Not too long ago, I wrote about one of my father’s and my father-in-law’s favorite movies, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and it was directed by the one and only Ben Stiller.

However, I feel like even though Stiller has a rock solid filmography when it comes to movies that he’s directed, a vast majority of people still think of him as the fashion model, Derek Zoolander (Which he also directed), or as the bumbling lead in the Meet the Parents series (which we’re getting a fourth movie soon starring Ariana Grande, by the way).

But, like other prominent actors/directors, such as Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, and Jodie Foster, I think we need to celebrate Ben Stiller’s directing career as well, since I don’t think nearly enough people talk about it.

First Off, His Directorial Debut, Reality Bites, Still Resonates With Gen X

There are a select few directors who make a great, career-defining movie on their first try, and then there are directors who make good, fairly competent movies on their first attempt, and 1994’s Reality Bites fits somewhere closer to the latter. However, this is coming from a Millennial. When Reality Bites came out, I was only 11 years old, and so I didn’t even see it when it first debuted.

Do you know who did, though? My Gen-X, older sister, and this is a movie that’s a lot more catered to people like her than it is to people like me. For Generation X, Reality Bites has become a bit of a cult movie that resonates with them, and I can see why.

Starring Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofalo (Does it get more ‘90s than her?), and Ben Stiller, Reality Bites is about an aspiring documentarian (Ryder) who’s just trying to get her name out there and forge relationships, namely with Ethan Hawke, who plays a guitarist. It’s all about struggling after college to make a way for yourself, and it certainly feels like a time capsule.

That said, it’s important that it DOES feel like a time capsule - one that perfectly encapsulates the anxieties and struggles of being a recent adult in the ‘90s. It may not entirely speak to me, but for a certain demographic, this feels like it was specifically made for them, and it was Stiller’s directorial debut. A generational cult classic? Quite the start.

You Want Silly Movies? Check. You Want Dark Comedies? Check Again.

I mentioned earlier that Stiller directed Zoolander (both movies) and that's about as silly as it gets. And, when it comes to early 2000s films, I think a lot of people will tell you that the first Zoolander is an important comedy for just how absurd it is. Honestly, when I think of early 2000s comedies, Zoolander is right up there with movies like Wedding Crashers, Old School, and Dodgeball, when it comes to overall silly comedies.

However, the first Ben Stiller-directed movie that I ever saw wasn't Reality Bites, but rather, a pitch-black dark comedy starring Jim Carrey. Now, Jim Carrey WAS my childhood, and I watched him in pretty much everything back in the ‘90s. Carrey was always an expert in playing weirdos, and that's what I was accustomed to seeing whenever my dad would take me to see Jim Carrey movies.

But, by 1996, I was 13-years-old and could see PG-13 movies on my own, which is just what I did when I saw that year's Jim Carrey movie, The Cable Guy. That said, The Cable Guy wasn't like other Carrey films, as he wasn't just weird in this one. He was creepy!

In this story, Carrey plays an obsessive cableman just looking for a friend. His idea of “friendship” verges on being an outright stalker, and Carrey is funny, but also genuinely unsettling. Plus, the crazy thing is, the same guy who developed the “Blue Steel” face in Zoolander is also the same guy who made Carrey creepily sing “Somebody to Love” by Jefferson Airplane. Now that's what I call directorial range!

Plus, I Don't Think It Should Be Understated Just What A Risk-Taking Movie Tropic Thunder Actually Was

People are always talking about “movies that could never be made today” (though the recent Scary Movie's whole schtick was about being as politically incorrect as possible…and audiences approved). Do you know one movie that I genuinely do think was pretty audacious upon its release? 2008’s Tropic Thunder, which was Stiller's fourth directorial effort.

The story of actors filming a war movie who are actually dropped off into a real war zone, Tropic Thunder is absurd to the nth degree, but also has a genuine, IDGAF, punk rock attitude that is wholly unique and impressive for its time, and still today, really.

Yes, everybody remembers it for Robert Downey Jr. as a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude, but the dirty (and some might even say “mean-spirited”) jokes in this movie really are quite shocking. Especially for modern audiences.

Which I think is really cool. Given the safe comedy that Ben Stiller typically stars in, one would probably not imagine that he would make a vulgar movie like Tropic Thunder, but he did, and we're all the better for it.

And Television! Can I Talk About Severance?

For a while now, television has been a great second home for filmmakers to explore more long-form, versatile projects, and I think one would be hard-pressed to find a more versatile project than Severance (when are we getting Season 3, by the way?), which is probably one of the most inventive sci-fi shows in the past 10 years.

The gem of Apple TV, Severance is all about work/life balance, and the mysteries in-between. At times darkly funny, but also strangely eerie (even verging on creepy), Severance is the brainchild of Dan Erickson, but a lot of the series is directed by Ben Stiller, and it shows!

Adam Scott - who was also in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - is our protagonist, and Stiller does a great job of showing how work can both give one’s life purpose but also be life-draining, and he handles the mystery of what’s really going on extremely well.

Severance is just another example of how we can’t quite peg what kind of director Ben Stiller wants to be, which is really rewarding for somebody who follows his work.

In The End, Stiller Will Likely Always Be Known For Comedic Roles, But He Is One Hell Of A Director

As I hope you can see, if you scroll through Stiller’s filmography, you’ll find a number of comedic performances in the Actor column. However, if you check out his Director column, you’ll see just how versatile he’s always been.

From cult movies to silly comedies to dark comedies, to TV work (Let’s not forget The Ben Stiller Show), Stiller has definitely made a name for himself as a director if you’re looking.

Which is important, because again, I don’t think “Director” is the first word that comes to most people’s minds when they think of Ben Stiller, but it should be, since he’s one of the greats.

So, out of all of the projects that he’s directed, which one’s your favorite? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Backrooms reviews have touched on influences from Twin Peaks to The Blair Witch Project. In fact, a lot of people are grappling to fit the new movie into a not-so-neat box, but the thing that stood out to me most when I got to preview the new A24 movie during an early screening was how much it felt like the world construed in Severance. As it turns out, I was not off my rocker thinking this. There is absolutely a reason it reminded me so much of the Apple TV+ show.

My main memories of watching Severance with my Apple TV+ subscription involve Adam Scott’s Mark entering an elevator and spending time in a long, convoluted and winding network of office spaces and rooms. Everything is stark and clean, yet eerie, and while Severance lacks the distinct yellow palette Backrooms spotlights over and over again, the seemingly never-ending yet faintly claustrophobic spaces feel alike. I don’t think anything made this more clear than that scene with Adam Scott running in the opening sequence for Season 2.

Without giving much away, there's a similar scene with Renate Reinsve that also gave me the same vibes. The look of both projects is actually similar by design, but it was the Apple series that was first emulating the creepypasta project that predated the 2026 movie release.

Severance screenwriter Dan Erickson confirmed the influence the online phenomenon had on the series to Inverse a while back, though at the time he had to kind of explain what it was:

Backrooms as a concept feels like it’s gone on forever, but its origins only came on a 4Chan creepypasta thread back in 2019. The urban legend grew, as Kane Parsons created a viral online video series. That then became a movie and attracted some major talent, including Chiwetel Ejiofor. The Backrooms trailer amped up the creep factor considerably, but seeing the movie is its own experience, and one that is ultimately different than Severance, despite their being some uncanny stylistic similarities.

Honestly, it’s nice to know I’m not just spouting random conspiracy theories, and there is a connection to the two projects, confirmed by the Severance creator himself. He also cited some additional pop culture formats like The Office and, less obviously, The Truman Show as influences on the series.

Ultimately, The Backrooms is its own beast, filled with weird doors and monstrosities seemingly copied from memories. While Severance is similarly uncanny, it's more of a thriller and less straight horror than the new movie, but hey, that could always change now the show's renewed for Season 3! (Though we may not be getting it on the 2026 TV schedule).

As for Backrooms, you can catch it in theaters now.

The Met Gala is always a feast for the eyeballs, in both the best, worst, and in-between-y senses of that phrase. It's where the most fashionable celebrities can flaunt their most off-kilter looks, often with personal attachments to their obsession-worthy choices. (Throwback to Diana Ross' 2025 dress that stole Zendaya's attention.) It should come as no surprise that Game of Thrones and Wednesday vet Gwendoline Christie showed up dressed to im-motherf--kin-press on the 2026 Met Gala red carpet.

This year's theme, "Costume Art," was primed to bring out the best in Hollywood and beyond, with the dress code being "Fashion is Art." Everything about Christie's look is oozing artfulness, but it's also more than a little Severance-coded if you know what I'm saying. Be in awe of the gorgeousness below.

Just to address the bleating goat in the room, for those who may not be into Severance (you monsters), Gwendoline Christie's look puts me in that show's mindset given her mask accessory that resembles her face more than just a little bit. But is the person we see the Innie, with the mask representing the Outie, or vice versa? I mean, it's probably the other way, since I doubt the Met Gala would have Lumon's chip technology installed.

Or would they...?

Also, just to throw it out there, the blue and green being next to each other on her headpiece could certainly represent Severance's MDR (blue) and O&D (green). With the red being a callback to the final shot of the Season 2 finale. But maybe that's just me reading too much into things while feeling hangry for Season 3 updates.

So to actually speak to Christie's influences for her visual splendor, she told Vogue that the dress was inspired by artist John Singer Sargent, surrealist photographer Madame Yevonde, and photographer/poet Ira Cohen. Their influences show up in the streak of dark red running down the front of the dress, as well as the mermaid shape and tight waist.

The dress can be more directly credited to the actress' longtime designer Giles Deacon, who also presented the idea of turning Gwendoline Christie's own face into the mask that brought the ensemble together. But the one who actually crafted the mask was Gillian Wearing. Here's how the UK native explained it:

Interestingly enough, Christie wasn't the only one on the Met Gala red carpet rocking a unique mask, though Katy Perry was sporting a more reflective look with her headgear. Plus, it doesn't make me think of Severance, so that's an automatic strike against, amirite?

Find Gwendoline Christie's most esoteric performance yet in Severance's second season streaming via Apple TV subscription. And here's hoping we'll see more from her Department of Mammalians Nurturable supervisor Lorne when Season 3 comes around.

Severance has become something of a phenomenon in the last few years, and surely, Adam Scott feels this on the daily. I can just envision fans approaching him – probably to ask him about when Season 3 is coming after that jaw-dropping finale we can’t stop talking about. When CinemaBlend got to chat with the actor, he revealed one normal thing in life that has been elevated thanks to starring in the Apple TV original.

