Every Detail on ‘Severance’ Season 2 Including the Cast, Plot, Delayed Release Date & More

In the finale, “The We We Are,” Mark, Helly and Irving (John Turturro) successfully break their “Innies” (aka the work-life version of themselves) out of Lumon Industries, and finally enter the outside world. As a result, the trio encounters shocking revelations about their "Outies." Mark discovers that (spoiler alert!) his "dead" wife is actually still alive. Irving learns that his Outie is investigating the company, and Helly learns that she's the daughter of Lumon’s CEO.

In his December 2022 interview with Gold Derby, show creator Dan Erickson said, “There is an expanding world that I think is teased, and in a way is owed, by the way that we ended season one. We did suddenly get some glimpses of Helly’s life on the outside. What is Dylan’s life on the outside? What is Irving’s life on the outside? They have stuff going on that we haven’t seen, that we haven’t explored yet. And of course, inside the company, there’s plenty of stuff that we haven’t seen yet. It’s expanding on both sides. That’s both the fun and the challenge.”

3. Has Severance Season Two Been Confirmed?

It certainly has. Through an official press release in April 2022, Apple TV+ confirmed that fans will get to enjoy another season of the bizarre workplace thriller. Director and executive producer Ben Stiller said, “It’s really exciting to see the response from people who are loving the show—and the level of fan engagement. It has been a long road bringing Severance to television. I first read Dan’s pilot over five years ago. It has always been a multi-season story, and I’m really happy we get to continue it.”

Matt Cherniss, who's the head of programming for Apple TV+, also said, “Severance has imagined an existence that’s equal parts riveting and enthralling as viewers around the globe can’t get enough of these rich characters. We’re excited to go deeper into this wholly unique world and unpack more layers of Lumon in season two.”

4. What Is the Plot for Season Two?

At the 2022 Comic-Con panel, Erickson revealed that the new season will be all about “building out the world a little bit more, and with this tweak to reality, what the ramifications would be.” And later that year, he told Entertainment Weekly, "In season two, we're going to be showing all of these people on the outside. Similar to Mark, they each had their own reason for getting this procedure, and they're all at some stage of a healing process for one thing or another... Being able to take what Adam did in the first season—with the differentiation between his Innie and Outie, and how they feel like the same person but with this vastly different lived experience—seeing the other three characters' version of that dichotomy is, I think, the most exciting part."

In April 2022, Stiller also told Variety that Mark will deal with new complications in his love life. He said, "There is this growing connection between Mark and Helly happening during the season, and then on the outside, Mark is trying to get over his wife’s death—and then we’re going to find out that his wife is still alive. To put him in this position where the Innie Mark, we’re starting to root for him and Helly, but now we also want to root for Outie Mark to find his wife. That’s an interesting juxtaposition and conflict we’ll explore in the second season."

As for Dylan (Zach Cherry), Stiller confirmed with Deadline that season two will explore his backstory a bit more—especially when it comes to his Innie's discovery of having a child. Stiller said, "Obviously, that’s a huge question and something that really is important to be dealt with because their whole perception of the world has been altered by having this glimpse. That’s going to be a lot of what the second season has to deal with—a big part of the engine of the second season’s beginning."

5. Who Is in the Cast of Severance Season Two?

The main cast is set to make a comeback in the next season, including:

• Adam Scott as Mark
• Britt Lower as Helly
• John Turturro as Irving
• Patricia Arquette as Harmony
• Christopher Walken as Burt
• Tramell Tillman as Milchick
• Zach Cherry as Dylan
• Dichen Lachman as Ms. Casey

Joining them for season two are eight new cast members—some of whom might look familiar.

Per Deadline, Game of Thrones’s Gwendoline Christie and Godless star Merritt Wever are joining the team, along with Bob Balaban, Alia Shawkat, Robby Benson, Stefano Carannante, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson and John Noble.

Back in August 2022, Severance executive producers Ben Stiller and Dan Erickson sat down with The Hollywood Reporter and shared a few choices for their dream guest stars.

“For me there are a lot, people like Christopher Guest I kind of imagine ‘Wow that would be amazing if someday he might be a part of the show,’” Stiller said. “It’s fun when you have a show like this where it allows for people to maybe come in for an episode or two but also fit into the world of Severance.”

But, for Erickson, he would love to have former president Barack Obama make a brief cameo in the series and hoped he could try to convince him at the 2022 Emmys. “If he is [there] I’m going to see if he wants a role on this show,” he said. “I think he’d be really good, he’d bring some gravitas.”

6. Has Filming for Severance Season Two Already Begun?

In October 2022, Apple TV+ announced that production on season two was officially underway. On Instagram, the streaming service wrote, "Every time you find yourself here, it’s because you chose to come back. #Severance Season 2 filming has started."

Additionally, on her IG Story, Lower shared a rare behind-the-scenes photo while on the set for the second season. She simply wrote, "We begin again."

Unfortunately, the return was short-lived and production was shut down after just a few months. In the last official update before the actors' strike, it appears filming was taking place in Newfoundland in May 2023.

7. Why Is Severance Season Two Delayed?

Well, for one, there's the lengthy filming process. The first season took nearly nine months to complete, according to star Adam Scott. However, due to the WGA and actors' strikes, production was delayed even further.

In May 2023, Deadline reported that filming officially came to a halt, but now that the strikes are over, things should soon be back on track. At this rate, it's safe to assume that season two will not premiere in 2023.

8. What Is the Release Date for Severance Season Two?

Apple TV+ has yet to confirm the official release date for season two. However, a few outlets have reported that it will likely drop sometime in 2024, since season one took nine months to film and production was shut down during the writers' and actors' strikes. Here's hoping we won't have to wait too long to reunite with the Innies.

The most popular theory is that the MDR team will be punished, especially now that the Lumon execs know about their attempted revolt. Perhaps they'll be sent to the mysterious break room. If they keep their jobs, maybe Milchick will wipe their memories completely. Either way, retaliation is expected.

Another question mark is Harmony and why she’s so obsessed with the severance technology. Perhaps Lumon’s larger purpose is tied to Harmony’s personal one: finding out if a totally dead or nearly dead person (perhaps her mother, Charlotte?) can be “reintegrated” and brought to life again.

This would also support another theory, which suggests Lumon is cloning dead or nearly dead people, then implanting the clones with the same chips used for severed employees. It would also explain why there's a plethora of baby goats, which are good for cloning (and really cute). Although we don’t have spoilers yet, the new season should give us answers about what Lumon really does.