"There'll be no honeymoon ending for you."
man in a suit in a bland office setting holding a bright orange-red ball in his hands. man in a suit in a bland office setting holding a bright orange-red ball in his hands.
Credit: Apple TV+
Severance returns to Apple TV in January for its sophomore season.
Severance was one of the most talked-about TV series of 2022, receiving widespread critical acclaim. We loved the series so much that Ars staffers actually wrote a group review so that everyone could weigh in with their thoughts on the first season, pronouncing it "one of the best shows on TV." Needless to say, we have been eagerly awaiting the second season next month. Prime Video just released the official trailer at CCXP24 in São Paulo, Brazil and it does not disappoint.
(Spoilers for first season below.)
In the world of Severance, people can completely disconnect their work and personal lives. Thanks to a new procedure developed by Lumon Industries, workers can bifurcate themselves into "innies" (work selves) and "outies" (personal selves)—with no sharing of memories between them. This appeals to people like Mark (Adam Scott), who lost his wife in a car crash and has struggled to work through the grief. Why not forget all that pain for eight hours a day?
It's no spoiler to say that things went... badly in S1 as a result of this process. As Ars Deputy Editor Nate Anderson noted at the time, "The show isn't just bonkers—though it is that, too. It's also about the lengths to which we will go to dull or avoid emotional pain, and the ways in which humans will reach out to connect with others even under the most unpromising of circumstances." In the process, Severance brought out "the latent horror of fluorescent lights, baby goats, cubicles, waffles, middle managers, finger traps, and 'work/life balance.' Also cults. And vending machines. Plus corporate training manuals. And talk therapy. Oh, and 'kind eyes.'"
The first season ended on quite the cliffhanger, with several Lumon employees activating an "overtime contingency" to escape the office confines to get a taste for how their "outies" live—and some pretty startling secrets were revealed. S2 will naturally grapple with the fallout from their brief mutiny. Per the official premise:
In Severance, Mark Scout (Scott) leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure that surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. This daring experiment in “work-life balance” is called into question as Mark finds himself at the center of an unraveling mystery that will force him to confront the true nature of his work… and of himself. In season two, Mark and his friends learn the dire consequences of trifling with the severance barrier, leading them further down a path of woe.
The trailer opens with the surprising revelation that the four rebels are not in as much trouble are they feared. "What you all did was one of the most painful moments in the history of this company," their supervisor, Milchick (Tramell Tillman), tells them. "But the four of you have become known as the face of severance reform." In other words, they generated massive media interest, which offers at least some temporary protection. It's not likely to last long.
Meanwhile, the fab four must deal with the implications of what they learned about their outies' lives—particularly Mark, whose outie lost his wife, Gemma, a few years before. Only Innie Mark learned that Gemma is actually Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman, Lumon's wellness counselor, who is very much alive. Mark wants to free her from Lumon, but naturally meets with sinister resistance. Mark still tries to rally the troops to his cause: "If we let this happen to Ms. Casey, who's gonna step up when it happens to us?" It's not clear what happened to Gemma/Ms. Casey, but it's probably nothing good.
The second season of Severance premieres on Apple TV+ on January 17, 2025.
Credit: Apple TV+