You can see Scott in the latest of upcoming horror movies, Hokum, which has the actor once again trying to get out of tight spaces. With that in mind, when I asked the actor if he’s starting to develop a weird relationship with elevators between the new release and Severance, he said this:

Can you imagine being in an elevator with Adam Scott? Of course, if you’ve watched Severance, you know Mark moves from his “outie” to his “innie” while being in one of these tight contraptions. As he told me, when he finds himself sharing an elevator with a fan, they usually bring the connection up. It's an odd place to have a fan encounter, sure, but it's totally on brand for the show.

In Hokum, Scott plays a famous novelist who decides to venture to a boutique hotel in Ireland to spread the ashes of his parents. They honeymooned in the same hotel, and he thought it would be a good tribute for them. However, when an employee of the hotel goes missing mysteriously (after saving his character’s life, actually) he finds himself stuck there amidst haunting forces. I don't want to give too much away, but tight spaces are involved.

In fact, there's one scene where he finds himself stuck in a dumbwaiter – basically a very small elevator used to move food, laundry and such. When mentioning the connection, Scott had this to say:

That, or… he’ll take the stairs more often. But, this is Adam Scott we’re talking about. He’s a complete delight, and just as much of a movie/TV nerd as we are. We definitely don’t see him running from any mentions of Hokum anytime soon given how acclaimed the movie already is. It recently debuted with a very impressive 91% from critics reviews, with people saying it “a seriously scary masterpiece” and “a good old-fashioned ghost story."

The movie comes from writer/director Damien McCarthy, who previously made Caveat in 2020 and Oddity in 2024. You can descend into the terrors of Hokum when it hits theaters on May 1.

One of the biggest detriments to the entire 2026 TV schedule, if not all of existence, is that we can’t properly look forward to Severance Season 3 showing up anywhere on it. Thankfully, however, the new episodes are closer than ever to coming together, with the latest production window set to kick off very soon, and star Adam Scott is as jazzed as anyone to bring the (assumedly) penultimate season to life. Perhaps even more so, since he already knows how it all ends.

Scott’s acting achievements were celebrated over the weekend, as he was on-hand to receive the Canal+ Icon award at Canneseries, where he spoke to Variety about initially vying for the dual-performance role of Mark Scout, and why it has been a testament to everything he’s wanted to do across his career. He also spoke excitedly about the upcoming season, since he’s already feasted on those scripts. Here's what he said when asked about his knowledge of Severance's future.

Speaking about Season 3 specifically, Adam Scott couldn't exactly dip into spoilers, but it really doesn't take much to send me up the hallway walls with anticipation.

Obviously the first two seasons were amazing due to all of the surprises and bazonkers reveals that popped up, from all things goat-related to Gemma's tragic experiences as a Lumon experiment. So simply hearing that Season 3 will have surprises is kind of a no-brainer. But like...the absolute best kind of no-brainer.

This is exactly like hearing Dylan's "The egg bar is coveted as f--k," because of course the assumption is that a corporate-crafted egg bar is going to be choice, but calling it "coveted as f--k" goes beyond...okay, maybe those two things aren't exactly the same. But I'm too giddy to worry about making that much sense at the moment. Not quite "Irving standing on Bert's doorstep" giddy, but close.

Adam Scott also shared his thoughts on Severance's fandom sharing quite a lot of the same Venn diagram space as fans of David Lynch and Mark Frost's Twin Peaks. At least in thematic terms of mysterious locations, mysterious deaths (or not-deaths), and oddball characters in hyper-normalized settings. As Scott put it:

Of course, Twin Peaks was infamously forced by network execs into revealing the answer to its core "Who Killed Laura Palmer?" mystery in the middle of its second season. It never recovered, critically or ratings-wise, and was thereafter canceled, to be followed by the film Fire Walk with Me and the revival series Twin Peaks: The Return.

Severance, which totally needs to add a Log Lady to the Severed Floor, has thankfully avoided any kind of similar fate thus far, and has continued to pile on intriguing mysteries even as other are answered. Even things that don't qualify as mysteries, such as whose side Ms. Cobel will be on in Season 3, are worthy of the same amount of speculation, which is a sign of a great show, at least in my (kind) eyes.

The big question I'm taking from Scott's comments, however, is how much fans should read into the actor bringing up The Sopranos' ending while addressing the Apple TV series. As he put it:

Honestly, if a third season was never in the cards, then I think Severance Season 2's finale succeeds in inspiring a somewhat similar angst-ridden need to know exactly what happened in the next few seconds as The Sopranos' much-debated ending did. Which doesn't guarantee that Dan Erickson and the creative team don't have a similar idea up their collective sleeves, but I'm hoping Scott's comparison just means fans are going to talk about Severance's ending a lot after it's over.

Even just saying "after it's over" makes me want to have a meltdown, like finding out I'm a first-draft invite to Ricken's next dinner party. Never that. Please, God, never that.

Severance Season 3 is set to start filming in mid-2026, and will hopefully be streaming via Apple TV subscription before Disney or Netflix has bought a majority share in Lumon.

TV cliffhangers don’t usually shape the way I feel about life for the next year and a half, but Mark’s choice in Severance’s Season 2 finale — see also: everything else in the ep — has been ratting around inside my non-chipped brain ever since I initially streamed it via Apple TV subscription. Seriously, the wait for Severance Season 3 has been a nightmare already, so I couldn’t be more excited that there’s a relatively positive update to cling onto.

Perhaps even more interesting than the news itself, however, is the Severance star who shared it: John Turturro, whose character Irving notably exited the season prior to the finale in part due to his outside-of-Lumon communication with Christopher Walken’s Burt Goodman. Speaking with Collider, Turturro was asked if the previously rumored production window for Season 3 was still set for April, to which he shared:

This is one of those rare cases where an actor shares an update that’s actually worse than what was originally thought, and yet it still balances out to be a net positive. I halfway assumed that a spring start would be too early, but hoped that filming wouldn’t need to wait that much longer afterward. As such, July feels like it’s right in the pocket, though it means filming likely won’t end until early 2027, and episodes likely won’t be ready for premiere until six months after that.

Still, while it may seem like I’d be saying the above with a negative tone, I’m trying really hard to keep my smile turned up and my chipperness at a maximum, even though Turturro claims he’s been kept out of the loop on plot details during the hiatus. When asked, he responded with:

That makes all of us, John! Head writer Dan Erikson shared the update in January that he was in the thick of scripting out the third season, which followed the disappointing previous update that Ben Stiller is stepping away from director duties on Severance in order to focus more on other projects. But as far as any kind of story details, it's been a vacuum.

That said, the Emmy-winning actor did voice the idea that he's built up his own kind of backstory for Irv in his head, and he believes the character's life outside of Lumon is completely different and isn't what fans might expect. Granted, he also pointed out that his ideas aren't based on anything official from the creative team, so they may not pan out. But let's engage in some theories about ol' Irv's future.

My Rapid-Fire Irv Theories For Severance Season 3

Given comments Turturro made in the past about Severance's long and stressful production, I wouldn't have been too surprised if Irving didn't return after getting on that train with his loyal pup. It would have required a lot of second-hand exposition from other characters, but given all the other possible changes happening with other characters, losing Irv didn't feel like the most outrageous outcome.

But now that we know for sure he'll be back, let's put on our speculation caps with matching ascots and throw out some predictions for how Irv will return to the story.

• Mr. Milchick will call Irving back in to try and talk sense into Mark and Helly. - I can totally see this one happening, since Trammell Tillman's character has resorted to requesting help from outies in the past.
• Burt will have second thoughts about sending Irving away, and will drive to bring him back to Kier. - This seems less likely, given the somewhat dark implications teased for Walken's character, but there's no denying the kinetic connection between the two men, despite one having a spouse in the outside world.
• Iriving will spend the early part of Season 3 investigating Lumon in the outside world. - A fairly likely scenario, especially if no one in Kier actually knows how to get in touch with Irving. Given all of the research material he had locked up in his trunk at home, it seems like Irving has sunk some time into this effort already, but hasn't quite cracked it yet.
• Irving and Eustice Huang will cross paths and team up in the quest to take Lumon down. - Can't say I feel overly confident about this one, mainly because I have no idea how long it takes to get to the Gunnel Eagan Empathy Center, or how long she would need to be there. Plus, other than her antagonism with Mr. Milchick, Sarah Bock's Ms. Huang seemed to be pretty tapped into the Kier way of thinking, without much sympathy for innies.
• Irving will revisit whatever trauma that inspired him get severed. Possibly a doubled-edged sword of an answer, since part of me fully believes that a scandalous prior work relationship with Burt is what led to Innie Irv. So I'm not entirely sure how he could research that without going right back to Burt's house after the train ride. Maybe Irving will find a way to talk to Burt's hubby Fields and get his information that way, rather than directly.

I could spend at least the next hour coming up with more ideas for where Irving's story is going, and that's not even looking in the direction of all the other characters, much less digging into any theories on that front. I'm ready to spend the rest of the afternoon envisioning various outcomes for Mark, Helly and Gemma, but alas, there are other things to do. Such as create a massive paper-chain leading up to the Season 3 premiere.

Both seasons of Severance are currently available to stream on Apple TV.

Spoilers ahead for Severance Season 2. Stream the series with your Apple TV subscription to keep the mysterious and important cliffhanger ending from being ruined for you.

Nearly a year has passed since Mark S. made that heartbreaking choice in the Severance Season 2 finale, leaving Gemma shouting from the stairwell and running away with Helly R. in an act of defiance against their Outies. The show and its cast have gotten some love this awards season, including Britt Lower for her dual Innie/Outie roles. While we wait for Severance Season 3, let’s look back at the fun story of how Lower was cast and how a sweet potato was involved.

Several of Severance’s stars are responsible for playing both sides of their characters’ severed personalities, but Britt Lower may have been in the most challenging position, switching from Lumon boss Helena Eagan to free-spirited Helly and even Helena pretending to be Helly. Back in 2020, though, Lower wasn't sure she'd get the part. She said she knew it was a long shot, but that the pilot script was the “best one [she’d] ever read,” so she submitted an audition tape anyway. Her expectations weren’t high, as Lower told THR:

Even when her audition earned her a callback and chemistry read with Adam Scott, Britt Lower said she tried not to get too attached to Helly, despite feeling a strong kinship with her. So when she got the call that the role was hers, the actress was so surprised she fell to her knees and cried. She said:

Britt Lower said the call came from her agent, lawyer and manager while she was in the middle of roasting a sweet potato, and that such a gathering can mean either really good or really bad news. Thankfully for her, it was the former, and as she reacted to what would be the life-changing job with tears and laughter, she was asked what she was going to do to celebrate. Lower responded:

Maybe in the spirit of her character’s Eagan lineage, she could have thrown a nice hardboiled egg in there, but I do love that she didn’t let a good sweet potato go to waste.

