Everything you need to know about Severance season 2
Apple TV+ gave us the ultimate work-life-balance horror story with smash hit Severance. When it reached a dramatic conclusion in April 2022, viewers were left craving answers.
Thankfully, a second season of Severance got the go-ahead some time ago, so now it's just a matter of waiting for new episodes to hit our screens. The good news is they're on their way, with production currently underway, and Apple TV+ having shared some first-look footage at the next instalment.
With a cast led by Adam Scott, the Ben Stiller-directed dystopia was always unnervingly shiny and sterilised. Now the grotty, hidden side underneath the sheen is being exposed for our characters and it could potentially hold lives – both work and leisure – in the balance.
So when exactly can we expect Severance season two? Here's everything we know.
Severance season 2 potential release date: When can we expect Severance season 2?
While filming for Severance season two began in 2022, production was shut down amid the writers' strike last year. Now it's once again all systems go and we should be getting the new episodes some time this year.
Director and executive producer Ben Stiller, who directs the show along with Aoife McArdle, confirmed filming started again in January 2024, posting a black-and-white action shot of star Adam Scott running with the caption, "Back to work".
Stiller has since said the season will be out "soon". Appearing on the basketball podcast Roommates Show, Stiller said: "It's coming soon and we don't have an actual date but I've been working on the second season of it for a long time, since we had a strike last year. So that cut us off for a while.
"We're going to be shooting until probably like the end of April and it will be coming out sometime after that soon."
With that in mind, we could be optimistic and hope for a late 2024 release, but stay tuned for more information.
Severance season 2 cast: Who's coming back for Severance season 2?
Severance spoilers follow.
Along with the renewal announcement, it was confirmed the core four cast members will be back. These are Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry and John Turturro.
Patricia Arquette, who plays office manager Mrs Cobel, and Tramell Tillman as her sidekick/enforcer Milchek are also back – with a vengeance.
While Arquette remains as close-lipped as the rest of the cast about what plot twists season two may bring, she did tell ET that viewers should "be scared, be very scared," about what is to come.
"I think these guys have been working really hard, and come up with a lot of really creative things," she said. "They have a whole world in their minds. They just let us in, piece by piece, into what's going on, but I think it will be fun and beautiful and Britt is amazing as always."
One actor who is likely to take on a far more prominent role in season two is Dichen Lachman, who played the bizarrely aloof and monotone office therapist Ms Casey. Ms Casey was only in a handful of scenes during season one, offering mediocre insights into the outside world during "wellness checks" with the innies.
However, by the end of the series, it's revealed she is far more interwoven into Mark's life than it first appeared. In fact, she's his presumed-dead wife... which is a whole thing Mark now needs to unpack and figure out.
Christopher Walken is also going to return as Irving's sweet-natured love interest, Burt, which could come in handy depending on how much Burt discovered that we didn't see in the final episode of season one.
Of course, with Lumon being a complicated world of never-ending corridors and siloed offices, new cast members – potentially playing Lumon employees – have been announced (via Variety), including Game of Thrones and Wednesday's Gwendoline Christie, Arrested Development's Alia Shawkat, Fringe's John Noble and Unbelievable's Merrit Wever.
The creators have also shared some fantastic fantasy season-two guest cameos they're hoping for.
"For me there are a lot, people like Christopher Guest I kind of imagine: 'Wow that would be amazing if someday he might be a part of the show,'" Stiller told The Hollywood Reporter. "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."
Erickson, on the other hand, was hoping to pitch a cameo to former President of the United States Barack Obama at the Emmys. Obama won the award for outstanding narrator of the Netflix docuseries Our Great National Parks in September, so is there a chance he'll be looking to do more TV?
Meanwhile, Jen Tullock said: "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." So would we, Jen – so would we.
Severance season 2 plot: What's happening in Severance season 2?
Season two of Severance will likely be far more dramatic than the first, with the season one finale blowing a massive hole in the lives of the Core Office Four.
For Helly, she has sabotaged a massive business event meant to support the severance procedure, discovering her father, Mr Eagan, is a major player at Lumon. As a result, there may be hell to pay for her innie – or a lot of work for her outie to cover up what happened.
Elsewhere, poor Irving may be tending to a broken heart upon discovering that, in the outside world and unknown to both of them, his 'innie' love interest Burt is a happily married man planning a new life with his husband after retiring.
While Irving initially walked away, the final moments saw him banging on Burt's front door anyway to try and get to him. It's not known if he was able to reveal his identity in time before he was switched back into his outie mode.
Mark managed to let his sister know about what was going on with his "innie", and before his brain was switched back into "outie" mode, he alerted her to the fact that his presumed-dead wife Gemma is actually still alive and working at Lumon.
We still don't know if Gemma has been severed or if she's willingly working alongside Lumon, perfectly aware of what's going on.
"There's a question of sort of who was targeted first: Was Mark targeted because of his relationship to Gemma, or was it the other way around? And that's something that we we don't see this season, but we will see in subsequent seasons," Erickson teased in an interview with Variety.
"That's the big question, what is special about Mark? And is it actually that there's something special about him or is it more about Gemma, and he was sort of pulled in? Those are all left unanswered this season, but we will get into it."
Finally, Dylan's fate was left in the balance after he sacrificed himself to remain in the office, holding open the switches that allowed the others to go from "outie" to "innie" mode.
With Milchek breaking into the room Dylan was in during the season's final moments, it's clear Dylan will likely have some pretty brutal punishment ahead of him at the hands of the infuriated office manager — which, as we've already seen, can be tantamount to torture for the "innies" stuck in the office.
Also, with Cobel on a rampage after losing her position at the company, it seems a war between the innies and the outies is brewing fast as the innies try to release themselves from their repetitive, 9-to-5 hell.
And for those who find that watching a show with weird codes, black goo and spooky existential mysteries gives them X-Files (or Lost!) flashbacks, don't worry: Answers will be delivered sooner rather than later – possibly as early as season two.
"I think it's important for fans of the show to know that the unanswered questions do need to be answered at some point," Stiller said (via Deadline). "It's just, I think we feel this responsibility to do it in a way that is both responsible and entertaining."
But no matter how weird things get, the team are planning towards a definitive ending.
"There's an overall plan for the show," Erickson told Esquire. "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."
Severance season 2 trailer: Any Severance season 2 footage yet?
We might not have a trailer quite yet, but we have had some first-look footage at the new season during Apple TV+'s promo clip for its upcoming TV slate.
The clip sees Mark greeted by the ever-smiling severed floor supervisor Seth Milchick, who ominously says, "Been a minute".
We then see a kaleidoscopic, flickery montage of Mark as he lays on the board room table in different outfits, suggesting a short circuit from his innie to outie form.
Later on, he can be seen running down the immaculate corridors of the Lumon offices, before he tries to stop the elevator doors closing right in his face as he yells "Wait!" to an unseen person.
We promise we'll let you know as soon as we know more and finally get the trailer itself.
Severance is available to watch now on Apple TV+.
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