While Dan Erickson “gets excited by the creativity” of fans’ theories surrounding hit Apple TV Plus thriller Severance, the showrunner admits that he does also find them a little intimidating to read.
Released back in 2022, the series centers on Mark (Adam Scott), Irving (John Turturro), and Dylan (Zach Cherry), three happy-enough office employees who work for a biotech company called Lumon. Before they signed on, each of them underwent a procedure that splits their consciousnesses between their personal lives and work – something Macrodata refiner Mark is particular glad of, having lost his wife Gemma.
But when rebellious new starter Helly (Britt Lower) joins the team, and starts to highlight the downsides of living a compartmentalized existence, the quartet band together to find out more about their mysterious employer.
“Ben and I did a lot of work before the show ever came out, before we even got into production on season 1, [when it comes to] figuring out a lot of the answers,” Erickson tells SFX magazine. “So there’s a lot more that we know, that we’ve known from the beginning, that we’ve not revealed on screen – and some of it we may never reveal on screen.
“People can continue to have their own ideas about it and that’s part of what makes [Severance] special. I feel like I can read the theories and enjoy them and get excited by the creativity people are bringing to them. Sometimes, though, I have to stop. Sometimes it does get overwhelming to see them all and be like, ‘Oh, I wish we could [go in] all these different directions’, but they are so fun to read.”
When Severance returns on January 17, we’ll catch up with the innies following their office breakout in the season 1 finale, and explore the emotional fallout of Irving learning Burt has a partner on the outside, Gemma being alive (and Lumon’s wellness counsellor Ms. Casey), and Helly realizing she’s actually Helena Eagan, a descendant of Lumon founder Kier Eagan.
For more, check out our picks of the best Apple TV shows streaming now.
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