Five years and two seasons of Severance later, the acclaim Britt Lower has earned from the role includes an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe nomination, amongst other recognition. I can’t imagine plot-wise where Season 3 might take us or when that might happen — it definitely won’t be ready in time for the 2026 TV schedule — but I am so invested in Mark and Helly’s story, and I can’t wait to see what Lower has in store for the character.

2025 was one of my favorite years of television because it’s the year I (and many others) went three degrees beyond apeshit for Severance Season 2 after a three-year wait that felt more like 30. Thankfully, the presumably long wait for the in-the-works Season 3 across the 2026 TV schedule was made slightly less painful thanks to The Simpsons’ solid half-parody episode, fit-rightingly called “Seperance,” that was filled to the Gil (Gunderson) with easter eggs for fans to gawk over.

My expectations were admittedly kept low on purpose before watching, as I didn’t want to set myself up for disappointment. Thankfully, “Seperance” stands alongside Season 37’s superb “Treehouse of Horror” ep that sent up Late Night with the Devil among The Simpsons’ more recent pop culture spoofs that hit the upper echelon. (I can’t speak for how it hit for non-Macrodats, though.) Check out all, or at least the majority of, the A+ references peppered throughout the episode. (SPOILER WARNING for anyone who hasn’t yet watched on Fox or via Hulu subscription / Disney+ subscription.)

The Ms. Cobel-esque Consonance And The Lumon-ish Enthusiasm On Demand

Julianne Moore served as the voice of the jargon-spewing Consonance, a lower-nuance take on Patricia Arquette's Ms. Harmony Cobel. The company Enthusiasm On Demand is a more extroverted version of Lumon, and even though we've never heard of this century-old company in Springfield before, it clearly has the same kind of surveillance capabilities that Lumon does. How else could Consonance have had an eye on Homer at the bowling alley?

Later in the episode, Consonance taps into the Innie/Outie dynamic by saying EOD's workers are "Uppies," and that their less-energetic home selves are "Downies."

Super-Specific Snacks As Perks

Much as Lumon fills its vending machines with prepackaged sustenance like nuts, dried fruits, and cubed meats, with Season 2 upping that to include fruit leather, cut beans, Christmas mints, and salsa. The Simpsons features the above bee capsules, as well as pickled blueberries (that are a li'l pickled) and candied squid ink.

Riffing On Severance's Piano Theme

One cannot think of Severance without also hearing Teddy Shapiro's welcomed earworm theme, and this episode played that up winningly, and used it with a similar frequency. Severance never actually showed anyone playing a piano, though I wouldn't doubt that Choreography and Merriment has one somewhere in the building.

EOD's Exterior Mirrors Lumon's, Springfield Geography Be Damned

I couldn't tell you exactly where EOD is supposed to be located in or around Springfield, but I do love that this just adds another bonkers piece of geography for fans to puzzle over. It's also fitting, given Severance has yet to reveal where the town of Kier is located.

The Giant Face In The Lobby

One of Lumon's most eye-catching features is the massive wall depicting founder Kier Egan's face. I love that this was only seen in the episode for a second or two, but that everyone involved still took the time to craft it and other totally new and non-reusable locations. It matters.

The Haunting Hallway Portraits

A send-up of the bloody and war-torn portraits canonically created by Lumon merely to instill foul feelings between MDR and O&D workers. (Not that it helped.) I'd love to get this actual poster for my house, To-Be-Determined Website That Does Such Things.

Homer Gets An Elevator Zolly Shot

One of Severance's signature pops is the zoomed dolly (zolly) shot of characters going from Innie to Outtie, or vice versa, in the Lumon elevator, combined with the choppy audio sting. Homer (and later Marge) get their own versions here, even though there aren't actually any implants being affected. Oops, I'm skipping ahead.

Even beyond the idea of Work Self and Non-Work Self, Severance also threw in the haunting AF concept of shadow versions of Team MDR during the ORTBO excursion. I'm very grateful that this Other Homer's big difference is having hair, and not that he's a weird misshapen monster.

Zach Cherry Voices A Diamond Desk Co-Worker

First, Severance star Zach Cherry is one of the guest stars, which is less of an easter egg, and more of an Easter basket full of candy, since the actor is excellent at all times. His animated character Farley perhaps strangely doesn't specifically spoof live-action's Dylan G., but he's still a true friend to Homer.

Also, another A+ animated addition (that was technically shown empty earlier in the episode) is the custom-made "diamond desk" workstation where Mark, Helly, Irv and Dylan do their number-sorting. I'd be remiss not to bring up the green carpet, as well as the outdated computers and other tech. Dot matrix printers with perforated edges? Yes, please.

EOD Gives Employees Walnut Parties

Lumon is quite the people-pleaser for its various food-themed parties, and one of Severance's all-time best quotes is Dylan's "The egg bar is coveted as fuck." Naturally, EOD follows suit and offers...walnut parties. With such selections as "whole walnuts," "walnut halves" and "mixed whole and half walnuts." I'm starting to want some of those bee capsules now.

Woe And Contrition Corner

Another layered reference here. Much like Lumon makes employees repeat guilt-assuming statements to the point of misery, EOD seems to have a less traumatic approach: a stool in a corner for reflecting.

Beyond that, "woe" is a very important concept in the sci-fi-ish thriller. It's one of Kier Eagan's "Tempers," and inspired the name of Woe's Hollow, the waterfall-adorned destination for the ORTBO trip, as well as the title of that episode. (And yes, I almost counted the waterfall the family visited early in the ep.)

Duffman Is A Petey Surrogate

Duffman, one of the ep's consistent highlights, shows up later in the episode all disheveled and confused, referencing Yul Vasquez's former Lumon employee Petey. Later, an even more direct reference is made when Duffman shows the scar where he'd removed his non-existent implant, just as Cobel did to the existing implant in Petey's corpse.

Lisa Actually Referencing Severance

This isn't much of an easter egg, either, but rather a fourth wall-shattering namecheck alongside amusing spoof titles. I dunno that I'd call Severance a puzzlebox show, since there's a whole building at play.

Homer And Marge Are Dressed Like Mark And Helly

Once Marge is convinced to jump aboard EOD, she dons a green-leaning sweater and skirt that looks very familiar next to Homer's blue suit. I mean, Marge S/Mark S and Helly R/HomeR are basically the same.

Lumon Has Goats, But EOD Maybe Has Human-Breeding Kangaroos

For all the human characters that make Severance, the goats are also, well, GOATs. The Simpsons spun that by having the kids and Duffman find a room with an interruption-hating kangaroo feeding a human baby via bottle. What's in that bottle?! What's behind that other door?!

Running Down Red Hallways

Season 2's harrowing finale delivered some of the show's most arresting visuals thanks to those blinking red lights, and this episode even evokes that imagery when the kangaroo rats them out.

Most Of The Lumon CEOs' First Names Are Used

The Hall of Perpituity is where Lumon employees go to learn more about the presigious line of former CEOs, and most of EOD's past execs share the same first names.

• Kier Eagan / Kier Puzzlebox
• Ambrose Eagan / Ambrose Worldbuilding
• Myrtle Eagan / Myrtle Backstory
• Baird Eagan / Baird Retcon
• Gerhardt Eagan / Gerhardt Rethink
• Phillip Pip Eagan / Phillin Timeline
• Leonora Eagan / ??
• Jame Eagan / Jame Overthink

The main change was for the gag "Phillin Timeline," and I'm going to allow it.

Much like Kier Egan was revealed to have his own animatronic, and one that is somehow able to put on scripted comedic skits with Mr. Milchick, EOD's The Visionary is also a slow-moving bot. No laugh track, though.

Praise N.R.O.I.!

Throughout "Separance," characters voice their version of Lumon's cultish "Praise Kier" motto. But instead of them praising someone named Enroy, it's actually an abbreviation for "Net Return On Investment," as EOD is actually just a normal greed-based business, and not one invested in secret surgeries and other possibly nefarious acts.

Did I miss any of the references? Let me know, and get lost with Lumon by streaming both seasons of Severance via Apple TV subscription.

The start of the 2026 TV schedule marks the first anniversary of Severance Season 2, and it serves as a reminder that Season 3 is coming (hopefully sooner rather than later). That notion came to the front of my mind again recently, too, as the show’s creator opened up about writing the new episodes and the feeling he’s gotten working on them. Now, I’m somehow even more excited for Season 3 of Severance.

After having a great run at the 2025 Emmys, the Severance cast and crew have been seen at various award shows this winter. At the Critics’ Choice Awards, Us Weekly caught up with Dan Erickson, the show’s creator, and asked if he had any updates about Season 3. In response, he revealed how he’s felt writing it, explaining:

Well, that’s exciting! That kind of feeling is exactly what I want when I watch TV, and it’s exactly what I’ve felt on multiple occasions watching Severance with my Apple TV subscription. I certainly felt it at the end of Season 2, specifically, as Erickson cited.

It’s been almost a year since Mark and Helly ran back into the building and left Gemma on the other side of the door, and yes, I’m still thinking about it. In fact, I’ve found myself in passionate debates with people about Mark’s choice that weren’t dissimilar to Amy Poehler’s back and forth with Adam Scott about the topic.

So, if Season 3 features even more moments like that, count me in! I mean, I was already in; however, this statement has 100% reignited my anticipation for Severance. According to Dan Erickson, there will be tons of those instances too, as he reiterated:

Now, as of right now, we don’t know much at all about Season 3 of Severance. We know that Ben Stiller won’t be directing this season, and he’s been candid about how long it takes to make this show. Currently, there’s no word on when new episodes will come out. However, I’m optimistic that we won’t have to wait as long as we did for Season 2.

That’s not confirmed. However, there were strikes between seasons last time. So with that out of the picture, I feel OK guessing that we won’t have to wait three years for Season 3.

Overall, I’m just happy that progress is being made. Erickson is clearly hard at work and very pleased with where Severance is going. The first two seasons rock, and the jaw-dropping moments have truly stuck with me, so for him to say Season 3 has even more of them increases my excitement tenfold.

So, now the wait is really on, because we really need to get back to Lumon.

No show on the 2025 TV schedule made my brain work in the way Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin’s The Chair Company did, and me thinks it real good thing. Ahem, I mean to say, I think it’s a net positive that in a world of overabundant, same-y programming, a show can exist that blends together conspiracy thriller intrigue with absurdist comedy timing and sympathetic family drama into one 30-minute time slot. But, now it’s over, at least until Season 2 gets here.

I can’t just make my entire life revolve around Tecca the way Ron did, though, so in between theorizing over finale questions and pondering which moments from the show might have been in Ron’s head, I started thinking about other shows I love where Tim Robinson’s signature off-kilter vibes would be amazing to see. Maybe if I think about all of them hard enough, at least one will actually happen!

