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Severance Season 2 Interview: Stars Patricia Arquette & Tramell Tillman About Their ‘Bad Guy’ Characters

Directed and executive produced by Ben Stiller and created, written and executive produced by Dan Erickson, the 10-episode second season of Severance premiered on Apple TV+ with the first episode on Friday, 17 January 2025 followed by one episode every Friday through 21 March 2025.

In Severance, Mark Scout (Adam Scott) leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure, which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. 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. In season two, Mark and his friends learn the dire consequences of trifling with the severance barrier, leading them further down a path of woe.

Severance Season 2 reunites its ensemble cast of stars including Emmy Award nominee Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman, Zach Cherry, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Dichen Lachman, Emmy Award winner John Turturro, Academy Award winner Christopher Walken and Academy and Emmy Award winner Patricia Arquette, and welcomes new series regular Sarah Bock.

Check out our review of Severance Season 2 by heading over here.

We interviewed Patricia Arquette and Tramell Tillman.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

What surprised you the most about Severance Season 2?

Tramell Tillman: I was definitely surprised about season two. I was surprised that Milchick didn’t get fired. Yeah, I was surprised that he was still kicking around. But I think what also was really fun is learning so much more about the Innies and seeing the information that they learned about themselves and how they’re building this alliance with each other, and really going forward and finding out what they need to know about Lumon, uncovering the mystery.

Patricia Arquette: I think, you know, it’s very interesting to look at the conflict that Mark S. has between his any and his Outie, you know, with Gemma and Mrs. Casey, and is he going to do anything about that? And what do you do when you know what the right thing to do, but you don’t really remember that love, and you don’t really feel drawn to it, but it’s somebody’s life. So there’s, there’s a lot of like, kind of high stake things.

I think Dylan and his wife and their, you know, their love affair, they’re finding each other and falling back in love, and at the same time, he’s jealous of himself. And so it’s just, I think, very complicated, the way that people are. And Cobell in the later sees in later episodes, it’s like you really get to see where she comes from and her backstory more, and she’s very much alone, and she loves and hates this corporation, and wants to prove herself, and not just prove herself, prove she’s right to this corporation. What is she willing to do next?

What have you discovered about yourselves as you played your characters in Severance?

Patricia Arquette: I definitely found that I’m very severed, or that a lot of people that I know are very severed, or that I was asleep to how severed a lot of things around me were. So I feel like I’m kind of waking up to a different kind of conversation with myself and with people around me just trying to wake up, be present and be real, live in reality.

Tramell Tillman: I think the question of identity for myself has been really strong. It’s been really prevalent. You know, who am I in the midst of this structure and society, my place and all of this, you know, what am I devoting so much of my time to, you know? And the why of it all that those questions resonate a lot with me lately, while working on this show, and you’d mentioned in another interview that you were like a recovering people pleaser, and so am I.

And there’s something very much about people pleasers trying to force things to be okay, fill in the gaps, make everything okay. When you kind of wake up and you go, Whoa, let me just deal with reality like that’s not my job and it’s not okay, and looking at all of that, so I think it’s a hard part of growing up, but it’s easier to be severed. And the people the first season that are severed, they’re like, kind of like infants or toddlers, and this season, they’re more coming to meet their little teenage selves more.

Patricia Arquette: You’d mentioned in another interview that you were like a recovering people pleaser, and so am I. And there’s something very much about people pleasers trying to force things to be okay, fill in the gaps, make everything okay. When you kind of wake up and you go, Whoa, let me just deal with reality like that’s not my job and it’s not okay, and looking at all of that, so I think it’s a hard part of growing up, but it’s it’s easier to be severed. And the people the first season that are severed, they’re like, kind of like infants or toddlers, and this season, they’re more coming to meet their little teenage selves more.

Do you think of your characters as the bad guys?

Tramell Tillman: You know, I love the discussion of whether or not Milchick is a bad guy. I love that it’s a little ambiguous. You know that it is unclear, but I think there are levels to this, to severance, there’s levels to Lumon, right? We’re seeing Cobell and Milchick, but like you said, there’s, there’s a presence there that we don’t see, that we have not been introduced to. And that’s the board, right? And what their place in is in all of this. And it just leaves the question, if we do want to go down the route of villains, who put who fills that role, and Are we quick to assume that someone is the villain, or are they the victim? And you know, that kind of discussion.

