Season 2 of “Severance” has quickly become a water-cooler favorite for fans, who’ve turned to the internet to share their various theories about what’s really going on with Mark (Adam Scott), his co-workers, family and the mysterious company Lumon.
But as show creator Dan Erickson told Entertainment Weekly recently, he hasn’t yet seen a theory that completely unlocks the key to the show’s story — though he’s read loads of them.
“I love all of them and some of them are kooky, but the show is kooky, so it makes sense,” he said. “I would not say that I’ve seen anybody get it totally right. We are trying to lay down the seeds of where it’s ultimately going, and I do think that people notice that … But I don’t think that I’ve seen anything where I’m like, ‘Oh God, they got it. Time to leave the country and change my name.’”
But that won’t keep us from trying to guess. Here are seven “Severance” theories that just might have legs. Little, hairy goat legs.
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
Mark’s brother-in-law Ricken works for Lumon
Much of this theory is based in Season 1 clues, but it carries into the new season as well. Think of the climactic book release party from Episode 8 in the first season — a cult-like atmosphere surrounded Ricken (Michael Chernus) and his “The You You Are” book.
One attendee noted she had “sores on the back of my head” — perhaps from getting severed. Ricken started his reading session by ringing a bell — and inside Lumon the goat herder also rang a bell to summon the faithful. Meanwhile, Lumon has now commissioned a version of Ricken’s book to use inside the company! Check out this TikTok for more.
Gemma became severed because of her car crash
We don’t know why Mark’s wife Gemma (Dichen Lachman) is living (apparently) solely as an innie, but examination by a Reddit user suggests she wasn’t given a choice.
Irving’s (John Turturro) Outie keeps a list of severed employees that mentions someone named Doug Coleman, who was in a car crash in 2007. Irving’s handwritten notes mention the injury — Doug had a fractured hand and was subsequently suing the city.
The fact that Gemma also “died” in a car crash may implicate Lumon either in the crash, or reveal how they obtain new workers. Are car crashes a pipeline, somehow?
Baby goats are raised to be used later for brain experiments
What’s up with the goats? The goats were first introduced in Season 1, Episode 5, and reintroduced in the third episode of Season 2.
One Reddit user posits that the Lumon’s goats might be test subjects for the company to ultimately “upload” the consciousness of humans from one body to the next.
This could also give more credence to the theory that people who were in major accidents had new consciousnesses uploaded into their bodies.
When Mark most recently “saw” Gemma/Ms. Casey, he recalled that she seemed not to even know him. This might explain the young Miss Huang’s statement in the Season 2 premiere that she’s a child “because of when I was born” — she’s an accident victim who has had a different consciousness transferred into her mind.
Lumon wants to resurrect their founder Keir Eagan
The new opening sequence for the show includes a surprising number of babies, considering there’s only one in the entire series (Mark’s niece).
Multiple Reddit users suggest this is pointing to a lab-grown clone theory that’s aiming to bring the cult-like company’s Dear Leader back to life — mentally, physically or both.
And let’s look closer at the end of that opening sequence: That final “baby” crawling in front of Mark has a full head of hair, mustache and beard. Ricken? Keir?
Macrodata’s job is to sort memories and personalities
While the workers in Macrodata don’t seem to do a whole lot of work this season, when we have seen them at their terminals, they seemingly sort random numbers and letters into four digital bins.
Lumon focuses on the four “tempers” — woe, frolic, dread, malice. As Keir is quoted as saying in Season 1, “Each man’s character is defined by the precise ratio that resides in him.” Based on a Reddit comment, Macrodata is sorting the “data” of the minds of people kept below — the memories of severed people — for future use.
Burt’s really the person controlling everything
Burt seems like a sweet guy, and his innie’s romance with Irving’s innie was one of the lighter stories told in Season 1. But c’mon, he’s being played by Christopher Walken. As a Redditor user noted, you don’t haul in someone with Walken’s off-the-wall gravitas without planning something bigger.
Bert has made some canny movies: He’s lied about the size of his department, he bends rules in smart ways and he seems unbothered that his innie self dies after he retires from Lumon. There’s something more going on here.
The show exists in a parallel universe
This is less a theory to unlock the show than how to understand it.
As a TikTok video video points out, it’s unclear when or where “Severance” takes place: the cars in the parking lot seem dated around the 1980s; the Lumon introductory video notes that the company has branches in “all 206 countries” around the world. As of right now, our world only has 197 independent states, per the U.S. Department of State.
The license plates we see have no state names, only an image of Keir and the Latin phrase” “Remedium Hominibus” (“A Cure for Mankind”). And there are several references to Lumon’s HQ being in a state abbreviated as “PE.” There is no such state in the US.
This may all be set dressing, but it’s best not to rule out that “Severance” exists in a parallel universe to ours, which means a lot of things could be different and true at the same time.