Severance season 2: Apple TV Plus release date, trailer, confirmed cast, plot synopsis, and more news and rumors

Severance season 2's release date draws ever closer – and, with less than three months to go until one of Apple TV Plus' best shows returns, we've finally got our first proper look at what's in store for Mark Scout and his fellow Lumon Industries employees.

That's right, an official trailer has been released by Apple and, while, it doesn't give too much away about this season's plot, it's enough to what the appetite of our 'innies' and 'outies'. You'll need to scroll through this guide to learn more about Severance's latest teaser and season 2 story, though.

If you do, you'll get the lowdown on everything we know about one of the best Apple TV Plus shows' sophomore outings. Indeed, we've rounded up the latest intel on its new and returning cast members, whether the sci-fi thriller series will get more installments, and much more. Full spoilers follow for Severance season 1, so *ahem* sever ties with this article if you haven't watched it yet.

Severance season 2 release date

Severance season 2 makes its streaming debut on January 17, 2025. Apple finally announced Severance would return on its streaming platform in mid-July so, while we've still got a few months to wait for its arrival, we're pleased that it'll be with us soon enough.

Like its forebear, the series' latest chapter will launch with a one-episode premiere. New entries will air weekly until the season 2 finale on March 21, too.

Severance season 2 trailer

Severance — Season 2 Official Teaser | Apple TV+ - YouTube

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Apple released the first trailer for season 2 in late October, and its unpleasantly upbeat and trippy footage made us excited for a return to the office. The teaser's debut arrived just 24 hours after Apple invited us to attend a big Severance season 2 meeting, too, which was always destined to unveil its first proper look at what lies in store for Mark and company.

Before then, we'd only been treated to breadcrumbs of footage in an Apple TV Plus sizzle reel that was part of Apple's WWDC 2024 event. You can watch those snippets interspersed with footage of other forthcoming Apple TV Originals below:

Coming to Apple TV+ - YouTube

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Severance season 2 cast: confirmed and rumored

Potential spoilers follow for Severance season 2.

Here's Severance season 2's official cast list so far:

• Adam Scott as Mark Scout
• Zach Cherry as Dylan George
• Britt Lower as Helly Riggs / Helena Egan
• Tramell Tillman as Seth Milchick
• Jen Tullock as Devon Hale
• Dichen Lachman as Ms. Casey 
• Michael Chernus as Ricken Hale
• Christopher Walken as Burt Goodman
• John Tuturro as Irving Bailiff
• Patricia Arquette as Harmony Cobel
• Sarah Bock as TBC

Of the above, Bock is the only actor who didn't appear in season 2. The identity of her character is a mystery, but fans have already started theorizing that she may be Mark's daughter.

Bock won't be the only newcomer, though. As revealed by The Hollywood Reporter (THR), eight other actors have signed on to appear in yet-to-be revealed roles:

• Gwendoline Christie (The Sandman, Wednesday)
• Bob Balaban (Gosford Park, The Grand Budapest Hotel)
• Robby Benson (Beauty and the Beast)
• Stefano Carannante (Mirabilia)
• John Noble (Fringe, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)
• Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (The Tourist, Trapped)
• Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development, The Old Man)
• Merritt Wever (Nurse Jackie, New Girl)

There were plenty of recurring and guest characters in Severance's first season, so we might see some of them return. However, Apple hasn't confirmed who might do so.

Severance season 2 plot synopsis and rumors

Full spoilers follow for Severance season 1.

Here's the official albeit incredibly brief plot synopsis for Severance season 2: "In season 2, Mark and his friends learn the dire consequences of trifling with the severance barrier, leading them further down a path of woe."

Not a whole lot to go on, then, but the show's cast and crew, plus what happened in the season 1 finale, allows us to infer what could play out next time.

For anyone who might need a reminder of what Severance is actually about (hey, it's been a while since season 1 hit our screens): the series is set at Lumon Industries, a shadowy corporate organization (founded by so-called visionary Kier Eagan back in 1865) that's figured out a way to split a person’s psyche in two: an ‘innie’, who works on Lumon premises, and an ‘outie’, who never has to work a day in their life.

The downside, of course, is that each person's ‘innie’ does all the work in a never-ending nine-to-five cycle where they never leave the office, and are doomed to repeat obtuse and meaningless tasks forever. Meanwhile, the 'outie' part of an individual's persona has no idea that their other half is subjected to such horrific working conditions. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t take long for some employees to take issue with life as a guinea pig in a soul-destroying, Kafkaesque experiment.

The primary character we followed in season 1 was Mark, who initially joins Lumon to escape the crippling grief of losing his wife Gemma in a car accident, thereby allowing himself to disassociate from his ‘outside’ psyche for most of the week. 

