The brilliant sci-fi satire Severance continues on Apple TV+ in 2025 after a hiatus of over three years. The new teaser trailer for Season 2 raises new questions.
“Work is mysterious and important,” said the first season of the sci-fi thriller Severance from Apple TV+. This also applies to the work on the second season, which took over three years and was reportedly beset with difficulties behind the scenes.
The brand new teaser trailer self-deprecatingly confirms that it will finally continue in early 2025 with the words “Been a minute” (roughly: “It’s been a while”):
Satirical sci-fi thriller Severance: The bizarre work-life balance from hell
Severance is about the employees of Lumen Industries. In particular, the employees of the Macrodata Refinement department, who have to undergo a controversial procedure. A chip in the brain separates their working self (Innie) and their private life self (Outie), essentially creating two completely different people: one who never goes to work and has no idea how their alter ego earns a living, and one who knows nothing but the workplace and can never leave it.
In Season 1, the life of widower and Lumen employee Mark Scout (Adam Scott) is shaken up when a former colleague, who was able to reverse the Severance operation with the help of an anti-Lumen group, visits his outie. At the same time, his innie and Helly R. (Britt Lower) have to train a new employee who also suspects that Lumen is not quite clean and uses drastic measures to defend herself against her dystopian work existence.
Many questions remain unanswered in Season 1. Among other things:
What is the (presumably sinister) goal of Lumen Industries and the Eagan family business dynasty?
What do the (eerie) numbers processed by the Macrodata Refinement department mean?
What about the bizarre baby goat department?
Is the outie of role model employee Irving (John Turturro) actually an anti-Lumen activist?
Why did Lumen fake the death of Mark’s wife, who lives as a company therapist, Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman), in the company’s basement?
How many departments are there at Lumen Industries and why does every aspect of the city seem to be connected to the company?
What other functions can be applied remotely to employees through the Severance chip?
Does Marc’s supervisor and neighbor Mrs. Cobel/Solvig (Patricia Arquette) work for or against Lumen?
New cast members for season 2 include Game of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie and Lord of the Rings Ravenfather John Noble. In addition, Mark is given a brand new office team to lead, as we see in the new question-raising preview. Ben Stiller is still on board as a prominent executive producer.
When does the second season of Severance go online at Apple TV+?
The new Severance season starts internationally on Apple TV+ on January 17, 2025. Even with overtime, because, in contrast to the debut season, season 2 has ten instead of just eight episodes on the to-do list.
Whether the new episodes can build on the success of Season 1 remains to be seen. In any case, the first chapter shines with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 97 percent and also looks good in the Moviepilot community, where the format has a rating of 8.1.