Tim Robinson In Severance

If you're talking conspiratorial mysteries where all of the deviousness goes straight to the top, there's no better match than Severance, which just so happens to feature a lot of office chairs. Nearly everyone in the Apple TV series can be considered quirky in one way or another, but imagine if Lumon brought in a Tim Robinson character as one of Mr. Milchick's superiors who's barely coping with the responsibilities and has a habit of talking about secrets too loudly. Or, on the flip-side, if the SNL vet were to play Ricken Hale's less-grounded brother, or the darkest blight of a sheep in the Eagan family.

Tim Robinson In IT: Welcome To Derry

IT: Welcome to Derry's first season features both a monster who feeds on fear and a soldier who can no longer physiologically feel fear. But what if Robinson was cast as one of the kids in a future season where — stay with me here — the character is just kind of too...stupid...to understand what fear is, and doesn't fully understand that Pennywise and IT's other forms are meant to be threatening or intimidating. Also, maybe he's a dentist who tries to get a better look at all of Pennywise's teeth.

Tim Robinson In Abbott Elementary

In some ways, it might defeat the purpose for Robinson to join another flat-out comedy, given the strength of The Chair Company's genre-smooshing. However, of all the weird-ass characters that the I Think You Should Leave creator has played on that show and others, he hasn't technically portrayed a new teacher who gets increasingly paranoid and maniacal about constantly being filmed at all hours of the day. Not even Jacob's good nature could weather that storm.

Tim Robinson In The Pitt

Hospital dramas are an ever-present corner of the TV realm, and I can think of few things that would cause more (unwarranted) drama within a hospital's walls than literally any Tim Robinson character. Whether he's a patient, a visiting surgeon, a stressed-out nurse, or just the dude who restocks the vending machines, he would be the straw grenade strapped to the camel's back that causes Dr. Robby to snap at the tail end of an exhaustive shift.

Tim Robinson In The Boys

To see a suited-up Robinson standing toe to toe with Homelander and proudly expressing: "Oh, I have a power, and it's a great power." Maybe that "ability" would be the inability to filter his opinions around other supes, and he can't stop himself from magnifying everyone else's awfulness, especially The Deep, but with a jovial tone.

Tim Robinson In The Simpsons

Get any thoughts of an animated, Simpson-ized Robinson outta here, because there are only three-dimensional, skin-and-organs Tim Robinson characters on the docket today. (And the docket is steaming wet for some reason.) To be as realistic as I'm legally able to mid-article, it would make the most sense for him to show up in the opening credit sequence, nearly bumping into everyone as they go about their normal actions. Watch out for that glowing, radioactive rod, Tim's character!

Tim Robinson In Dexter: Resurrection

It's too MAD Magazine to suggest Robinson play a character with a Dark Passenger that drives his guilty pleasures. But it would be damned hilarious if one of the unseen killers Dexter starts tracking down in Season 2 winds up being a Tim Robinson character whose behavior is patently impossible for Michael C. Hall's character to decipher. Then he kills Dexter and takes over the show. Steal this idea, Clyde Phillips!

Tim Robinson On Jeoaprdy!

I know that the contestant's stories are edited down to size for airing in the middle of Jeopardy!'s first round, but I can easily fever-dream up an episode where a loquacious Tim Robinson character waxes on with a myriad-threaded tale that takes up the rest of the runtime and continues on into Wheel of Fortune or the local news like an Adult Swim infomercial that Ken Jennings forgot he wasn't supposed to feed after midnight. We'll never know who won that one.

I have roughly 0% confidence that any of my above wishes will come true, even though I laid them out quite clearly to this Tim Robinson-shaped genie that popped out of this new lamp I got. And no, you can't have my new lamp!

Season 2 of Severance was about as well-received as the first. It gave fans some answers while also providing plenty of twists, but one of the most fun came early in Season 2, when we were introduced to the voice of the Lumon building, and we discovered that it sounds exactly like Keanu Reeves. However, the John Wick actor wasn't Ben Stiller's first pick for the role, and his reaction to learning that said first pick was Barack Obama was incredible.

Keanu Reeve's Severance Role Was Offered To Barack Obama

In a recent appearance on the New Heights podcast, Keanu Reeves was asked about the fact that Ben Stiller had revealed he had initially offered the role of the Lumon building to Barack Obama. It turned out the John Wick star had no idea. Keanu said simply…

So, the Kelce brothers got to break the news to Keanu Reeves that he wasn’t the first choice for the voice of the claymation Lumon building.

A lot of actors might be disappointed that they weren’t the first choice and only got the role after somebody else turned it down. Reeves, however, takes it all in stride. While he initially seems to feel bad that he was a second choice, he ultimately decides that he doesn’t care that he wasn’t the first pick. He’s just happy he got the job. Reeves said…

Keanu has found some incredible success being the second choice in the past. It's now a well-known story that he only got the call for The Matrix after Will Smith turned the role down. Clearly, he doesn't take offense at being a second choice, and it's simply a fact that many iconic roles came about after other actors said no.

Ben Stiller Explained How He Wanted Barack Obama In Severance

Back in March, Stiller relayed the story of how he actually asked Barack Obama if he would perform the voice-over that Reeves ultimately ended up doing. While Obama apparently has an Apple TV+ subscription, as he's a fan of the series, he was unable to do it because former Presidents are really busy. Stiller said on Jimmy Kimmel Live!…

Keanu Reeves has an amazing voice and ended up being a great choice for Severance. That said, I will now always wonder about what we could have heard, because Barack Obama could have been incredible in the role.

Perhaps, if Barack Obama’s schedule opens up, there will be future opportunities for him in Season 3 of Severance. He says he likes the show, so it sounds like he’d be willing. If not, I’m sure Keanu Reeves will be happy to fill in.

A year has passed since Shōgun made its dramatic sweep as one of the 2024 Emmy Awards’ biggest winners, which means it’s once again time to honor television’s best. And I can think of no better way to personally honor all of this year’s Emmy-nominated entities than by live-blogging the ceremony and sharing roughly 75-85% of my waking thoughts during that runtime.

The night could easily be dominated by Apple shows, with Severance and The Studio earning the most nominations of any series that didn't feature Colin Farrell in prosthetics, though that still didn’t stop the TV Academy from making an early mistake involving Seth Rogen. In any case, I’m expecting to hear a lot of “Thank you, Sal Saperstein” on the stage tonight, and if everyone just limited their appreciation to just that one line, then Nate Bargatze’s plan to keep speeches short wouldn’t even need to be put into action.

UPDATE: Now that the telecast has wrapped, here's a full list of winners, but definitely keep scrolling to see what other highlights surrounded those wins.

• Outstanding Drama Series: The Pitt
• Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series: Britt Lower (Severance)
• Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series: Noah Wyle (The Pitt)
• Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series: Katherine LaNasa (The Pitt)
• Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series: Tramell Tillman (Severance)
• Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series: Adam Randall (Slow Horses)
• Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series: Dan Gilroy (Andor)
• Outstanding Comedy Series: The Studio
• Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series: Jean Smart (Hacks)
• Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series: Seth Rogen (The Studio)
• Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series: Hannah Einbinder, (Hacks)
• Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series: Jeff Hiller (Somebody Somewhere)
• Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series - Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (The Studio)
• Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series: Adolescence
• Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series: Cristin Miloti (The Penguin)
• Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series: Stephen Graham, (Adolescence)
• Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series: Erin Doherty (Adolescence)
• Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series: Owen Cooper, (Adolescence)
• Outstanding Directing For A Limited Series Or Movie: Philip Barantini (Adolescence)
• Outstanding Writing For A Limited Series, Anthology Or Movie - Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham (Adolescence)
• Outstanding Reality Competition Program: The Traitors
• Outstanding Talk Series: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
• Outstanding Scripted Variety Series: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver

Now, without further ado, let's jump into talking about everything happening, from the opening festivities to the awkward presenter moments to the heart-wrenching acceptance speeches. But as it always goes with awards ceremonies, the night starts off with red carpet hightlights, so away we go.

The Emmys Live Blog Starts Here!

First and foremost, hello and thank you to everyone for following along. Just shout your names into your computers, and I'll probably be able to hear some of them. Not really, but we don't holler our own names out loud enough as a society.

Before the red carpet reactions, here are a pair of polls for the two biggest awards of the night.

Now let us know what you think will win in the other category.

My Red Carpet Fashion Hot-ish Takes

My thoughts on award nominees' fashion choices are about as useful and professional as a that of a [fill the blank with something extra-clever], but I have to do something with them. So here's a rundown of my early thoughts on some of the celebs seen on the red carpet so far.

• The Pitt's cast may win the night for cast looks

Let's run this down. Shabana Azeez is wearing a gorgeous red dress from Marchesa with a big red burst of fabric on the left shoulder. Shawn Hatosy is looking dapper AF in a black velvet tux. Katherine LaNasa is a testament to elegance in a Jason Woo dress (that she noted is the nurse-specific color of ceil blue) with a big silver bow, as well as Fred Leighton jewels. Noah Wyle is rocking a purely traditional tux look, but I'll take it.

The biggest winner of the bunch, though, has to be Tracy Ifeachor's silver and wildly intricate dress. Not sure who made it, but hat's off to them. Literally, since the look does not involve a hat. I'll update with her look when one becomes clearly available.

• Nobody Wants That star Justine Lupe's jeweled dress from iconic designer Carolina Herrera? More like Everybody Wants That.

• The White Lotus' Sam Nivola is wearing what may be the most comfortable pants to ever be worn on an awards red carpet.

• Hacks' Megan Stalter pulled off an all-timer Emmys look by wearing a white T-shirt, jeans, sunglasses and purse with a "Cease Fire!" sign on it. Obviously a statement look, but not without Stalter's spotlight personality still imbued.

• Severance's Tramell Tillman and The Last of Us' Pedro Pascal are both wearing white suits, with Tillman's being a custom, button-emblazoned Dolce ensemble. I think if there were a battle of the white suits, he'd win.

• Abbott Elementary star Quinta Brunson looks incredible in a Louis Vuitton dress that has enough sideboob to make an entire elementary school blush. Co-star Jannelle James looks equally stunning in a bejeweled red dress.

• Love that Hunting Wives stars Malin Akerman and Brittany Snow were hanging out on the carpet together, with both rocking different levels of pink.

• Other Severance stars are showing off fantastic looks even beyond Tramell Tillman. Sarah Bock and Britt Lower look wowzers is their respective sparkly and shimmering dresses, and Patricia Arquette pulls off opera gloves like few others. Adam Scott and Ben Stiller might both be wearing the exact same tux, but Zach Cherry's patterned suit absolutely stands out.

• Wednesday's Jenna Ortega may or may not be wearing a top made entirely out of jewels and pearls and stuff. Even Thing would do a double-take.

• Jason Segel looks like a tall glass of red wine, and fiancée Kayla Radomski's black dress kind of resembles a wine glass. Or maybe I am just really wanting a glass of wine at this point.

