When Severance returns for season two on January 17, almost three full years will have passed since the first season’s shocking finale. That’s a long time by every metric and while its creators understand any frustration fans may be feeling, they have very good reasons for the delay.
“On a practical level, it’s a very intricate show,” writer and creator Dan Erickson told Vanity Fair. “Each character has two lives—essentially, two personalities—and we are expanding. For me, the writing was the most painstaking part of the process because there were so many ways we could go. And sometimes we would come up with something that worked perfectly well on paper, and then it wouldn’t be until we got there and we’re shooting it that we realize: This isn’t quite it. We were never willing to let that turn it into something that wasn’t perfect.”
So that’s part one. The writing took a while. But then there was production. “It took a while to write season two. Then we started to shoot in October of 2022, and we got shut down by the strike in May [2023],” executive producer and director Ben Stiller said. “At that point, we had completed about seven of our 10 episodes, and then we had to regroup after the strike. It takes us a while to prep the show. And so, we didn’t start shooting until January [2024]. Then we shot from January to May to finish the last three episodes.”
That’s part two. Production was delayed due to the strikes. Then those production delays created even more problems. “[We had] entire locations that we were planning to go to. We had already built or partially built them when we realized, ‘Oh, that’s not going to work,’” Erickson said. “Those aren’t always fun calls to have with the studio, where you’re. like, ‘Hey, you know that thing you put a lot of resources into? Well, we’re not going to do it now, or we’re going to do something that’s totally different.’ But again, at the end of the day, it’s worth it.”
Long writing process, stunted production schedule, and massive overhauls. It all makes sense. And, if season two delivers, it’ll be forgotten instantly. Erickson and Stiller know, and promise, season two will address the many mysteries left unanswered by season one while also creating new ones. Questions like how is Mark (Adam Scott) going to deal with the knowledge that his wife (Dichen Lachman) is actually alive? Is there any fallout knowing Helly (Britt Lower) is both a Lumon employee and one of its architects? What’s going to happen to the innies who broke the rules to contact their outside selves? And what the heck even happens at Lumon anyway?
“I’m excited that we finally are at this place,” Stiller said. “It’s an interesting process making something like this second season because you now know there’s an audience there that cares. That has been in our minds the entire time: ‘Wow, people really are paying attention to these details.’ My hope is that, when they see this season, there’s an awareness that we’re trying to connect some dots and also leave some dots unconnected and put out some new dots to connect.”
Read much, much more about Severance season two over at Vanity Fair. It returns to Apple TV+ January 17.
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