Summary
Severanceis gearing up for its long-awaited second installment after its award-winning first season, and series director Ben Stiller has taken the opportunity to reveal some interesting points about the conceptualization of the show before things were made final.
Severancehad a stellar first season, with theApple TV+series snagging tons of award nominations and the attention of tons of viewers, with plot points so well guarded that directorBen Stiller Admits they filmedSeveranceepisodes out of orderto keep things hidden from the stars of the show. A lot of the appeal of the show comes from the union between its nature as a psychological thriller and the science fiction elements that help elevate it past the norm and keep things interesting. This meeting of the genres offers a lot of potential for future storylines and character arcs, and fans have been clamoring for more content from the show since it got started.
With a second and even third season greenlit at Apple TV+ followingSeverance’sexciting and gripping season 1 ending, the viewers are likely to get just that. However, Stiller has recently revealed that the show almost went off entirely in another direction. In a recent interview on the popular programHot Ones, Stiller revealed that rather than always being the psychological thriller fans have come to know and love, he actually first conceptualized the show as an office sitcom a laThe Office.“It always, for me was started in comedy, really, because it’s sort of a workplace comedy, but it’s also very, very strange and maybe a little bit scary,” Stiller revealed toHot Oneshost Sean Evans. “Then as the show developed, it got a little weirder and stranger and maybe less comedic than I’d originally thought it was. Kind of like, you know, like shows like The Office or Parks and Rec,” Stiller added. “Those were shows for me that were sort of in the DNA of what the show was.”
The idea that one of the most eerie and mysterious dystopian dramas of the modern era was almost a run-of-the-mill office sitcom is hilarious in and of itself. While that sort of approach would certainly have fit Stiller’s usual M.O. more closely, viewers will certainly agree that the choice of a more serious tone and content was worth the change and well executed to boot. One important facet of the show’s serious tone and mysterious plot is the way it draws fans in and has them hungry for more, a longing made more acute by the three-year wait between seasons. The rumored culprit for this delay was some less than humorous backstage friction, withStiller addressing the alleged drama behind the scenes onSeveranceand confirming it was largely untrue. Instead, it seems that the sort of quality fans expect from the show takes time and lends itself to a slow schedule.
Considering the success of the first season and the fact that aSeveranceProducer recently provided an exciting season 3 update, the show will likely go on many years more and come to a definite, satisfying end. That is, at least, as satisfying an end as a show in the psychological thriller and mystery space can afford to fans. In the meantime, viewers can start planning their watch parties for when the show returns at the beginning of 2025.
Severanceis available to stream on Apple TV+, with Season 2 set to premiere on June 13, 2025.
