Severance EPs Hint That 'Things Get Darker' For Mark And Company In Season 2: 'The Fallout Is Dire'

It's almost time to clock in again with Severance — and Season 2 sounds like a rough day at the office.

In a wide-ranging interview with Vanity Fair, series creator and executive producer Dan Erickson gives us our first hints of what to expect from the new season of Apple TV+'s sci-fi thriller. "Things get darker," he teases ominously. "We very much wanted to put our heroes in a scarier place because Season 1 ends with them poking the bear." But "what happens when the bear pokes back?" In Season 2, we'll learn that "the fallout is dire."

If you remember — and it's understandable if you don't; Severance last aired in April 2022, nearly three years ago — Season 1 ended with Mark discovering that his dead wife is still alive (and a fellow Lumon employee) and with Helly railing against Lumon's severance program before being snapped back into her "Outie" state. (Read our full finale recap here.) Director and executive producer Ben Stiller notes that while Outie Mark is still grieving his wife, Innie Mark is developing feelings for Helly, so "there's a natural tension that's growing there between Outie Mark's interests and Innie Mark's interests."

Season 2 (premiering Friday, Jan. 17 on Apple TV+) will also take Mark and his colleagues outside the confines of the Lumon office, Erickson says: "We're going to these kinds of dangerous new places." They will "take steps towards" figuring out what the larger purpose of the Lumon corporation is as well, "and that's going to involve new locations and new characters."

Some of the new cast additions for Season 2 include Alia Shawkat, Stefano Carannante, and Bob Balaban, who play rival macrodata refiners at Lumon who are placed there "in reaction" to Mark and his friends' actions last season, according to Stiller: "Seeing new people at the desks would definitely bring up questions, especially for Mark." Plus, Game of Thrones alum Gwendoline Christie joins the cast as someone who works "in a different department" of Lumon, he adds: "There are people who are not in the white-collar aspect of what goes on at Lumon but who get their hands dirty and are working towards other ends."

Ready to get back to work with a new season of Severance? Tell us what you're hoping to see in Season 2 in the comments.