Watch Severance, Apple's mind-bending (and severing) sci-fi show online with our Severance streaming guide.
Severance is one of the best sci-fi shows of recent years, and it's not hard to see why. Within the stark concrete building that is Lumon Industries lies a thrilling psychological mystery, one that blends aspects of office comedy with the kind of technological malaise found in Black Mirror.
Severance takes place in a world where 9-5 office workers can medically ‘sever’ their at-work and at-home personalities, enabling the version of themselves on the outside to never work a day in their life – and imprisoning the version on the inside within a never-ending corporate nightmare. The Office, this isn't.
With its first season releasing to rapturous applause and widespread acclaim, and a second season already confirmed to be on the way, it's the perfect time to jump into Severance and its mind-bending office politics. Below you'll find out how to stream Severance, what trailers and teasers are out there, and what we know so far about season 2.
If you want to learn more about the science of Severance, we've also put together our Severance explained article looking at the real world parallels to the titular severance procedure from the show.
Where to stream Severance
Severance launched on the Apple TV+ streaming service, and is currently the only place you can watch the hit show – whether you’re in the US or UK.
Apple TV+ costs $4.99 / £4.99 a month, and comes with a 7-day free trial for you to try out the platform’s wares. You can also get access via Apple One, the all-in-one subscription package that throws in Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, iCloud+, Apples News+, and Apple Fitness+, and which comes with a month-long free trial instead.
Severance release date and season two
Severance landed on Apple TV+ back in February, 2022, with episodes dropping weekly. The first season consists of nine episodes, each running for the better part of an hour.
As of April, it was already renewed for a second season. Severance season 2 doesn’t yet have a firm release date, though the first season took just over a year to go from the start of filming to release, so we’re expecting to see more episodes land in late 2023 at the earliest.
Severance trailers
Below you’ll find the official trailer for the dystopian TV show, with most of its cast of characters appearing – but you may see a few plot twists from the first episode too. Watch at your peril, worker bees.
The most recent tease for Severance season 2 came during the September Apple Event, in which a promo video for the new AirPods features a sneak peek at the show’s Helly R (played by Britt Lower). It shows Helly, or perhaps her real-world ‘outie’, taking the subway either to or from the workplace.
While we don’t expect this teaser to hold many clues for the upcoming season – it seems more like an insider nod from the head honchos at Apple – it does suggest we may be seeing more of Helly’s life on the outside of the Lumon office.
Severance cast and creatives
Severance’s pilot episode was written by Dan Erikson and submitted to the production company Red Hour Productions, where studio head and actor-comedian Ben Stiller (Zoolander, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) took a liking to the script and decided to take on directorial duties. Stiller directed six of the season’s episodes, with the other three helmed by Aofie McArdle, who worked on the Brave New World TV series for NBC streaming service Peacock.
There’s some office comedy royalty in the cast, in the form of Adam Scott, who plays Ben Wyatt in Parks and Recreation and is Severance’s lead, as Lumon employee / widower Mark Scout. You’ll also see screen heavyweight Christopher Walken (Pulp Fiction, Seven Psychopaths) in a supporting role, alongside real-life friend John Turturro (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) as other Lumon colleagues. The real standout performances are from Britt Lower (Man Seeking Woman), and Tramell Tillman (Hunters, Elementary), who play an unwilling new recruit and an ominously cheerful supervisor respectively.
Severance plot explained
Spoilers ahead! The key thing to know in Severance is that the workers at Lumon Industries know nothing of their lives outside the building, and vice versa – the versions of themselves on the outside know nothing of what goes on during work hours.
However, the workload of these employees is full of obtuse tasks, such as organizing random numbers on a computer screen, based on which feel ‘scary’.
One Lumon employee, Mark Scout, has taken the ‘severance procedure’ so that his work-self can disassociate from the painful knowledge of his deceased wife. A new recruit, Helly R, arrives to replace his friend Petey, who has left the company for unclear reasons.
We won’t spoil any more – all these details land in the first episode – but things quickly escalate from here.
The purpose of Lumon Industries is still hardly clearer by the end of the first season, but the show creates a terrifying example of an insular company culture and mission beyond scrutiny, where employees are effectively owned while on the clock and subject to psychological torture of which their ‘outside’ selves know nothing. Mondays, am I right?
You can learn more about the real-life parallels to a brain-separating severance procedure in our Severance explained article.
