And now we wait. Season two of Severance just ended, leaving us with more answers than we expected but also new questions we never even fathomed. You can read our full breakdown here [TK LINK] but, in addition, we were given a few minutes to talk to the show’s creator, Dan Erickson, with all spoilers on the table.
Clearly he wasn’t going to tell us what happens in season three or beyond—if it even happens—but we were able to ask him about the ending of the season, some of the bigger questions along the way, and even got a hint at what fans should be keying into as we wait for our favorite Macrodata Refiners to return to Lumon and Apple TV+
Germain Lussier, io9: Rescuing Gemma was clearly the big goal this season, but how did you approach telling that story while also setting up the end of this season with Mark choosing Helly?
Dan Erickson: It was all kind of baked in together, to be honest. I thought it would be an interesting challenge to start Mark off on that quest. And literally, you know, first thing you see this season is the doors open and he runs out and he is looking for Gemma. And he’s doing that not because he loves her, but because he knows his outie loves her. And in a way, I think he feels responsible. The development of his character over the course of the season was reaching a point where he values his own life and his own love and his own priorities on an equal level to that of his outie. He had come to feel that he himself was a human and was deserving of the things he wanted. And that’s why in that [finale] moment, you know, he’s staring at Gemma and I think it would be easier for him if he did feel love for her, but he doesn’t. And the person he loves is behind him, so that’s where he goes.
io9: The finale answers a lot of big questions—the goats, Cold Harbor, the numbers. How did you decide what you wanted to answer this season, what you could hold back, and was there any hesitation about actually giving us those answers this season?
Erickson: Sure. I mean, the good thing about the show is we always constructed it where there were sort of questions within questions. We have some sense now of kind of, like, what the numbers are on screen, what they’re doing, where is Mark’s wife, etc. But you can answer those questions in a direct way, but still not get to the “Why?” Sort of the big, scary, “What is going on on this show?” And so we really tried hard to structure it in a way where you’re clawing your way out of this box from the inside, and you don’t know what box you were in until you get out.
io9: Going off that, is there more to the question of why Mark and Gemma were chosen for Cold Harbor? Because we get some hints in “Chikhai Bardo,” but I’m just curious if that story’s over, or if there’s something there’s more to it.
Erickson: I think that’s something we’ll have to wait and see.
io9: Okay. “Woe’s Hollow,” to me, in a weird season is still the weirdest episode. I loved it. But is any of that stuff—where it is, who the doppelgangers are, the Kier family stuff—is that a crucial part of the story going forward, or is that just kind of fun, weird stuff that you like to play around with?
Erickson: I can’t really say [but] here’s what I will say. I think sometimes people ask in an almost accusatory way. It’s like, “Is there really any point to this?” Or, “You’re just being weird for the sake of being weird.” And you weren’t asking in that tone.
io9: Well, a little bit.
Erickson: My feeling is always like I, as a viewer, I love the Mad Max movies. And part of it is because of just the world-building. There are these whole systems and groups and cultures that we glimpse just barely, and all it does is build out the world. All it does is give us questions about, “Why does this world work the way that it does?” So there are some things on the show that are like that and that we intentionally will never explore because it’s fun to have questions. But I also completely understand people wanting answers, especially to the questions that we pointed at specifically, where we are like, “Hey, look at this.” To me, if we’re pointing at something and saying, “Look at this,” and then we don’t explain it, that one’s on us.
io9: Fair enough. With Woe’s Hollow as well as Salt’s Neck, season two started to show the world outside of Kier. Does showing more of the outside world factor into where you see the story going ahead?
Erickson: Yeah, I think so. I think that we had seen a little bit before. We had seen Ganz College in season one. But the show has kind of a weird relationship with the outside world. We’ve intentionally never gone to a real place. When you’re at Lumon, there’s this sense of being out of time and out of space and disoriented. That sort of extends to the outside world a little bit. It’s intentional that we don’t know exactly where we are. But we did want to build out this sense that there is a greater world at play here and that we’re part of something bigger.
io9: Yeah, they have iPhones, but they don’t have cars that are newer than 1980. Very interesting. Something else I kept keying into this season is Mark’s coughing. Is that a side effect of reintegration or is there more to it?
Erickson: [Pause] Hmm. You might get a different answer from somebody else.
io9: Okay.
Erickson: To me, that is a side effect of the reintegration. That’s sort of how I view it.
io9: All right. It’s clear here… well, not “clear,” but a little bit “clearer,” that this MDR was kind of focused on Cold Harbor, Mark, and Gemma. Are all MDR departments doing the same thing, or do you have plans to explain a little bit more about what MDR means in general?
Erickson: I can’t get into it too much. We do see that the others from other branches, they know how to do it. But I think there’s a question, even in our MDR with the four refiners, we’re not sure who the others are refining, if anyone. And I think that’s still a question.
io9: Without a doubt. Now I loved Mr. Milchick going back at Drummond in “The After Hours.” So much fun. But he seemed to forget about it the next day with all his dancing. Was that hint of defiance important to where you see the character going?
Erickson: Yeah, it is. I think Milchick is somebody who still cares about the job and cares about the work and believes in what they’re doing. And I think that he earnestly does want to bring a modicum of joy and humanity to the lives of the innies, which is kind of what he’s been trying to do the whole season to varying degrees of success. But he is also getting very tired of the people directly above him, and the way that they treat him and the way that they value him or fail to value him. Sometimes when we’re in a place that is systemically prejudiced or systemically toxic, sometimes we’re sort of trained to put our anger onto the people closest to us, as opposed to taking a step way back and saying, “Hey, is this whole system bad? Is this whole system hurting me and hurting other people?” So I think it’s a very human reaction that, you know, not undeservedly, but he directs that vitriol at Mr. Drummond as opposed to the greater company.
io9: Whatever the greater company might be. We still know about the board, a lot of things. All right, this is, unfortunately, my last question, and you probably can’t even answer it, but hopefully, we’re getting a season three. Not official yet. But if and when we do, what is the biggest question fans should be thinking about going into more Severance?
Erickson: I think that the question on Mark and Helly’s mind is going to be just “Now what?” I think they have chosen to continue to live, and I think they don’t know what that means exactly, how long they have, if this is something where they’re going to be able to exist for two more minutes or 10 more years? And so it’s the question of, what would you do to preserve your own existence? Now that you see yourself as an individual, you’ve started to get to know who you are, what would you do to defend that?
io9: I love that, and I have a billion more questions, but that is my time. Thank you so much for the show and for speaking with us today. I can’t wait to talk to you for season three.
Erickson: Thank you so much. I can’t wait either.
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