‘Severance’ Season 2: New Cast Members, Filming Details, and Everything We Know So Far

Apple TV+ has quickly become one of the most exciting streaming services in the business, from the Emmy-winning sensation Ted Lasso to the star-studded drama The Morning Show. The sci-fi psychological thriller Severance was one of their biggest hits yet when it premiered in early 2022. Created by Dan Erickson and directed in part by Ben Stiller, the first season starred an extremely talented cast and followed a group of employees working at the lower levels of a shady biotech company known as Lumon Industries. The catch is, each employee has undergone a procedure known as “severance,” which completely separates their memories from their work life (their innies) and their personal lives (their outties).

With Season 1 ending on a massive cliffhanger, viewers have been eager to find out what’s next, and they hopefully don’t have to wait much longer. Here’s what we know about Severance Season 2.

Editor’s Note: This piece was updated on April 23, 2024.

Does ‘Severance’ Season 2 Have a Release Date?

As of right now, Apple has yet to revealan official release date for Severance Season 2. While it was initially expected to air in late 2023, the WGA strike ultimately ended up delaying the release from when it was initially scheduled to premiere. Since production didn’t start up again until late January 2024, it seems likely that we won’t be getting Severance Season 2 until late 2024 at the earliest.

Where Can I Watch ‘Severance’ Season 2?

Much like Season 1, Severance Season 2 will only be available to stream on Apple TV+.

If you don’t already have Apple TV+, you can sign up for a 7-day free trial. The service is much less expensive than some of its competitors, with a monthly fee of $6.99. Alongside series like Ted Lasso and The Morning Show, Apple TV+ is also the exclusive home of popular series such as Shrinking, Silo, Slow Horses, Masters of the Air, Foundation, and Hijack. Apple TV+ is also home to an impressive batch of movies, including the Best Picture winner CODA, Martin Scorsese‘s Killers of the Flower Moon, The Family Plan, Greyhound, Spirited, Flora and Son, and Fingernails.

Is There a Trailer for ‘Severance’ Season 2?

A trailer has not yet been released for Season 2, and since filming on Season 2 has just started back up we likely won’t see one for quite some time. Apple TV and Ben Stiller posted a quick announcement on Instagram confirming that Season 2 had been greenlit.

Who Is Returning For ‘Severance’ Season 2?

All the major players from Severance Season 1 will be returning to reprise their roles for Season 2. Emmy Award nominee Adam Scott, Academy and Emmy Award winner Patricia Arquette, Emmy Award winner John Turturro, and Academy Award winner Christopher Walken will return as Mark S, Harmony Cobel, Irving Bailiff, and Burt Goodman, respectively. Also reprising their roles are Britt Lower as Helly R, Zach Cherry as Dylan G, Dichen Lachman as Ms. Casey, Jen Tullock as Devon Hale, Tramell Tillman as Seth Milchick, and Michael Chernus as Ricken Hale.

Who Are the New Cast-Members of ‘Severance’ Season 2?

Along with the returning cast Severance will be bringing in a handful of exciting new cast members for its second season. These include Academy and Emmy Award nominee Bob Balaban (Gosford Park), Robby Benson (Beauty and the Beast), Stefano Carannante (Blue Bloods), Emmy Award nominee Gwendoline Christie (Wednesday), John Noble (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga), Alia Shawkat (Search Party), and Emmy Award winner Merritt Wever (Unbelievable).

Character details as to who each of the new cast members will be playing are currently unknown.

In an interview with Collider’s Taylor Gates, Merritt Wever expressed her enthusiasm about joining the new season but stayed mum on giving any details.

I absolutely have nothing that I would want to share only because I think there are so few shows that you can watch, and part of what’s valuable or exciting or satisfying or fulfilling about watching is getting to really encounter it for the first time. And I wouldn’t want to rob anyone of that. But I think so highly of the show, and I think so highly of the people making it, and I thought so highly of the first season and was skeptical. And I have only respect and two big thumbs up for you.

What Will ‘Severance’ Season 2 Be About?

Season 2 will likely pick up not too long after the events of the Season 1 finale, but there has been no word yet on whether there’ll be a time jump.

When we last saw the severed employees of Lumon, they were able to temporarily wake up their innies in the outside world, leading them to make several shocking discoveries, including that Helly is the daughter of Lumon’s CEO James Eagen and had undergone severance in order to create propaganda in support of the procedure. Mark learns that his neighbor Mrs. Selvig is actually his boss Harmony Cobel and that his presumed dead wife Gemma is alive and is actually the wellness counselor Ms. Casey on the severed floor of Lumon.

The official plot synopsis for Severance from Apple reads:

In “Severance,” Mark Scout (Adam Scott) leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure, which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. This daring 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 of himself.

Who Is Making ‘Severance’ Season 2?

Serving as the showrunners for Season 2 of Severance are Marck Friedman (Wayward Pines) and Dan Erickson, along with assistance from Beau Willimon (Andor) who wrote the latter half of Season 2 and will be serving as the showrunner for Season 3. Ben Stiller will once again be returning to direct. He will executive producer the new season alongside Erickson, Friedman, Adam Scott, Nicky Weinstock (Escape at Dannemora), Jackie Cohn (Plus One), Caroline Baron (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin), and Sam Donovan (Three Pines). Richie Schwartz of Stiller’s production company Red Hour Films will also executive produce. Patricia Arquette will also be joining as a producer this time around. Writers involved with Severance include Mohamed el Masri (Here and Now), Wei-Ning Yu (The Dropout), and Kari Drake (Lost in Space).

Where and When Did ‘Severance’ Season 2 Film?

On October 31, 2022, Ben Stiller and Apple TV shared on Instagram that filming for Severance Season 2 had officially begun.

Much like Season 1, filming for Season 2 primarily took place in New Jersey and New York City.

However, in late April 2023, it was reported that the second season was facing major delays due to the co-showrunners Dan Erickson and Mark Friedman having a falling out with one another. Friedman had initially planned to leave the series before the start of Season 2, but Apple and Stiller were unable to find a suitable replacement and asked him to return once more.

However, both PR reps from Apple and Stiller himself denied the claims that there was tension behind the scenes.

Apple’s statement read:

“…the second season of
Severance
is on schedule, the budget is the same as Season 1, Dan, Beau and Mark are all working together… [Beau] was hired for Season 3 and since they don’t have a traditional writers room, it made sense he would get involved in the current season as well.”

Stiller released the following statement to TVLine:

“No one’s going to the break room. We’re on the same really slow schedule we’ve always been on. Same target air date we’ve always had. Love our fans and each other, and we all are just working to make the show as good as possible.”

However, the second season hit another setback with production shutting down when the WGA voted to go on strike for fair compensation as well as residuals from producers, streamers, and studios.

It wasn’t until January 2024 that Severance Season 2 went back into production. Apple TV+ confirmed the news on social media with a black-and-white image of Adam Scott running down a hallway, in character as Mark S.

In late April 2024, it was revealed that production on Severance Season 2 had finally wrapped, with Carol Deelay, a key customer on the series, confirming the news on her Instagram.