• Saturday Night Live's Colin Jost and Scarlett Johansson both look great, but just seeing the couple smiling and laughing together is the best look of all, amirite?

• Last-second highlights: Reba McEntire's sequined jacket, Kristen Bell's dress, the white outlines on Alan Cumming's Tanner Fletcher suit, Parker Posey's pink floof

The Show Finally Started, And The Opening Was Excellent!

Nate Bargatze kicked off the Emmys with a winning riff on Saturday Night Live's "George Washington" sketch, with the comedian portraying TV inventor Philip Farnsworth. It's nothing new to rip on TLC and History for not living up to their original names - with shows about "people who eat couch cushions" for instance.

But it gets more insightful once the joke is pointed to streaming (as a way to avoid talking about the lack of Asian diversity). Streaming TV truly is the home for real-life murderers as stars.

I'm also here for more jokes thrown at The Bear not being a comedy or a drama, and at more people watching NFL and Yellowstone than anything that ever gets awarded at the Emmys. Big wins all around, and without any flubs. 10 out of 10. Would watch again.

Stephen Colbert's Standing O

Stephen Colbert was a brilliant choice to be the first presenter of the night. Not only did he draw attention to all of the Late Show staffers who will be out of a job in May, but he also turned in his first headshot to Harrison Ford to pass on to Steven Spielberg. From one Steve to another.

WINNER: Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series - Seth Rogen (The Studio)

Didn't expect such a big award to start things off, and Rogen's speech was shorter than Colbert's set-up.

AND HE DIDN'T EVEN THANK SAL SAPERSTEIN, THAT RASCAL!

Nate Bargatze's Acceptance Speech Rules

True to his word, Bargatze set up that everyone is being held to a 45-second speech, with a potential $100,000 donation going to the Boys and Girls Club of America, with $1,000 getting taken out for every second that a winner goes over. Alternately, the pot will be sweetened whenever everyone goes under their time.

Thanks to Seth Rogen's quick speech, the pot quickly rose to $106,000, and Bargatze immediately qorried about having to pay too much money. Love this idea, and while it seems like it'll be hard to represent next year, it should be interesting to see where things go.

WINNER: Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series - Jean Smart (Hacks)

I love Jennifer Coolidge as much as the next person, but I don't know if I understand her getting 17 minutes (roughly?) to introduce this award. But okay. As long as the Boys and Girls Club didn't lose any money.

No surprise that Jean Smart took home her 7th Emmy, and her 4th win for playing Hacks' Deborah Vance. Perhaps more surprising: she compared her slow walk (due to a recent injury) to John Wayne's.

Props for her ending with this hopeful note:

• "Be good to each other. Just be good to each other."

WINNER: Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series - Katherine LaNasa (The Pitt)

Well-deserved win, and I'm wondering if this is the beginning of a big sweep for The Pitt over others like The White Lotus.

WINNER: Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series - Tramell Tillman (Severance)

Fuck yes! I am so damned happy for this one. Not just because I think Tramell Tillman absolutely deserves accolades for his masterful work as Severance's Seth Milchick, but also because I expected nothing but perfection from his speech. And he delivered with the following:

• "You remember what you want to remember. You make time for what you want to make time for. Do the work, show up, and most importantly, for the love of God, don’t embarrass me in public. My first acting coach was tough, y’all. But all great mothers are. Mama you were there for me when no one else was and when no one else would show up. Your loving kindness stays with me. And this is for you. Thank you to the Academy. I am full, I am humbled, I am honored, and as my mama would say, ‘Woo! Look at God!’"

A wonderful speech, through and through.

This win also doesn't disrupt The Pitt's possible sweep, since Paradise was the only non-Severance/White Lotus show to have an actor in the running. Just saying.

WINNER: Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series - Britt Lower (Severance)

A shocked and tearful Britt Lower took the stage, with John Turturro and Severance creator Dan Erickson beaming with smiles in the crowd.

• "Thank you, Helly R., for choosing me."

It's wild that this year's Emmys are going to hard on handing out the acting Emmys in the first hour. What does that mean for the rest of the broadcast?

Golden Girls Tribute Performance

Reba McEntire and Little Big Town's Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman paying tribute to The Golden Girls. Nothing could be more logical, in many ways. Not seeing how it was a logical choice to preface an award presentation, but I'll take it.

WINNER: Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series - Hannah Einbinder (Hacks)

Hannah Einbinder's hilarious speech, in which she pointed out that she was ready to lose again, was the first time the telecast showed off the quickly dropping charity donation with an on-screen graphic, which caused the Hacks actress to stammer her way through another few thousand dollars going away before she wrapped with a few choice political statements.

Bring On The Swear Jar

Nate Bargatze just suggested the clear way to up the ante during next year's acceptance speeches. A swear jar. Give this guy all the meetings.

Leanne Morgan, Presenter Extraordinaire

Leanne Morgan, star of Netflix's multicam sitcom Leanne, was a fun presenter, getting performatively flustered over Pedro Pascal and other celebs.

• "Walton Goggins, I cannot get my toe in his pants."

She even started to open the envelope before she even got around to saying the back half of her introduction.

WINNER: Outstanding Reality Competition Program - The Traitors

Alan Cumming running a class on acceptance speeches, quieting others and spitting out a lot of thank-yous quickly. Show 'em how it's done. Oh yeah, and congrats to all involved for rewarding the best reality show on TV.

WINNER: Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series - Jeff Hiller (Somebody Somewhere)

This might go down as the biggest surprise of the night, though not an unearned or easily disputable one. This marks Jeff Hiller's first Emmy nomination and win, and his humbled reaction made it clear he wasn't so confident in the win. Thank goodness he didn't listen when the world told him "...Maybe computers" instead of acting.

Yes, I realize that Hiller winning means Ike Barinholtz didn't win for The Studio, thus ruining all chances of the Sal Saperstein portrayer thanking his character. But some things are more important than my bullshit. Just some, though.

WINNER: Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series - Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (The Studio)

Despite Evan Goldberg getting left out of the winners announcement, he was there alongside Seth Rogen to receive accolades for their standout directorial work.

Boo on Walton Goggins and Parker Posey's weird Thai food intro. Less of that.

WINNER: Outstanding Directing For A Limited Series, Anthology Or Movie - Philip Barantini (Adolescence)

As much as I loved all of the nominees in this category, it's hard to say this show's one-shot direction was less impactful than anything else on TV in the past year.

Another appearance from the Charity Countdown Clock, also. I can't wait to see where it's at when the halfway point of the broadcast hits. (Which could either be in 20 minutes or 200 minutes, knowing the Emmys.)

WINNER: Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series - Adam Randall (Slow Horses)

I didn't necessarily see this one coming, and my Severance bullishness wanted to hear that show get named here. But no slight to Adam Randall, since anyone directing Gary Oldman is worthy of winning here.

Also, just to say it, Jesse Williams looks like he's ready to play James Bond. Or to at least hang out with James Bond at the biannual Smoothest Looking Sumbitches on Earth summit.

WINNER: Outstanding Scripted Variety Series - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

CBS definitely wasn't patting itself on the back by bringing a Survivor spin to this category's two nominees, despite neither of them actually airing on CBS.

Other than that, though, it was almost surprising to see Last Week Tonight take the prize over Saturday Night Live's landmark 50th season, which was pretty lauded and didn't do too badly in the ratings department, either. But Oliver's HBO show is extremely hard for any other series to beat.

WINNER: Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series - Dan Gilroy (Andor)

Does this mark one of the biggest award wins for the Star Wars franchise? I think maybe so? Love that he gave a shout out to brothers Tony and John for their efforts, but it seems wild to say "I don't have words" in an acceptance speech while a dollar amount is shrinking on the screen.

WINNER: Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series - Owen Cooper (Adolescence)

Wow, wow, wow. The young Owen Cooper was a class act accepting his award for his stellar work on Adolescence, saying when he started on his acting journey, he didn't expect to travel to the U.S. by this point, much less get honored with an award. As he put it:

• "I was nothing about three years ago. I'm here now."

Here's hoping for even more great things from Cooper in the future. And if they're all far, far easier on one's blood pressure to watch than the Netflix limited series, no complaints on my end.

WINNER: Outstanding Writing For A Limited Series, Anthology Or Movie - Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham (Adolescence)

Unsurprisingly, Adolescence continued its winning streak, and Nate Bargatze is a winner for putting all the money back that Owen Cooper lost during his extended speech.

As far as presenters go, Kathryn Hahn and Ike Barinholtz seemed like they were truly set to deliver an awkward bit by calling out writers not being as important as others. And hey, it kinda was, but I love that they just purposefully had barely anything to say as soon as the teleprompter was turned off. It's dumb, but I like those two.

Gilmore Girls Mini-Reunion For The Win

Alexis Bledel and Lauren Graham going back and forth with scripted quips has been sorely missing from my life. No more soreness, but only for a little while.

WINNER: Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series - Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory, Frida Perez (The Studio)

Big ups to The Studio crew for delivering the shortest speech of the night so far, with this triplet of lines:

• Alex Gregory: We would like to thank Seth and Evan.
• Frida Perez: And our amazing cast and crew.
• Peter Huyck: Apple and Lionsgate. Pay up, Nate!

Soon followed by Nate Bargatze gamely telling winners to give some long thank-yous.

WINNER: Outstanding Variety Special (Live) - SNL 50

Power to everyone for giving the mic to Lorne Michaels during a night where speed is key. But the legendary creator shared his speech with aplomb, with former stars Steve Martin and Martin Short standing at attention in the crowd.

Presenter Tina Fey's jokes about Drake and Kendrick Lamar, as well as her joke about not being pregnant, got some weird looks from the crowd. Oops.

WINNER: Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series - Last Week Tonight With John Oliver

Nobody's shocked by this one, since Last Week Tonight has yet to lose in this category.

As such, let's take a second to Ooh and Aahh over how amazing Kathy Bates and Alan Cumming looked next to each other as presenters, with both changing into far more shimmering outfits from what they were wearing earlier in the night.

I can't say with confidence that I would wear what Cumming is wearing even if I knew with 100% certainty that I could pull it off. But only because I wouldn't want anyone to mistake us for each other in public. Same goes for the Matlock star's dress.

WINNER: Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series - Erin Doherty (Adolescence)

Erin Doherty, whose dress is pretty fabulous (and a total nightmare for anyone with trypophobia), carried on Adolescence's winning run, and deservedly so. And with a time-friendly speech, as well.

WINNER: Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series - Cristin Miloti (The Penguin)

I was going to be so angry if The Penguin didn't get any love, and I love that Cristin Milioti took home that show's first win of the night. And that her bright and bubbly speech was the polar opposite of her work as Sofia Falcone. It was the only speech of the night that featured someone saying they wanted to freebase their show creator's brain. The only one SO FAR anyway.

