'Severance' Returns to the Office and Unveils a New Twist in the Teaser Trailer for Season Two
Even something as simple as heading back to the office isn't straightforward in this Apple TV+ sci-fi series, which returns in January 2025.
"Everything they told you about severance is a lie." Those words might ring true in the world of Severance, the Apple TV+ sci-fi thriller that debuted in 2022 and proved one of that year's best new shows, but it isn't accurate about the series itself. Based on its first season, this mindbender deserves all the praise that it gets and more, and it's all 100-percent correct. If the teaser trailer for the upcoming second season is anything to go by, it'll be serving up more work-life nightmares — and twists, tension and must-see viewing — from January.
Thinking about how to best balance your professional and personal spheres, and the time you dedicate to them, is an annual tradition when each new year starts. The Christmas break has been and gone, everyone is making resolutions for the 12 months ahead, and better dividing your time between work and everything else becomes a goal for most. Come Friday, January 17, 2025, however, the subject will get a bigger push via this hugely anticipated TV return — and so will how work-life balance can weigh on your mind, or not.
Capitalising on perfect timing, Apple TV+ is finally ending the wait for more Severance, the series where disconnecting from your job come quittin' time — and giving your gig every ounce of your focus during your daily grind — has become literal in a hellish way. At Lumon Industries, employees agree to undertake the titular procedure, which splits their memories between work and home. But as Macrodata Refinement division employee Mark S (Adam Scott, Loot) start to discover, nothing about the situation is what it seems.
Severance's comeback calls for a waffle party, an egg bar or a melon bar — or at least a big bunch of blue balloons with the face of Mark S on them. The latter have popped up in sneak peeks at the new season so far, including the date announcement clip and the just-released teaser trailer.
If you missed season one, its dive into the kind of scenario that Black Mirror might've dreamed up, and technology that could've been used if Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was about punching the clock instead of romance, saw Mark S willingly sign up for severance, all to help process his grief over the death of his wife. And he's happy with the situation until his work BFF Petey (Yul Vazquez, The Outsider) leaves suddenly without saying goodbye, then new staff member Helly (Britt Lower, American Horror Stories) comes in to replace him — and instantly starts questioning the insidious setup, the rules and restrictions needed to keep it in place, and why on earth her "outie" (as the outside versions of Lumon employees are known) agreed to this in the first place.
In season two, Mark and his work pals will attempt to dig deeper into the consequences of the severance procedure, and trying to escape it. They'll also learn the ramifications of messing with the system — and Lumon isn't just filled with the same familiar faces.
Tramell Tillman (Hunters), Zach Cherry (Fallout), Jen Tullock (Perry Mason), Michael Chernus (Carol & the End of the World), Dichen Lachman (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes), John Turturro (Mr & Mrs Smith), Christopher Walken (Dune: Part Two) and Patricia Arquette (High Desert) all return — with new cast members including Gwendoline Christie (Wednesday), Bob Balaban (Asteroid City), Merritt Wever (Memory), Alia Shawkat (The Old Man) and John Noble (Twilight of the Gods).
Ben Stiller (Escape at Dannemora) is back as a director on five episodes, and executive producer across the whole season, with ten episodes on the way. Apple TV+ will drop instalments through until Friday, March 21, 2025.
Check out the teaser trailer for Severance season two below:
Severance returns for season two on Friday, January 17, 2025 via Apple TV+.
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