Ben Stiller Teases Which Part of Mark's Life ‘Severance’ Season 2 Will "Dig Into" [Exclusive] (2024)

By the time the Season 2 premiere of Severance arrives on January 17, it will have been nearly three full years since audiences were left on the edge of their seats with the nail-biting Season 1 finale. Perfecting the uneasy build of tension over the first set of episodes, it’s been difficult for fans to wait to see what will happen to the team at Lumon Industries when the next chapter of the story is opened up. By the end of the first nine episodes, all hell had broken loose, with the innies now becoming cognizant in their outtie form, foreshadowing some major problems for Lumon Industries as a whole, as well as the already highly-criticized use of the severance process.

With the second season’s premiere just a little bit over one month away, Collider’s Steve Weintraub sat down with series director and executive producer Ben Stiller for Escape at Dannemora to pick his brain about what audiences can expect to see coming down the pipe for Mark (Adam Scott), Helly (Britt Lower), Dylan (Zach Cherry) and the rest of the severed employees. First and foremost, Stiller knows that the creative team has their work cut out for them storyline-wise and wants audiences to know that they fully plan to really dig into the innies’ crash course with the outside world, sharing:

“Knowing how Season 1 ended, there were so many obviously big questions. We now have sort of opened up the world for the innies who have been on the outside world, so we felt like there was a responsibility to open up the story in that way and ratchet up the stakes and really dig into these relationships in terms of what Mark is dealing with in this very unique situation of the innie and the outie.”

Mark’s Collision Course with the Truth

In the first season, Mark (Scott) received a rather nonchalant rise in status at the company after he became the head of his department following the bizarre and unexpected departure of his ex-boss and pal, Petey (Yul Vazquiez). The character faces all sorts of hardships during the early days of his new role, but — because he’s a severed employee — he has no idea about the grief facing him in his outer life, as that version of Mark is grappling with the death of his wife, Gemma. However, by the end of the first season, Mark discovers what audiences have known for a bit longer — that his wife, Gemma, is actually alive and well (as well as one could be in this situation), living as Lumon employee Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman). With his world fully flipped upside down, there’s going to be a lot for Mark to fight for in the sophomore installment, with Stiller explaining:

“The first season was so much about Mark trying to navigate this world, and then now realizing, having had his innie be on the outside world and learn this incredibly impactful thing about his wife, to follow up on that and that journey, to me it’s always been about Mark’s journey towards figuring out who he is.”

Get caught up on all the twists and turns of Season 1 of Severance, now streaming on Apple TV+ before Season 2 arrives on January 17. Stay tuned for Collider's full conversation with Stiller.

Severance

TV-MA

Drama

Mystery

Sci-Fi

Mark leads a team of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives. When a mysterious colleague appears outside of work, it begins a journey to discover the truth about their jobs.

Release Date

February 18, 2022

Creator

Cast

Christopher Walken , Tramell Tillman , Michael Chernus , Adam Scott , Britt Lower , Patricia Arquette , Jen Tullock , John Turturro , Dichen Lachman , Zach Cherry

Seasons

1

Story By

dan erickson

Writers

Dan Erickson

Streaming Service(s)

AppleTV+

Directors

Ben Stiller

Showrunner

Dan Erickson , Mark Friedman

Watch On Apple TV+