Apple TV+ renews acclaimed, mind-bending sci-fi series ‘Severance’ for second season

Severance, the Apple TV+ series that takes work-life balance to a whole new level, is getting a second season. Director and executive producer Ben Stiller broke the news today on Twitter with a retro video screen saying, “You’ll feel like you never left. Severance, Season 2.”

The news comes just before the Season 1 finale, “The We We Are,” drops on Apple TV+. The show focuses on Mark Scout (Adam Scott), a Lumon employee who — along with his co-workers on the Severed Floor — has undergone a procedure that surgically separates his work memories from his memories outside of Lumon. The first season begins to unravel a mystery about how Lumon is using this technology, and without getting into spoilers, let’s just say that there’s plenty of story left for the show to cover in a second season. 

Severance comes from the mind of creator and writer Dan Erickson, who never thought the show would ever make its way to the screen.  "I thought it was too strange to ever get made," Erickson told SYFY WIRE in a previous interview. "And with that in mind, the original, original draft, that I wrote before Ben ever saw it was actually a lot more bombastic and surreal. At one point, there was a pair of disembodied legs that runs by, and it was never explained what that was."

Season 1 doesn’t have any disembodied legs, but there are plenty of other odd things that happen in the first nine episodes that make up for it. It turns out that viewers of the show dig the weirdness just as much as Stiller did when the script first came across his desk. 

"It’s really exciting to see the response from people who are loving the show — and the level of fan engagement,” Stiller said in a press release about the renewal. "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. I’m grateful to our partners at Apple TV+ who have been behind it the whole way. Praise Keir!"

Apple TV+ was equally excited to announce Season 2 was happening. “Thanks to creator Dan Erickson, the brilliant Ben Stiller, and an incomparable cast and crew, 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,” said Matt Cherniss, head of programming for Apple TV+. “We’re excited to go deeper into this wholly unique world and unpack more layers of Lumon in season two.”

The news of the show’s renewal will no doubt come to great joy to Severance fans, though after shouting with glee their next question will inevitably be: “But when will it air?” We sadly don’t have an answer to that yet, but the confirmation that we will eventually get more answers will be enough to get us by ... for now. 

The Season 1 finale of Severance drops on Apple TV+ on April 8.