Imagine leaving the office and not remembering an iota of what you did that day. No WhatsApps asking you to send an e-mail at eleven o’clock at night or interrupted vacations because the intern on duty has made a mess. Imagine that just the opposite also happens. Going into your work, your head completely forgets all your private life. While you are sitting in front of the computer, you do not remember if you have a partner or even if you have children. According to company policy, they do it this way to make you a much more productive employee. That is the argument of severity (Separation), a Apple TV+ exclusive psychological thriller which has pleasantly surprised viewers. A series directed by Ben Stiller that will show us his most serious facet, at the same time that it will make us reflect as episodes of BlackMirror.
What is Severance about?
Who accepts a job in Lumon Enterprises, also accepts its curious confidential policy. While in a normal company, you would sign the typical NDA, assuring that you are not going to reveal private information to third parties, in Lumon they are a little more cyberpunk. The workers have to undergo surgery to install a chip in their heads. Once that is done, the individual will have two dissociated personalities: one for your private life and one for work.
When an employee steps onto the premises of Lumon Enterprises, his private life goes out of his mind. And, when he leaves, he completely forgets everything he has done during the day until he steps back into the building the next morning. Not bringing work problems home or vice versa might seem like an advantage, but the series gets darker and darker as the episodes go on, while also making you reflect on the consequences of applying such a method.
severity is a complete revival of that claustrophobic science fiction without individual freedom that began in the cinema of the seventies. Unlike other productions that show us a dystopian future, severity it is rather a uchronia. The offices that we see in the series are from the middle of the last century, while the machines they use are very similar to those used in the 80s. However, not everything is serious in severity. The series also has its touches of humor that serve to release tension at certain times.
The main character of the series is Mark, who is ordered to take the place of Petey, his best friend within Lumon Enterprises, who has recently left the company. We will meet Mark inside and outside the office – a disturbing phenomenon, since he himself does not know himself in those two environments. It will be outside the offices where Mark will meet Petey, a person he does not recognize, but who claims to be his best friend.
Severance Trailer
Premiere and available seasons
severity last premiered February 18, 2022. The first season has a total of nine episodes. The series launched exclusively on AppleTV+ that same day with a double episode. Subsequently, Apple has been releasing a new episode every week until April 8.
- good news about hell
- half-loop
- in perpetuity
- The you are
- The grim barbarity of Optics and Design
- hide and seek
- Defiant Jazz
- What’s for dinner?
- (No title revealed yet)
Will there be a second season?
Considering the reception of the series, which has received excellent marks, it will not surprise you at all to know that the series has already signed its sequel. The second season from severity began shooting on March 14, 2022 in New York and New Jersey.
We hope that the team can shoot without complications, as the first season had quite a few problems due to the pandemic and had to be delayed a few times due to overlapping with the work of other actors and parallel filming. If everything follows its course, this second season could be launched later this year or early 2023.
Cast and crew of severitythe exclusive series of Apple TV +
This sci-fi psychological thriller has been created by Dan Erickson. The direction has been carried out by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle, Stiller being the one who has directed the most episodes to date. Regarding the casting, these are all the characters that have appeared in the series to date.
Main cast
- adam scott: mainly known for comedy Parks and Recreation, plays Mark Scout, the protagonist of Severance. He works in the big data refinement division that is part of the ‘Severance’ program. He is mourning the death of his wife.
- Zack Cherry is Dylan, a co-worker of Mark’s who is enjoying the benefits of being separated from work and private life.
- Britt Lower as Helly, a new employee hired to replace one of Petey’s roles within the company.
- Jen Tullock plays Devon, Mark’s sister, who is pregnant.
- Dichen Lachman: as Ms. Casey.
- michael chernus: as Ricken, Devon’s husband, a self-help writer.
- John Turturro as Irving, Mark’s co-worker. This veteran employee is very strict with company policy and has a crush on Burt.
- Christopher Walken as Burt, the head of the Optics and Design division at Lumon Enterprises.
- Patricia Arquette as Harmony Cobel, who pulls double duty as Mark’s boss and also outside the office as his neighbor.
other actors
- Yul Vazquez (Petey): Lumon’s ex-employee who was fired under somewhat suspicious circumstances, and who will be the key character at the crux of the plot. Petey remembers the protagonist once he is fired from the company.
- Michael Cumpsty as Doug Graner, a Lumon employee with a somewhat sinister profile.
- Nikki M James as Alexa, Devon’s midwife.
- Sydney Cole Alexander as Natalie, the public relations representative for Lumon Enterprises. She is also the person who liaises with the company’s board of directors.
- Michael Siberry like James Eagan, the current CEO of Lumon Enterprises.
- joanne kelly as Nina, Petey’s ex-partner.
- Cassidy Layton as June, Petey’s daughter.
- Ethan Bloom like Angelo Arteta, a senator who supports the legalization of the separation procedure used at Lumon Enterprises. He is married to Gabby Arteta (Nora Dale).
- Karen Aldridge like Regabhi, a former surgeon from Lumon.
