Why Adam Scott Found The Severance Season 2 Finale Heartbreaking

Warning: This article contains spoilers for "Severance" season 2.

At the beginning of season 2 of Dan Erickson's semi-surreal anti-corporate sci-fi drama "Severance," Mark S. (Adam Scott) discovers that Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman), one of his co-workers at Lumon, is actually Gemma, Outie Mark's presumed-dead wife. Mark, recall, has had his mind "severed" by Lumon, which means he only has memories of his 9-to-5 job when he's at work. Outside of work, Mark has no memories of what happened while he was on the clock. The procedure allowed Lumon to hire both Mark and Gemma before putting them in a room together, assuring they wouldn't recognize each other. There is a further scandal, of course, in that Lumon seemingly faked Gemma's death for its own insidious purposes.

Over the course of the show's second season, Outie Mark not only learns that Gemma is alive but also aims to locate her and free her from Lumon's clutches. Innie Mark, however, has no feelings for Gemma and has instead been fostering a relationship with Helly R. (Britt Lower), one of his co-workers. Mark S. and Helly R. have technically only been alive for a year, so their relationship feels very high-school. Eventually, though, both Outie Mark and Innie Mark become aligned in a common goal to rescue Gemma.

At the end of "Severance" season 2, however, Innie Mark makes a choice. He is able to locate Gemma and, after a series of violent conflagrations, escorts her from the Lumon building. Gemma, finally standing outside a windowed door, is at last free. She remembers her life with Outie Mark and peers through the window, hoping he'll follow. Innie Mark, however, makes eye contact with Gemma and realizes that he cares more for Helly. The final shot of the season is Mark S. and Helly R. running through the hallways of the Lumon building's severed floor, hand-in-hand, with no goal in mind other than to stay together.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Scott talked about that ending and how heartbreaking it was, noting that the shooting conditions didn't make it any easier.

Scott recalled that the final scenes of season 2 were scheduled to be filmed right at the end of the show's shooting calendar. That meant everyone was worn out from multiple scenes of running and fighting. Scott had to be splashed with stage blood and might have already sustained a real concussion during a fight scene. When Gemma sees Innie Mark through the door, she starts pounding on it, pleading that he exit as well. Gemma breaks down when he turns away and runs toward Helly. It seems it took hours to film that sequence, making the scene's emotions that much more intense. As Scott put it:

"[It was filmed] right at the end of the shoot so we were all kind of depleted and tired — which was good for the scene I guess, but it was heartbreaking. Because Dichen was really pounding on that door for hours and hours, and it was awful. It was awful to see her there and what Gemma has come to mean to all of us. I think for Innie Mark at the end of the day, [Gemma] is someone he doesn't know in that way, and [if] he crosses that threshold, the life might be over. He doesn't quite know. [...] And he's madly in love with Helly so he had to make a choice."

The final shots of season 2, raw and ambiguous, would have made a fine ending to the series. One might suspect that Erickson conceived of such an ending just in case "Severance" was renewed for a third season. Luckily, "Severance" has become one of the most-watched shows in Apple TV+ history and will be returning for another season. Erickson and executive producer Ben Stiller have assured fans that their turnaround will be swift this time. There was, thanks to the dual writers and actors' strike in 2023, a three-year gap between seasons 1 and 2.