Patricia Arquette: I don’t think that Cobell sees herself at all as the bad guy. She’s willing to play the part of the bad guy to do what’s best for the corporation. But even she thinks she’s smarter than the corporation, and she has a longer term agenda. She is more old school Kier devotee, and she doesn’t think what Jame and this new guard, Helena, what they’re doing is really she feels like they’re kind of falling away from the care ideals, and she wants to get back on track.

Your characters have a sort of suppressed rage. Can you elaborate on that?

Patricia Arquette: Cool, collected and suppressed rage? I mean, I think that’s that’s a component that happens to people when they’re feeling powerless. And I think we’re all feeling a little bit that squeeze in the world, that level of powerlessness, and again, that’s the part of them not being awake yet, like first, it starts coming to a head, and you feel that pressure within you. And then after a while, you start to go, what is this? What am I feeling? What’s happening? Exactly, what do I really want? What do I really need? Maybe I’m gonna opt out of this, but they’re not there yet. It’s just that kind of tectonic plates pushing against each other.

Tramell Tillman: It’s also a structure that does not allow for emotion, right? Like Lumon does not support wide expressiveness in the culture. So everything has to be underneath the surface. You are suppressing everything. You know, and you had said earlier about, you know, office culture like this, this need for us to be nice and pleasant and go along for the rule, go along to get along. And I think that really speaks to, I know, for especially with Milchick, speaks to who he is. You know, you don’t really have the space to really invest in your emotions, so you suppress everything and keep moving forward, almost like a duck hole in water. You know, they seem very calm, but underneath the water, you see the feet, and they’re just paddling along, you know, aggressively. And I feel like that’s a beautiful metaphor for Milchick.

Can you tease what to expect from your characters in Severance Season 2?

Patricia Arquette: As for Cobell, you know, she’s ousted, Milchick has usurped her. She feels really pissed off that this corporation she’s worked her whole life for has dismissed her and in a way, looks at her work as it’s incompetent, unnecessary. So she’s been really knocked off her pedestal and displaced, and it’s more than just a corporation. It’s like her family. So we do go and see more where Cobell comes from and how deep these roots go, and that struggle for her own identity and to be seen and appreciated by this corporation. I think a lot of things are answered for her towards the end of the season.

Tramell Tillman: Well, Milchick’s in a new space now that he is usurped Cobelle. No, but I think now he has to grapple with what he has done and grapple with continuing to keep these Innies in line, and we see how he’s able, if at all, to rise to the occasion and what it takes to really be a part of Lumon in another way, in a more visible way, if you will.

Does Severance reflect people’s anger against corporations?

Patricia Arquette: Yeah. I mean, honestly, it’s kind of in the news right now, right this young man just killed this head of this healthcare organization and it’s been very interesting watching how many people were like, Yeah, I don’t blame him, and maybe there’s a conversation, but it just seems like honestly, around everything, there’s this kind of circle of discontent that’s growing and hostility, and it’s been growing for several years. It’s not just corporations all over the place.

Tramell Tillman: I think Severance offers another platform to discuss these things and a more safe environment. You know? What I enjoy is that how people in and outside of the corporate world are talking about the show and finding themselves implicated in the story, picking sides, if you will, or not. No sides at all, but really enjoying the conversations of you know, identity, family, duty, the workplace, workplace environments, expectations, you know, the the implication, or the use of technology, and how technology has influenced our lives, and how it will continue to influence our lives, and the and how corporations have been a part of it.

What’s really exciting is that it’s all of it is up for interpretation. We’re not telling people how to specifically feel or what side to take on this, but it accompanies the conversation and encourages more conversation. And I think that’s what great art should do.

Season 2 Episode 4 ‘Woe’s Hollow’ is one of the most unique episodes in the entire series so far. What was it like filming that episode?

Tramell Tillman: We got to go outside. We were outside in the cold and it was freezing, but I am so grateful that we had such a wonderful time. Our cast and crew are amazing. Costumes made sure that we were warm and comfortable. Locations. Made sure that we were safe. We had harnesses to keep us, you know, not falling off the mountain. You know, our stunts persons were fantastic. We just rallied together and just dove right on in, and it was so much fun.

One of my favourite moments in Episode 4 has to be the reading of the bedtime story. You know, that was a lot of fun around the campfire, and it doesn’t end well, unfortunately, at the conclusion of episode four. But it was such a joy to play and to see the innies outside like literally, outside walking, and this all-black ensemble. And to know that Milchick put it all together, it’s like yeah, you know, so it’s fun. It was a blast.

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