However, his inner self becomes more curious about the workings of the company after his friend and manager Petey (Yul Vazquez) unexpectedly stops showing up to work, before new recruit Helly becomes increasingly determined to escape the office. Cue plenty of manipulation by their shadowy employers, a surprisingly violent disco, and unexplained baby goats showing up in the workplace. Long story short: season 1 ended on a cliff hanger, with Mark, Helly, and Irving successfully activating their work psyches 'remotely', which allowed their Lumon personas to exist briefly in the outside world. 

We expect Severance season 2, then, to pick up the moment its predecessor ended, when the remote activation was interrupted by the employees’ supervisor Seth. Based on Mark's reunion with Seth (as seen in the first teaser), we suspect Lumon won't take too kindly to Mark and his allies' 'innies' managing to escape, too, albeit temporarily.

Elsewhere, Dylan was caught red-handed in the Lumon control room as Irving knocked on the front door of office sweetheart Burt, Helly (whose 'outie' is – shock horror – the daughter of Lumon's boss) was caught on stage at a Lumon gala having just outed the company's sinister practices, and Mark was in his sister's home, where he'd just realized his late wife was not only alive, but working as Lumon employee Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman).

All that leaves us with plenty of unanswered questions heading into this season. How much impact did the Lumon employees have during that brief adventure in the outside world? Will anyone believe their stories about Lumon's inner sanctum? And what punishment, if any, will be doled out to Lumon's rebels?

We expect Severance season 2 to focus on the world outside of Lumon Industries as much as the menacing corporation, especially now that Helly’s gala outburst and Mark’s discoveries have publicly leaked some of the company's secrets. But, it wouldn’t be Severance without, well, severance, so we’ll surely see the cast making frequent switches between their 'innies' and 'outies' – especially if they need to further investigate Lumon’s labyrinthine office corridors, which presumably contain plenty of mysteries yet to be unearthed.

As for what those involved in the show have revealed, unsurprisingly they remain tight-lipped about Severance season 2's plot. Indeed, Scott told The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that "we have secret scripts and have to use like code words when we're on email. It's so secret, it's crazy and it feels ridiculous. It's also great because people wanna know [what's going to happen]". He maintained this policy of secrecy when speaking to Deadline in February, too:

Not everyone is quite so reluctant to spill the Severance season 2 beans, however, and luckily we have had a few very minor teases about what's in store. 

"There's an expanding world that I think is sort of teased and in a way is owed by the way we ended season 1 where we did suddenly get some glimpses of Helly's life on the outside and Dylan's life on the outside, and Irving's life on the outside," creator Dan Erickson told Gold Derby. "I don't want to get into how much time we’re going to be spending in those various arenas, but we know that they have stuff going on the outside that we haven't seen that we haven't really explored yet, and of course, inside the company it's a vast company and there's plenty of stuff that we haven't seen yet. 

"It's expanding on both sides and that's both the fun and the challenge," he continued. "How do you make it bigger and how do you take a broader view of it and include some new elements that weren't there before but still keep it feeling like it's centered in the same world, on the same story that you were doing before?"

Ben Stiller expressed similar sentiments to Variety, adding : "I think that the biggest thing is how to maintain all those things in terms of the feeling of the show, while at the same time expanding the world since the end of the last episode. We’ve brought Mark and Irving and Helly to the surface, and I think those are storylines that people are going to be interested in. So, it’s going to be figuring out that balance."

Oh, and expect there to be a reveal of sorts concerning those goats in season 1. Asked if there was any significance to their appearance at San Diego Comic-Con in 2022 (per Time magazine), Erickson simply replied: "Yeah". While we wait for next season to arrive, read our thoughts on five big questions Severance season 2 needs to answer when it's released.

Will Severance get more seasons on Apple TV Plus?

It seems likely. Severance is one of the best shows in Apple TV Plus' library, so the tech giant will want to maximize the potential of a certified hit. It currently holds a 97% certified "fresh" rating on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes and earned its fair share of awards following season 1's release.

Additionally, with plenty more story to tell and mysteries left to unravel, it seems unlikely everything will be squeezed into two seasons – especially as the show has been such a major hit for Apple TV Plus, aka one of the best streaming services, that they won't want to end it too soon. Besides, Ben Stiller has previously hinted that Severance season 2 won't be the end. "It has always been a multi-season story and I’m really happy we get to continue it," he said. "I’m grateful to our partners at Apple TV Plus who have been behind it the whole way. Praise Kier!”

If there is a Severance season 3, though, don't expect to see it before 2027. Indeed, with season 2 only set to arrive in early 2025, and with most live-action series taking two to three years to earn new seasons, it could be another lengthy wait for the highly-rated show to return for the third time.

For more Apple TV Plus-based coverage, check out the best Apple TV Plus movies, our review of Apple TV Plus, and our hubs on Silo season 2 and Foundation season 3.