Can't ignore the excellence of Colin Farrell walking his co-star up to the stage, either.

TV Academy Chairman Cris Abego's Inspirational Speech

Usually, award shows take a dip whenever chairmen and execs take the stage, but Cris Abego delivered a pretty impassioned and inspirational speech about the power of TV and storytelling to unite people in devisive times. It's kind of preaching to the choir at an event like this, but still important words.

WINNER: Bob Hope Humanitarian Award: Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen

Love that The Good Place's Kristen Bell and creator Michael Schur were given the duty of presenting this award to Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, even if it wasn't for their on-screen efforts, but for their selfless work in the real world.

Given this was a preplanned award, the couple had an inspirational speech at the ready, and they weren't limited to the 45-second speech clock that other winners were. Which is good, because that wouldn't have been enough time to be wowed by Steenburgen's fabulous dress.

The "In Memoriam" Segment

Phylicia Rashad came out to pay tribute to the late Malcolm-Jamal Warner to introduce the night's "In Memoriam" segment, which was accompanied by country giants Vince Gill and Lainey Wilson singing "Go Rest High on That Mountain."

With every year that passes, this segment gets filled with more and more icons of the industry who passed away, and there's never enough time to pay proper respects to everyone. To that end, we can likely expect for social media to pinpoint exactly who was left out of it.

It's Weird How Few Bits There Have Been

I'm not mad about it, since it's made things flow pretty smoothly. But the lack of them makes it seem like nothing has really happened on the show outside of the winners being presented. Having JB Smoove doing completely clean jokes from the crowd isn't helping much, either.

Of course, maybe that's why we're actually still seeing host Nate Bargatze showing up this late into the telecast, which usually isn't the cast.

WINNER: Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series - Stephen Graham (Adolescence)

Oh man, the way that everyone around Stephen Graham reacted whenever his name was called was enough to give me a big jolt of energy. His speech was right touching as well without going overboard in any direction. Next up will no doubt be Adolescence's win in its key category.

WINNER: Outstanding Talk Series - The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Who could have seen this one coming? It's been a wild past month for The Late Show, which went from getting canceled outright to winning the Emmy. The whole squad hit the stage, and even though Colbert kicked it off by saying "Think of the children," he definitley went on for too long, but understandably so, since everyone on the show will be on different projects (hopefully) by the time the 2026 Emmys come around.

At least he ended it strong, with this closing line:

• "Stay strong, be brave, and if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor! Woo!"

WINNER: Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series - Adolescence

Wait, what? I didn't see this coming at all!! [holds for delighted laughter and applause]

Of course Adolescence took home the gold here after winning just about everything else it could have. And it gave Stephen Graham a chance to thank the people that were left out in his previous speech.

Countdown Clock Update

Hliariously, the current amount of money set to be donated to the Boys and Girls Club is negative $26,000. Too bad for all the kids. But hey, Stephen Colbert had a lot of people to thank.

Everybody Loves Raymond Mini-Reunion

Another classic TV pairing took the stage in the form of Ray Ramano and Brad Garrett, who hilariously went off on how winning his award for Everybody Loves Raymond years ago didn't raise his star power like he expected it to. He even joked that the next time he appeared on the Emmy's, it'd be in the "In Memoriam" segment, questioning whether or not he'd even make the cut. Ray Ramano's response:

• "I mean...if it's a slow year, no doubt. No doubt. No question."

I'd love to watch these two working together in another capacity, especially knowing that neither wants to bring their sitcom back, in lieu of co-star deaths.

WINNER: Outstanding Comedy Series - The Studio

This was an expected win for Seth Rogen's breakout streaming hit, although it was hard to pay attention to the speech as the Countdown Clock total rose (or dropped) to well beyond negative $50,000.

Outside of that, love that this won, because Bryan Cranston's performance in the Season 1 finale is one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life.

WINNER: Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series - Noah Wyle (The Pitt)

Noah Wyle may not have won any Emmys during his stellar run on ER, but it all comes back around, and it's perhaps no surprise that he did indeed take home the win for his work on The Pitt. And he delivered just the kind of tight and effective speech that one would also expect.

Go Noah!

WINNER: Outstanding Drama Series - The Pitt

Well I'll be damned. I did assume that this would happen, but I was still holding out blind hope for Severance to win. But no. The Pitt crushed it out throughout the night, and now the pressure is on Noah Wyle, R. Scott Gemmill and John Wells to deliver something just as great with Season 2.

Love the Law & Order: SVU cast members coming together to present, even if everyone else looked like Mariska Hargitay's backup singers/dancers.

Thankfully The Countdown Clock Didn't Actually Matter

Even though the winners' speeches went way over the time limited allotted, Nate Bargatze confirmed at the end of the telecast that CBS would be donating $100,000, and that he would personally donating $250,000, for a total of $350,000 being granted to the Boys and Girls Club.

How funny would it have been if the producers had some of the Boys and Girls Club kids giving a giant check to Bargatze with the amount of money that was lost? That might have been too mean for the comedian's sensibilities.

Final Thoughts

All in all, the 2025 Emmys were about a smooth and effective a ceremony as could be expected during a time when the tone could have been far more political and nasty. Perhaps Nate Bargatze's inoffensive and non-topical comedy set the right mood to keep everyone's messaging in line with celebrating television. Or maybe the thought of children not getting a charitable donation was enough to limit the more outside-the-box speeches.

Whatever the reasoning, I can't complain much, even if the lack of controversy meant things felt a bit too one-note throughout the night. There wasn't even a wildly embarrassing bomb of a presentation, with Jennifer Coolidge and Tina Fey arguably coming the closest to reaching WTF territory. I love Bargatze, though, so I'd welcome him back next year even if it meant a similarly small amount of heightened drama.

Thanks for reading along with me, everyone, and I hope to have made your night that much more bearable. Or at least that much more full of ME. Until we meet again...

Tramell Tillman has a lot to celebrate in the 2025 TV schedule after the long-awaited premiere of Severance Season 2. Now, just days before learning if he wins his first-ever Emmy for his work as Seth Milchick on the sci-fi thriller, he shared the career path that he almost chose before deciding that he wanted to pursue acting after all. Instead of being known as an Emmy-nominated actor, he might have been known as a surgeon!

Tillman, who is in the running for the Emmy in the category of Best Supporting Actor in a Drama for his performances on Severance, spoke with People about why he originally decided to work towards a career that's very different from starring in a hit TV show available streaming now with an Apple TV+ subscription. He said:

In fairness, not many hopefuls in the entertainment industry do "make it" quite like Tramell Tillman has, but he certainly proved that he has what it takes on the small screen. He stuck with his original decision to work towards becoming an orthopedic surgeon all the way to college, and Severance would have been a very different show if he hadn't changed his mind. He went on to explain what ultimately motivated him to pursue his real passion:

Fortunately, pursuing his dreams paid off! After debuting on Severance in the very first episode back in 2022, he went on to land a role Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. More recently, he was cast for Marvel's Spider-Man: Brand New Day opposite stars like Michael Mando, Jon Bernthal, Mark Ruffalo, and of course Tom Holland. Reflecting on his decision to switch from pursuing medicine to following his dreams, Tillman said:

The next big event for Tramell Tillman is the upcoming 77th Primetime Emmy Awards broadcast on September 14. He's in the running for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama, up against Severance costars John Turturro and Zach Cherry as well as Walton Goggins (The White Lotus), Jason Isaacs (The White Lotus), Sam Rockwell (The White Lotus), and James Marsden (Paradise).

Severance also nabbed nominations for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actress, Outstanding Lead Actor, and Outstanding Supporting Actress. The show already accumulated some wins for Season 2 at the Creative Arts Emmys, including Merritt Wever earning the top prize as Outstanding Guest Actress.

Whether or not Tramell Tillman wins as Best Supporting Actor, fans can always treasure the wholesome video he shared of inviting his mom to join him at the Emmys. You can find out if he takes home a trophy for Best Supporting Actor when the 77th Emmy Awards air on Sunday, September 14 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, hosted by comedian and SNL favorite Nate Bargatze. As for Severance, you can find the full first two seasons streaming on Apple TV+ now. Season 3 is already in the works as well, so the emotional Season 2 finale wasn't the end.

Despite many months having past since Severance's third season was set up by that heartbreaking Season 2 finale for Gemma and Mark, I still can't quite stop thinking about everything that these characters have experienced. (And am not complaining one bit.) Here lately, I've been wondering more and more about Gemma's trials and tribulations on the testing floor, which were showcased in the gonzo seventh installment.

One of the darkest TV episodes to cross my eyeballs in quite a while, "Chikhai Bardo" is also among the most complex and narratively dense eps of any fictional series, thanks in part to its spread-open timeline, its new locations and characters, and a slew of previously undisclosed details. It's both fantastic and traumatizing from one end to the next, and still manages to leave viewers with as many questions as answers.

So let's hone in one perhaps my biggest curiosity that didn't seem to be directly addressed in any way, but that might have been teased all the way back in the very first episode. (Rewatch the whole series via Apple TV+ subscription to jog those memories.)

My Big Question: How Did Dr. Mauer Specifically Tailor The Testing Floor Rooms To Match Gemma's Experiences?

While viewers didn't get to see the full gamut of disturbing Testing Floor rooms that Lumon's Dr. Mauer set up for Gemma to suffer through, it'd be logical to think that the majority had similar goals of pushing the character to a certain limit of discomfort and displeasure, based in part on her own personal fears and traumas. But considering the mysterious events behind Gemma being more or less abducted and forced into such servitude, it stands to reason she didn't openly discuss all the things that bother her.

So then, how would Dr. Mauer & Co. be able to, for example, decorate some of the rooms with details and props that audiences themselves already witnessed being within Mark and Gemma's home? As well, how was Lumon able to pinpoint so many things that Gemma hates for the sake of crafting the different rooms? Did she fill out a giant questionaire when she was first brought in, with "Writing thank you notes" at the top of the list? Doubtful.

In that way, Mauer's psychological trickery goes well beyond just set decoration. He knows that Gemma hates writing thank you notes, but unlike viewers, he wasn't present when Mark specifically stated that fact in an earlier scene from the same episode. Sure, Lumon is always listening, but simply hearing or seeing something doesn't automatically lay out the full context in the way that, say, a therapy session will.

The Theory: Devin Was Referring To Dr. Mauer As Mark's Therapist In Severance's Series Premiere

All the way back in Severance's mind-expanding series premiere, "Good News About Hell," Devon asked Mark a caring, but seemingly innocuous, question when they were away from the rest of Ricken's dinner party guests. At the time, it necessarily couldn't have meant all that much to the story, but all this time later, that question could have massive implications. As he started to eat his half-sandwich, she asked:

It's indicated that, after an unknown amount of time seeing this therapist, Mark decided that working at Lumon in Innie-mode was doing enough, and he opted out of continued sessions. By and large, that admission didn't seem to inform very much at the time beyond implying that Mark was still troubled in ways. But after "Chikhai Bardo," there are more notions to consider.

