The creator of Severance answers our questions about that ‘powerful fucking ending’
Allow us to save you some time: There’s no need to Google how many episodes of Severance? or think that Apple TV Plus is messing with you. Severance’s first season had nine episodes (not 10) of expertly mounting suspicion and intrigue. Then it went out on the ultimate cliffhanger.
Luckily, creator Dan Erickson was more than happy to talk about it.
[Ed. note: This article, as you might’ve guessed, goes into full spoilers about season 1 of Severance.]
In the ninth and final episode of Severance’s first season, Mark (Adam Scott), Helly (Britt Lower), and Irving (John Turturro) experienced life on the outside, with Dylan (Zach Cherry) literally stretching to ensure their “outie” state stayed in place. And as they each have a startling revelation — Helly, that she’s a Lumon; Irving, that his work flirt Burt is married; and Mark that his wife is alive — the switch flips back.
You can thank Ben Stiller, who Erickson says encouraged him to end the season at that moment. Originally, had one more episode planned in order to unpack what the trio found out about their life outside of work at Lumon Industries during their daring out-of-office sorta-heist. Or put a different way: Erickson knows exactly what happens when season 2 rolls around. (Which Apple TV blessedly greenlit on Wednesday.)
“As we’ve discussed a potential season 2 [...] it’s a lot of those ideas from those subsequent [episodes], what was going to be episodes 9 and 10,” Erickson tells Polygon. “And we’ve sort of rethought and reconceived it to be kind of the beginning of our season 2.”
What can Erickson tell us? Severance season 1 leaves a whole lot of questions about the exact world being built out at Lumon Industries, not to mention the personal investment
Read more on polygon.com
