‘Severance’ Season 2 Is Coveted AF — Especially After That Intense First Look

It’s alive!!!!!! Apple TV+‘s hit workplace thriller, Severance, that is.

More than two years after the premiere of “The We We Are” — Season 1’s action-packed, anxiety-inducing, cliffhanger-heavy finale — fans finally got a substantial glimpse at the highly-anticipated Season 2. By substantial, we still only mean one photo and a few seconds of footage, but the unexpected tease reminded us that new episodes of this series are even more coveted than Lumon’s beloved egg bar.

Created and executive produced by Dan Erickson, with Ben Stiller directing, Severance tells the story of Lumon’s “macrodata refiner” team — Mark (Adam Scott), Helly (Britt Lower), Dylan (Zach Cherry), and Irving (John Turturro). The four employees underwent a “severance” procedure, meaning their memories were surgically divided between work life and personal life. When they’re home as “Outties,” they have no memory of work. And when they’re in the office as “Innies,” they can’t recall what life is like on the outside. The extreme compartmentalization was working just fine, until new arrival Helly inspired her colleagues to challenge the status quo and start questioning their employers.

When we last left the MDR team, Dylan helped Helly, Irv, and Mark bypass the system and briefly take the form of their Outties, with hopes of setting a grand escape plan in motion. The Season 2 teaser gives fans a glimpse of the dreaded aftermath of their actions…or does it? Let’s review, shall we?

In a first-look photo, Adam Scott’s Mark walks down Lumon’s infamously white hallways carrying a bundle of blue balloons with his face printed on them. Celebrating?! At a time like this??? Seems outrageous. At first, I wondered if Season 2 would feature flashbacks to Mark’s first day at Lumon, a birthday party, or — gasp! — a forced early retirement, but seconds of Season 2 footage featured in Apple TV+’s recently-released preview video offer additional context.

The video (located at the top of this page) kicks off with a shot of Outtie Mark — who looks quite rattled, in my opinion — stepping in the elevator to head down to work. He puts his keycard around his neck and next thing we know, Milchick (Tramell Tillman) is standing in what appears to be MDR’s office, wearing a black jacket, Lumon lapel pin, and a stunning blue turtleneck. With blue Mark face balloons in hand, he smiles and cheerfully says, “Welcome back! Been a minute!”

It sure has, sir! But now that we’re back in this creepy, corrupt office it feels like we never left. We don’t see Mark taking the balloons from Milchick, nor do we have footage of him carrying them down the hallway, but the above still suggests there’s more balloon action to come. And that’s not all!

Later in the Apple TV+ preview, we see Mark (possibly in the elevator) flashing between what appears to be past and present. One second he’s in his usual snazzy work getup complete with suit and tie — the next he’s wearing a red sweater, black pants, and white sneakers. At one point, we see him surrounded by screens with wires attached to his head, implying he’s about to undergo the severance procedure. And we also see him laying on a conference room table, just like Helly did after her procedure in the premiere.

The quickness of the interspersed clips suggests Mark may be having intrusive, uncontrolled bursts of memories. Is he capable of remembering his home-life at work post-finale? Are those flashes to his original procedure and wake-up? Or is he undergoing another memory wipe now that he knows Too Much?! If it’s a fresh memory reset, is the “Clean Slate” feature in the security room to blame? Or is some sort of reintegration at play? The questions go on and on!

Sadly, we’ll have to wait until Season 2 premieres in full to see what the deal is, but the teaser final shot of Mark fearfully glancing around the Lumon halls and making a run for it at least makes it seem like he’s well aware of his surroundings and the danger they present. Oh, and also that we’re in for another heck of a season!

While we’re still not sure exactly when Severance Season 2 is set to premiere on Apple TV+, Ben Stiller assured fans that it’s coming “Soon,” which hopefully means before 2025.

Stay tuned for more Season 2 updates, and as always, keep your fingers crossed that real copies of Dr. Ricken Lazlo Hale, PhD’s spiritual biography, The You You Are, are coming our way.