When Severance season 2 returns on January 17, 2025, it'll have been close to three years since I last saw the cliffhanger finale episode of one of the best Apple TV Plus shows. That's a long wait but fans have been busy, with many taking to social media to speculate what a new season might bring.
It has been a very long time since a TV series has had me as gripped as much as Severance, which is a real testament to the quality of Apple TV Plus Originals. So much so that we named it one of our best streaming services, a title it seriously deserves.
With the January release of Severance just months away, here are some of the leading unanswered questions and fan theories I've found online about the mystery Apple TV Plus series so far, including what Lumon Industries is really up to.
Full spoilers follow for Severance.
What is the purpose of Macrodata Refinement?
Lumon on the whole intrigues me, as I'm sure it does everyone who dives headfirst into Severance. We know very little about the company, ironically, just as little as the "outies" do. But since we spend a lot of time with Macrodata Refinement, often abbreviated to MDR, it is them I would love to see more from. What are they actually doing in there?
While there are plenty of theories floating about, I found a very compelling one on Reddit that suggests that they're actually trying to build an AI version of Kier Eagan to resurrect him. Here's a segment of this very detailed theory that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since I read it:
"Kier believed all people to be derived from the Four Tempers. His data would therefore be derived of the Four Tempers. Therefore, refiners must bin (separate) the numbers (code) underlying the Kier AI into the Four Tempers... Employees are severed so they do not inject their own personalities selves into Eagan."
Mind blown, right?
What they do at Lumon, and why severance is a requirement from r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus
Is Harmony Cobel okay?
Honestly, I don't think she is! That season one finale saw her having quite the breakdown after Lumon let her go, suggesting that she's dangerously invested in this company. We also know she is unsevered and keeps an eye on Mark as his neighbor, under the false name of Mrs. Selvig. Her life revolves around Lumon and I want to know why. She also seems to be very interested in Mark in particular. Yes, he's the boss of MDR but there seems to be more to it than that.
Much like Lumon, we hardly know anything about her backstory. There have been hints here and there, such as her graduating from Myrtle Eagan’s School for Girls, thanks to one Redditor sharing close-ups of her altar, which features little clues about Harmony's past.
With plenty left unanswered, Harmony is a character I will be keeping a close eye on during the season two premiere.
Altar's closeups: Harmony, the daughter of Charlotte Cobel, graduated from Myrtle Eagan school for girls. from r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus
Does Helly's outie actually support severance?
As we saw in the gripping season one finale, Helly's outie is actually Helena Eagan, the daughter of Lumon CEO Jame Eagan. She has been cold to her innie throughout, rejecting her request to leave the company and insulting her via videotape, but how much of that does she truly believe?
It is possible that Helena does not support severance but has no choice considering she is the daughter of Jame, and a huge part of this mysterious Eagan family. If she is indeed opposed to it, then she could become a key figurehead in season two.
There's an interesting Reddit theory to support this one too. People seem to believe that Helena Eagan is actually very lonely, perhaps sheltered, and we do see her reciting a lot of rehearsed lines like "We're all Kier's children", so how many of Helena's words are actually her own?
Helly's outie is lonely and has no friends whatsoever: A THEORY from r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus
Do Burt and Irving reconnect?
I still haven't forgiven Severance for the Burt and Irving heartbreak. John Turturro and Christopher Walken are glorious in these roles as two men from different departments, who connect and fall in love, only to be ripped away from each other when Burt's outie retires.
I wouldn't be surprised if Lumon forced him to do it, considering any sort of office romance is forbidden, and inter-departmental socializing seems to be a gray area too. If they caught word that Burt and Irving were sneaking around, it seems likely that they'd want to nip that in the bud as soon as possible.
Burt's retirement did seem to give the once bootlicking Irving a spine though, when he lashes out at Milchick and concludes he wants to "burn the place to the ground" (go Irving!). In equally heartbreaking scenes, he's seen knocking on the door of Burt's home in the outside world, but we don't know what happened before the override was disengaged. We did get a glimpse of Burt's outie's partner though, so that could cause some complications.
Will Dylan learn more about his family?
Dylan's story is breaking my heart. Much like Irving, he does go through a complete personality shift when he accidentally learns he has a son. This has caused his innie to go into an existential crisis, and the once comic relief character who was obsessed with winning prizes and cracking jokes is now a shell of his former self. It's one of the many, many ways Lumon can break a person.
Milchick has since weaponized Dylan's family too, even going as far as to tell him he has two others to try and make him stop Mark, Irving, and Helly from running riot on the outside. Dylan is now on a crusade to find out more about his outie and his family. Whether or not Milchick is being honest or if he's just trying to manipulate Dylan is another matter entirely, and I am keen to learn more about that.
