The creators and cast of Severance came together in Hollywood for a Deadline X Apple TV+ Severance FYC Event, delving into several mysterious details in the 10-episode second season.
Creator Dan Erickson, director and executive producer Ben Stiller and cast members Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman, Patricia Arquette, Zach Cherry, Dichen Lachman, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Sarah Bock, Gwendoline Christie and Darri Olafsson had a conversation Saturday evening at the DGA Theater in a panel moderated by Abbott Elementary star and creator Quinta Brunson, who also appeared in Season 3 of Party Down with Scott. The team spoke about the finale episode of Season 2, which runs a whopping 77 minutes.
You can watch the conversation here:
Brunson kicked off the conversation with a big question: the purpose of the goats.
Erickson dove in first, saying: “We saw in this episode that there is a ceremonial, sacrificial component to their existence, and, I believe that it was said to guide a cherished woman to Kier’s door,. In terms of, what that means or if there are other applications for the goats, we’re gonna have to wait.”
RELATED: ‘Severance’ Renewed For Season 3 At Apple
Brunson added that there will be a wait until Season 3, which Apple announced on the heels of the finale’s launch Friday, March 21.
She then asked Scott, who stars as Mark Scout in the show, what it was like to film a scene in which Mark’s outie half and severed innie half converse with each other via video camera at the Damona Birthing Retreat in the finale. He credited the writers for the “collision course” moment.
Ben Stiller, Quinta Brunson, Adam Scott at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Adam Scott at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Britt Lower at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Zach Cherry at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Patricia Arquette at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Ben Stiller at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Tramell Tillman at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Adam Scott at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Jen Tullock at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Michael Chernus at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Gwendoline Christie at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Gwendoline Christie, Adam Scott at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Ólafur Darri Ólafsson at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Sarah Bock at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 22: Jessica Lee Gagné (R) and guest attend the All-Guild special screening of Apple TV+’s “Severance” season 2 at DGA Theater Complex on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images)
Jeremy Hindle, Jessica Lee Gagné at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Dan Erickson at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Dichen Lachman at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Kid Cudi at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Quinta Brunson, Ben Stiller, Dichen Lachman, Dan Erickson, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, Sarah Bock, Britt Lower, Gwendoline Christie, Zach Cherry, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Tramell Tillman at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Dan Erickson, Michael Chernus, Adam Scott, Sarah Bock at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Adam Scott at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Quinta Brunson at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Ben Stiller at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
Britt Lower at the Deadline x “Severance” Season 2 Finale Event held at the DGA Theater on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images)
Rich Polk/Deadline via Getty Images
“It’s a tricky thing to write because there’s all this stuff they need to talk about, all these emotional components of it,” he said. “But also there has to be a novelty to it too. It’s weird. It’s weird for them to be talking to each other.”
Scott described several different versions of the chat in which the pair discussed details like their shampoo and more.
Brunson then asked Arquette, who plays former Severed Floor manager Harmony Cobel, about her big backstory reveal in Episode 8 as the “genius behind Severance” and how long ahead of that episode Arquette knew this big plot point.
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“At the very beginning of the first season, we had talked about her mom being poisoned and the company town and the ether and the school she went to and all these things,” said Arquette, who is also an executive producer on the series. “And the breathing tube and all of that. And that she was instrumental. I didn’t know exactly all of the things. Having said that, you know, when she says ‘I did everything’ — it’s like you’re breaking up with somebody. Did you really do everything? I mean, there were other people also doing some of everything. But anyway, she did a lot.”
Lower discussed her 5D chess game gift from creator Dan Erickson of portraying a dual character with Helly R., the innie of Helena Eagan, daughter of current Lumon CEO Jame Eagan.
RELATED: ‘Severance’ Surpasses ‘Ted Lasso’ To Become Apple TV+’s Most Watched Series With Season 2 Launch
“I think it really rattles her,” Lower said of witnessing the relationships between Mark, Irving and Dylan and how they treated Helly R. “Connections she didn’t earn.”
Cherry, who portrays Dylan G., went into his split-character work as well, crediting co-star Merritt Wever, who joined Season 2 as Dylan’s wife, with helping him figure out the nuanced distinction. Turturro, who rounds out the main quartet of the show in terms of innies at Lumon, was not in attendance at the panel.
Director-EP Ben Stiller has said in the press rounds that it definitely won’t take 3 more years for the core four to reunite in Season 3. Both seasons of Severance are now streaming in full on Apple TV+. Stiller said Season 2 of the series had 186 days of shooting.
RELATED: All The ‘Severance’ Files Mark S. Sorts Through Season 2: From Allentown To Cold Harbor