During Season 1, Devon's "weird little mustache" comment had some fans speculating that either John Turturro's Outie Irving or Trammell Tillman's Mr. Milchick was handling Mark's therapy sessions. But the events in Season 2 lay out a far more menacing possible scenario: Dr. Mauer was Mark's therapist.

The Connection: Dr. Mauer Used Mark's Therapy Confessions To Inform Gemma's Testing Floor Rooms

As stated above, Lumon utilizes all manner of surveillance to keep tabs on its employees, both on the company's grounds and in the town of Kier at large. So the company illegally monitoring Mark and Gemma for years almost definitely does play into how all of Gemma's Testing Floor rooms we know of were designed. But to keep tabs on someone's every waking hour would take a hell of a lot of attention, and it doesn't seem like the team handling the refiners goes far beyond Mauer, Drummund and those watching the mini-monitors below MDR.

It's extremely possible (even likely) that Dr. Mauer (who was seen to be walking amongst other medical staff whenever Gemma went in for IVF treatments) posed as a licensed therapist for Mark around the point when he was first recruited at Lumon. During that time, Mark could have opened up about any number of personal details relating to the ups and downs he experienced with Gemma.

Details like the frustration over an unassembled crib in the house serving as a constant reminder of the couple's hopes for a child ending in miscarriage. Or the memory of his final conversation with her, when she had to tell him she loved him twice before he said it back. That moment playing back in his head repeatedly is likely a factor that drove him into Lumon's open (and listening) arms in the first place, so it likely would have also come up during any therapy conversations that Mark would have had.

Dr. Mauer using Mark's candidness and grief in such a way would be one of the most bizarre examples imaginable of doctor-patient confidentiality being broken. Beyond bizarre, it's also creepy as a dozen fucks, given Mauer's transparent obsession with Gemma by the time she gets to the Cold Harbor room. For him to roleplay her final moments with Mark in the Allentown room was purely monstrous.

I bet Mauer doesn't even HAVE a license to perform therapy. Wouldn't quite be his biggest crime here, but still.

A Loose Thread Or Two

To be sure, this isn't the most air-tight theory or answer to my question, since both could be explained in other ways. If Lumon really has been monitoring Mark and Gemma's lives since around the time of that initial blood test (or prior), the people reviewing everything would likely be able to cull a list of things that scare and bother Gemma, as well as what pisses her off, without the need for Mark to delve further into things.

Plus, chipped-up Mark hasn't ever come across as the most open person even in close company, even with Devon, so it's not extremely likely that he would divulge a bunch of treasured memories to a weird-mustached man.

Still, I don't think any line in this show is a total throwaway, and nothing Lumon-related happens by chance. There's only one semi-medical pro on this show who's known to roleplay. So until Dan Erickson or Ben Stiller personally tells me otherwise, while also praising me as a viewer and generally great guy, I'm now going to believe Dr. Mauer was Mark's therapist, and I'm going to feel icky about it.

The streaming wars have been going on for years now, with every service offering a handful of mega hit originals. Those with an Apple TV+ subscription know that Severance is at the top of that list, with fans eagerly anticipating the third set of episodes. Ben Stiller has been a producer and director on the show and recently offered an update about Season 3 that'll bum fans out.

What we know about Severance Season 3 is limited, but fans are hyped to continue the journey after Season 2's cliffhanger ending. While we wait for the next chapter, Stiller revealed in an interview with LA Times that he won't be in the director's chair at all during the third season. Instead he's working on a movie, and addressed this conflict by saying:

He's not wrong. Both TV and film schedules are notoriously grueling, often requiring long hours and months of time. Ben Stiller know what this is like on both sides of the camera, and it sounds like he had to miss out on directing Severance in order to work on an upcoming World War II survival movie.

The Zoolander star is still expected to stay on as a producer on Severance, even if he can't physically be on set to direct episodes in Season 3. Even after taking this step back, I assume Stiller will continue engaging with fans of the show on social media.

Since Stiller has never been featured on camera for Severance, it should be easy enough for the Emmy-nominated series to continue on without having the actor/filmmaker on set. The network will presumably just have to hire more directors to pick up the slack as he works on a film project. We'll just have to wait and see if any big names get the chance to join the beloved mystery/drama.

Severance is clearly one of the best Apple TV+ shows to watch, and two seasons in it still feels like we're a the tip of the iceberg narratively. There are still countless questions about Lumon Industries, Kier, and the entire Eagan family. Innies are starting to revolt, and it should be fascinating to see how this conflict plays out... especially for characters like Helly/ Helena.

The first two seasons of Severance are streaming in their entirety now on Apple TV+. While it was renewed for Season 3 back on March 21st, it's currently unclear when the next batch of episodes will be released to the general public. After all, Severance Season 3 hasn't even begun production at the time of writing this story. Hopefully we don't have to wait years this time around.

It’s been five months since Severance’s devastating Season 2 finale aired on the 2025 TV schedule, and I still get excited at the mention of an ORTBO (it happens more often than you’d think in my house) or when I recall Mr. Milchick’s marching band performance. As big of a fan as I am, I still wouldn’t have expected the Apple TV+ series to come into play during a screening of Zoolander, another of Ben Stiller’s best creations, and yet here we are, being gifted the musical mash-up I never knew we needed.

On August 16, a showing of the 2001 comedy Zoolander was held at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where Ben Stiller made a surprise appearance as the titular character — a wildly exaggerated version of himself — to introduce the movie. That wasn’t the only bombshell of the evening, however, as the USC marching band then paraded onto the stage led by none other than Tramell Tillman. Check out the wild moment on Instagram:

Praise Kier, indeed! As cool as it was to see Tramell Tillman channeling his terrifying Mr. Milchick persona, the ridiculously good-looking actor Ben Stiller (as Derek Zoolander) was hoping for something more in line with the theme of the evening, saying (per Variety):

The Emmy-nominated Tramell Tillman immediately blew his whistle, with the band striking up the Powerman 5000 song “Relax,” which is featured in the movie. This appeased both the filmmaker and the crowd, who cheered as the band ran offstage and the movie began.

Despite Ben Stiller’s contribution to both Severance and Zoolander, I think it’s pretty safe to say that nobody would have ever expected a collaboration of the musical type between the two. This guy’s just full of surprises, though, because I certainly didn’t expect the Severance Season 2 finale to feature such an intricate number.

After the infamous Music Dance Experience in Severance Season 1 was one of the best music moments of that year, it was only natural that Ben Stiller and company would up the ante in Season 2. They did it in a big way, with Milchick first trading barbs with an animatronic Kier Eagan before going full band leader with a spirited performance to celebrate Mark S.’s completion of the Cold Harbor file.

If there was any question as to how good Severance’s second season was, just look at the record 27 Emmy nominations received by the show and its cast. At least we’ll have the awards show to look forward to as we deal with the long wait between Severance seasons.

We don’t yet know what Severance Season 3 will be about, but it will undoubtedly address the infuriating decision made by Mark (Adam Scott) at the end of the finale. In the meantime, at least we can continue to rewatch the first two seasons with our Apple TV+ subscriptions, and you never know when Tramell Tillman and the USC marching band will show up. Zoolander, meanwhile, is available to stream with a Netflix subscription or Paramount+ subscription.

Severance ended on the 2025 TV schedule months ago; however, my mind is still boggled by its ending. Every day, my opinion changes. Some days, I’m livid that Mark left his wife Gemma on the other side of the door, and others, I totally get why he ran back into the building with Helly. Now, Amy Poehler has expressed her frustrations over all this to her former Parks and Rec co-star and the lead of the Apple TV+ hit, Adam Scott, and it perfectly encapsulates my feelings.

Now, before she got “pissed,” Poehler was complimenting Severance’s Season 2 finale during an episode of Good Hang. However, after she called it “incredible,” she stopped mid-sentence and made the funny face below:

Adam Scott was confused by that look, so his former TV wife dived into what caused the reaction, saying:

Listen, Mark’s choice to run away from Gemma was shocking. So, after repeating “I know” while looking at a jaw-dropped Poehler, Scott asked if she was “pissed” about what happened. In response, she said:

Dude, same! No matter what side of the debate you fall on, it was hard not to scream something along the lines of “Dude!” after Mark made his choice. And Amy Poehler didn’t back down from that point either. While she adores Britt Lower, who plays Helly, and has worked with her before, she couldn’t see past Mark running back into Lumon with her, which led to her “But.”

And after saying “but,” the Parks and Rec lead made the face below at her former co-star, fully illustrating her frustration over the whole situation:

What followed was a semi-intense and overall funny debate between Scott and Poehler. And I’m not gonna lie, I’ve had conversations with others where I’ve played both sides of this debate. Here’s the very entertaining back and forth:

• Adam Scott: Well, what other choice was Innie Mark going to make?
• Amy Poehler: Oh, I don’t know, the choice where you go with your wife?
• Adam Scott: So, walk out the door and end your life?
• Amy Poehler: Yes! You go to the door!
• Adam Scott: Really, that’s the choice you would make?
• Amy Poehler: What do you mean end your life?
• Adam Scott: He walks out that door, he doesn’t know if he’s ever coming back. He walks out that door, he becomes his outie. He doesn’t know if that outie is ever going to walk back in that building.
• Amy Poehler: But that building is not great.
• Adam Scott: No, but it’s better than not existing.
• Amy Poehler: But is it?!?

Admittedly, when Mark left his wife Gemma, it was shocking. However, after thinking about it, it’s important to remember that Innie Mark doesn’t really know her; he is also in love with Helly. Oh, and if he leaves, he might never return, meaning he could die. However, now Outie Mark has been left in a way, and so has his wife...

This leads to the final element of the Parks and Recreation co-stars’ conversation. While the Leslie Knope actor joked about how flustered she was about the finale, she also noted that that’s what made it so great.

She explained that she immediately texted Adam Scott after she finished watching the finale, and noted that that kind of cliffhanger and excitement that evokes such a visceral reaction is what makes TV so fun. All-in-all, this was a relatable and hilarious interaction, and I’ll be watching it on repeat (you can too, it starts at 41:55) as we wait for Severance Season 3.

Overall, as a massive Parks and Rec and Severance fan, this whole interaction made my heart happy, and it reignited all the mixed and passionate emotions I have about Mark’s choice. Now, the wait is really on to see what happens in the aftermath of that Season 2 finale, which you can re-watch and feel all the emotions Amy Poehler felt with an Apple TV+ subscription.

