The second season of Apple TV+’s brilliant sci-fi thriller series Severance is finally available to stream after a nearly three-year wait.
Hailing from director Ben Stiller and creator Dan Erickson, the first season premiered all the way back in February 2022 and, before concluding its debut run (with some massive cliffhangers!), the show was renewed for a second season.
The sci-fi thriller focuses on Mark (Adam Scott, Parks and Recreation), an employee at Lumon Industries, a biotechnology corporation.
Some of Lumon’s employees have undergone a procedure known as ‘severance’, which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives.
This means that when in the office, the employees can’t remember their personal life and when outside the office, they can’t remember their work life.
“This daring experiment in ‘work-life balance’ is called into question as Mark finds himself at the centre of an unravelling mystery that will force him to confront the true nature of his work… and of himself,” the plot synopsis from Apple reads.
Co-starring Britt Lower, Christopher Walken, Dichen Lachman, Jen Tullock, John Turturro, Patricia Arquette, Tramell Tillman and Zach Cherry, the first season of Severance earned rave reviews – scoring a near-perfect 97% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
In particular, critics praised the show’s ensemble cast, dark comedy, unsettling tone, satirical exploration of modern work culture and twisty plot.
Filming of the second season was delayed by the 2023 Hollywood strikes, but its first episode is available to watch now.
The new cast additions for Severance season two include Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development), Bob Balaban (Moonrise Kingdom), Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones) and Merritt Wever (Marriage Story).
And the new batch of episodes have been earning rave reviews, with many critics remarking that they are “worth the wait”.
You can read some of these enthusiastic write-ups below:
Empire: “After a storming Season One, Season Two expands and deepens the original mysteries while opening up new ones. Sharply made and skilfully executed, the employee benefits are there if you stay with it.”
Financial Times: “What makes Severance stand out is not just its accomplished execution but the artistry and imagination with which the claustrophobic confines of an office are turned into an atmospheric, idiosyncratic world in its own right.”
London Evening Standard: “If a thriller about life in an office sounds dull, believe me there’s nothing more visually epic on TV right now.”
New Statesman: “Severance’s principal subject is theft: of time and memory, of identity and humanity. Forgive the hyperbole, but it is the television show for our times, and all the more gut-wrenching for it.”
Wall Street Journal: “The shorthand review on Severance should be ‘worth the wait’: As the highly anticipated dramatic series returns — after almost three years — it remains as provocative and unsettling a piece of psychological science-fiction as it ever was.”