of the terms of their severance agreement.
Growth Plans = Ambitious
Severance has generated a devoted fan base who speculate and analyze episodes on a forensic basis for clues about the nature of Lumon Industries and the broader meaning of the show. What directions will season two explore?
Erickson: I think things get darker. We very much wanted to put our heroes in a scarier place because season one ends with them poking the bear. They form this little rebellion, and they’re able to achieve a modicum of success with it, but the question with season two was: What happens when the bear pokes back? What’s the fallout of this victory that they had? I think, without giving much away, the fallout is dire.
Executive producer and director Ben Stiller directs Britt Lower in season two of Severance.Jon Pack/Apple TV+
Stiller: When [season one] came out, it was fun to look at all of the reactions and how people would kind of dig into theories. We wanted to pick up the story where it left off. We’re bringing the Innies to the Outie world and then will answer some questions by the end of the season. Hopefully we keep it enough of a mystery and intriguing enough that people want to keep following the story.
Erickson: In season one, the Innies are basically children. They’re adults in some ways, but experientially they’re children, having your first crush and finding out things about yourselves. Season two, it’s a little bit more of an adolescence story. There’s more of a sense of finding your own autonomy and deciding who you are going to be, as opposed to who you’ve been told you are.
Character Building = Doubled
What does it mean for the core characters now that their inner selves have information their outer selves don’t?
Stiller: For me, a through line in this series has always been about Mark trying to grieve his wife. But then, we find out that his wife is alive. Is Outie Mark going to find out that Innie Mark knows? And how is Outie Mark going to deal with that? At the same time, I think we’ve sort of developed a relationship with Innie Mark and Helly on the inside that feels like it’s going somewhere. So there’s a natural tension that’s growing there between Outie Mark’s interests and Innie Mark’s interests.
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