Summary
New seasons of TV do not get turned around as quickly as they used to, but when the series fans are waiting for leaves them with lots of unanswered questions, that wait becomes exponentially more difficult. Now thatSeveranceSeason 2 finally has a return date, the producers behind theApple TV+show have opened up about what really happened to delay the series for so long.
Severance’sfirst season was released in February 2022 and quickly earned the attention of audiences and critics with its twist-filled high-concept plot. The series stars Adam Scott as Mark, one of the employees at the mysterious Lumon Industries who undergoes a medical procedure called severance to split his work memories from his personal memories. This results in two versions of the Lumon employees, with their work selves referred to as Innies, while their home selves are known as Outies. The series is created by first-time showrunner Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller.
Why Did Severance Season 2 Take So Long?
Perfectionism is by and large the reasonSeveranceSeason 2 has taken so long. Speaking toVanity Fairin an interview, Erickson put the long shoot process down to a methodical shoot schedule and the fact thatSeverancedoesn’t turn around as many pages per day as other shows. “That comes down to just trying to make sure that we get it right,” the creator said. He added that the writing process for him was the most difficult part:
“On a practical level, it’s a very intricate show. Each character has two lives—essentially, two personalities—and we are expanding. For me, the writing was the most painstaking part of the process because there were so many ways we could go. And sometimes we would come up with something that worked perfectly well on paper, and then it wouldn’t be until we got there and we’re shooting it that we realize: This isn’t quite it. We were never willing to let that turn it into something that wasn’t perfect.”
Stiller also added in the interview that once the writing was done the production was delayed, like so many others, by the Hollywood strikes in 2023. This led tofilming only wrapping up in May 2024, giving the series just about seven months to hit its January 2025 release date.
“It took a while to write season two. Then we started to shoot in October of 2022, and we got shut down by the strike in May [2023]. At that point, we had completed about 7 of our 10 episodes, and then we had to regroup after the strike. It takes us a while to prep the show. And so, we didn’t start shooting until January [2024]. Then we shot from January to May to finish the last three episodes.”
Initially, fans were concerned thatSeverancemight be plagued by some behind-the-scenes conflicts. Rumors emerged of troublesbetween Erickson and co-producer Mark Friedmanwhich allegedly delayed the writing process on Season 2, although this has been disputed.Andorwriter Beau Willimon was brought on board to help writeSeverance’sfuture seasons in April 2023 mid-way through the series’ initial shoot period. It’s unclear exactly what may have gone on behind the scenes at Severance, but many of the issues relating to the series delay seem to be standard.
Severancehas enlisted several new cast members, including Gwendoline Christie and Sarah Bock. Regulars Scott, Britt Lower, Patricia Arquette, and John Turturro will also be back. There are hints that the climactic ending ofSeveranceSeason 1 will lead to dire consequencesin Season 2, which hopefully means that despite the delay, the new season of Severance will be worth the wait.
SeveranceSeason 2 will be released on Apple TV+ on Jul 27, 2025.
