By james art It’s been one of the most anticipated returns to our TVs lately, but we’ve finally got a release date for Season 2 of the Apple TV+ hit Severance — and a trailer for it.
We’ll be back under the fluorescent strip lights of Lumon Industries on Friday, January 17, 2025 — almost a full three years since the first series debuted. Here’s a look at its brand new trailer:
“In Severance, Mark Scout (Scott) leads a team at Lumon Industries whose employees have gone through a layoff procedure that surgically separates their memories between work and personal life,” reads Apple’s season 2 synopsis.
“This bold experiment in ‘work-life balance’ is called into question as Mark finds himself at the center of an unraveling mystery that will force him to confront the true nature of his work… and himself . In season 2, Mark and his friends learn the dire consequences of ignoring the exit barrier, leading them further down the path of misfortune.”
That… doesn’t sound good. But it also doesn’t reveal a hell of a lot about what to expect from Season 2. So we’ve dug through the trailer for all the juiciest bits you might have missed — here are five clues to what the hell is going on in Lumon.
1. New Lumon team?
The trailer shows Mark waking up dazed and confused in the elevator of Lumon Industries after the dramatic finale of Season 1. However, there’s a hint that he’s been gone for a while — “It’s been a minute,” says Supervisor Milczyk.
But as Mark returns to his office, he encounters a whole new team of co-workers – cast newcomers Bob Balaban, Alia Shaukat and Stefano Caranante. What happened to Dylan, Healy and Irving? Is the rebel team divided?
2. Doppelgänger replacements?
While we don’t see much of Lumon’s old crew, most of the returning cast members are mentioned in quick cuts in the trailer.
This shot shows Zach Cherry’s Dylan George sitting across from what appears to be himself. But a closer look reveals two different actors. Does Lumon replace every worker with doppelgänger replacement?
3. Promotion for Cobel?
Patricia Arquette’s Harmony Cobell was an ice-cold villain in Season 1 who managed to pry victory from the jaws of defeat by exposing the brewing rebellion within Lumon’s ranks. It showed her briefly in what looks like a boardroom – maybe she’s climbing the corporate ladder as a reward for her hard work? And maybe we’ll see more of the secret bigwigs who run the show at Lumon.
4. Irving’s descent?
John Turturro’s Irving had a particularly rough time in the first season of Severance, with his mental health perhaps at its lowest of any character. References to his delicate condition are made throughout the trailer—there’s that unnerving watermelon head, a shot of Irving’s upper body lurking around the real world, and a sketch of the mysterious elevator “down” that Irving apparently experienced. But why does it seem to be held by Milczyk? It has been suggested that Irving knows too much about the inner workings of Lumon and could be punished as a result.
5. Where is Mrs. Casey?
The big reveal of season one (SPOILER ALERT) that Mark’s “magic” was having an affair with Ms. Casey (or Gemma, as her “magic” was known) was the moment of astonishment of the final episode. She lives! And they know each other! So what cruel joke is being played to get their “innies” to work together without them knowing this fact?
The Season 2 trailer shows Miss Casey’s hand-drawn Missing Persons poster being printed on a Lumon printer, perhaps suggesting that Mark’s Innie will inform the rest of the Lumon workplace about the scam going on. But where did Mrs. Casey disappear to and why?