Ben Stiller was asked about how long it would take to release Severance Season 2 over and over and over again. Now, it’s out, and because we had to wait three years between Seasons 1 and 2, he’s already getting questions about when Severance’s third season will come out. So, in response to the wait, the show’s director and executive producer got candid about how long it takes to make this show by making a comparison to The Bear that I've actually been thinking about for years.

Since Severance has a bunch of 2025 Emmy nominations for a season that took years to make, Ben Stiller was asked by Vanity Fair if this kind of acknowledgement felt like “affirmation of it being worth the wait.” Just by watching Season 2, I knew it was worth it; however, these nods certainly help. Nevertheless, the wait still seems to bother the director, as he explained:

This is how The Bear comes into this equation. So, let me present some facts for you. Season 1 of Severance premiered on February 18, 2022, and The Bear Season 1 dropped on June 23, 2022. Then, on the 2025 TV schedule, Severance premiered Season 2 on January 17, and a few months later, on June 25, The Bear dropped its fourth season.

That means in the time it took Severance to make Season 2, The Bear released Seasons 2 and 3 and was well on its way to dropping Season 4. That’s kind of wild, and it’s something Ben Stiller has thought about, as he said:

These days, it’s commonplace to wait well over a year for a new season of a series. However, there are a few that consistently drop every year, including The Bear, which can be streamed with a Hulu subscription. I don’t know about you, but I adore having an old reliable that I know will come out around the same time every year.

However, I also get why it takes shows a very long time. A project like Severance is complex in both plot and setting, so it takes longer to make it and release it to those with an Apple TV+ subscription, plus its episodes are twice as long as the aforementioned series. Meanwhile, The Bear, for the most part, takes place in the restaurant and has 30-minute episodes.

All that said, though, Stiller didn’t back away from how hard the wait for seasons can be on both the creatives and fans. He noted how the pressure builds the longer we go between seasons, saying:

It is certainly a conundrum, and comparing Severance to a show that’s released three seasons in the time it took to release one is quite a fact. However, I don’t think it’s one this Apple TV+ series should fret over.

As Season 2 proved, the wait was worth it, and the painstaking detail put into the series is one of the reasons it's so remarkable. It also proves that the time it takes to make a show doesn’t necessarily tell you anything about its quality.

The Bear and Severance are each excellent, and we’re getting more of both. Art takes time, and that time varies from project to project, so my advice is to just enjoy it as it comes, so these folks don’t have to stress about the amount of time they’re taking to make it. However, I do have to say, I am appreciative of the fact that Ben Stiller addressed the point about his show and the FX restaurant series that I’ve been thinking about for years now.

Severance is one of the most bingeable shows on streaming right now and for good reason. The edge-of-your-seat sci-fi series gets more and more intriguing as it goes on and audiences learn more about the mysterious inner workings of Lumon. The show’s star, Adam Scott, is absolutely phenomenal as Mark, and he earned himself a 2025 Emmy nomination for his role. His absolute commitment to the part is a good reason the show is so successful, and the actor recently revealed one scene in Season 2 was so intense he actually got a concussion.

In a recent interview with EW, Scott opened up about working on Severance after having a career mostly in comedy and what has driven so many people to check out the dystopian show. He also got candid about the buzzy Season 2 finale of Severance, which was a lot more violent than the previous episodes. Scott remembered that one particular fight scene required more from him than others, and it actually resulted in him sustaining a real injury. He said:

For context, in the Severance Season 2 finale, titled "Cold Harbor,” Scott’s character Mark is trying to get down to the testing floor to save his wife, Gemma, who is being tortured. Mr. Drummond, who is an executive and fixer at Lumon, tries to stop Mark from getting to the elevator that will bring him to this floor. It results in a violent confrontation where Drummond slams Mark against a wall.

However, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, who plays Drummond, must’ve underestimated his own strength, because he actually injured Scott when his character’s head hit the wall.

While this must’ve been incredibly painful, the Parks and Rec star still had his actor brain on, and he was more concerned about how the take looked on camera. Considering the head slam was actually real, the take came out pretty great, and is the shot the Severance team ended up using in the final cut of the episode.

While director Ben Stiller obviously cared about his lead actor's well-being, he was also concerned with the scene and made sure Scott knew how great the take turned out. He said:

A concussion is no joke, and I’m glad Scott was okay overall after that blow to the head. This story shows his dedication to his craft and willingness to take a literal hit to heighten his performance.

It also shows how committed the team is to the story at hand and the experience for the audience at home. This separates Severance from other binge-worthy TV, and is why people are so drawn to the AppleTV+ series. I can’t wait to see what Season 3 of Severance has in store, and if Scott manages to be put through more physical challenges as the plot thickens.

You can see Adam Scott’s Emmy-nominated performance in Severance with an Apple TV+ subscription. For more information on other exciting titles available on the streamer, make sure to consult our feature on everything new and coming soon to AppleTV+.

Adam Scott is currently the Emmy-nominated star of Severance, but there was once a time when he was trying to make the most out of a day-player role on ER, a hot new show in 1995. 30 years later, he is competing against former ER star Noah Wyle for the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, a full circle moment for Scott. Now, the actor is detailing what it was like to be on the ER set as an up and coming actor, and working with the star of The Pitt all those years ago.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Scott opened up about being truly terrified when he entered the ER set as a young actor in his early 20s. At the time ER was a brand new show, so it wasn’t yet the cultural touchstone it would soon become. However, a network drama was still a scary prospect for someone who hadn’t had that many acting jobs before. Scott said of the experience:

It’s been a while since this early career moment for Scott, but he still remembered details from his appearance, and the character he played including the situation he was put in. He acted opposite Wyle, who was also a very young star despite being a series regular. Scott remembers the ER star being very calm and collected, the very opposite of what the Parks and Recreation stand-out was feeling at that moment. He recalled:

A part of the high stress on Scott's part wasn’t entirely just because of the pressure of being on a hit network show. Scott was supposed to be testy and irritable as his character had just been hit by a car. He is stitched up by Wyle’s character John Carter, and he is supposed to be anxious, later accusing Carter of not doing his job correctly. Scott does a great job in the scene, but the fact that his breathing tube kept falling out of his nose led to a fed-up crew, and an even more nervous actor. He remembered:

Thankfully, Adam Scott’s career was far from over. He had a number of small roles throughout the 90s and early 2000s before transitioning into primarily comedy roles in movies like Step Brothers, and the HBO show Party Down. He seemed to be everywhere after landing the role as Ben Wyatt on Parks and Recreation, a series regular and a fan-favorite character. Now, he’s the star of the hit AppleTV+ show Severance, which has him competing at the 2025 Emmy Awards and was one of the most exciting shows on the 2025 TV schedule.

Ironically, his fiercest competition in the race is Noah Wyle, who is being recognized for his work in The Pitt, years after his star-making role in ER. It may have taken Scott a little more time, but now Wyle and Scott are peers in the industry, both being recognized for their tremendous performances. Their ER collaboration may just be a memory in Scott’s mind, but they are both so talented that I hope we get to see these two work together again, at least in some capacity.

You can revisit Adam Scott’s appearance in ER alongside Noah Wyle now, as the show is currently streaming early episodes with a Hulu subscription. Fans of Scott should also check him out in Severance, which is now available with an AppleTV+ subscription.

Just to be safe, SPOILERS for the Season 2 finale of Severance are ahead. You can watch it with an Apple TV+ subscription.

Since Severance’s Season 2 finale dropped on the 2025 TV schedule, I’ve been in many heated conversations about Mark’s choice. I’m, of course, talking about Adam Scott’s character’s decision to run back into Lumon with Helly instead of going outside with Gemma. It was a controversial choice that left fans floored. So, now, the lead of Severance has opened up about what his Innie did and what viewers should “remember” when thinking about it.

To recap, Severance ends with Innie Mark running back into Lumon with Helly. That is the exact opposite of what was planned, as the goal was for both him and Gemma to escape the company. It’s sparked quite the reaction online, and during The Awardist podcast, Scott was asked about why his character did that, because it’s unclear what exactly the Innies will do since they can only stay on the severed floor.

In response, the 2025 Emmy nominee said:

I think this is vital to consider. Literally, all the Innies know is life inside of Lumon, and they’ve been actively growing up there. Their lives began when that elevator door opened and they were severed, and to them, that’s their whole world. It’s not what’s outside.

So, in Innie Mark’s head, he was probably thinking about saving himself and Helly, because if he went through that door, he might not exist again. In my mind, at this point, the Innies and Outies are two different people, and have totally different priorities, life experiences and values. Of course, they won't make the same choices.

That, mixed with the fact that Mark is in a “rebellious stage,” explains his choice, as Scott said:

As a viewer, it’s hard to fathom that Mark left his wife, Gemma, at that door and ran back in. However, you have to remember that to Innie Mark, she’s unknown; she’s only Ms. Casey. She’s not his wife; he loves Helly. So, I get his choice.

Obviously, it’ll have repercussions in Severance Season 3, and I think that’s the point. Mark wasn’t thinking ahead; he made a last-second choice and didn’t consider what was next, as Adam Scott said:

Think about it, when you were young and before you truly understood the complexities of the world, spontaneous decisions were easier to make. In this case, Innie Mark isn’t thinking about the repercussions or what might happen to his Outie, probably, he’s making the decision that’s best for him.

If he didn’t turn around, he might never see Helly again, and his work trying to save all the Innies could end. In short, if he walked through that door, his life could end, because we don’t know what Outie Mark would have done next. Only knowing that and being basically the age of a defiant kid makes his logic understandable.

So, make sure to keep that in mind as you continue to think about that mind-blowing finale and what could happen next when Severance returns.

After the first half of an already very eventful 2025 TV schedule, this year’s Emmy nominations were announced and Severance ruled just about every category. Among the TV show’s 27 nominations, Tramell Tillman earned his first Emmy nomination for his role as Mr. Milchik. In anticipation, the actor is charming fans with the sweet phone call he made to his mother.

Tramell Tillman Invites His Mom To The Emmys In Sweet Video

The 40-year-old actor has become a favorite on Severance since his character first debuted back in 2022, but Season 2 marks the first time he’s really being recognized for it. Tillman is still virtually new to Hollywood, with just a few credits to his name dating back to a decade ago. Over the summer, he was a scene-stealer in Mission: Impossible - Final Reckoning, acting alongside Tom Cruise. Anyway, check out this post-Emmy nomination video he shared:

This video is so emotional. The actor got his mother on the phone after being nominated in the “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama” category, and she was getting them both teary-eyed. In typical mom fashion, Tramell’s mother was getting stressed already about what to wear, but the Severance star assured her his stylist would get her hooked up with some sort of name brand gown.

Additionally, Tramell Tillman told his mother that he “wouldn’t be here” if it wasn’t for her support, which apparently included her “literally” pushing him on a stage. It’s such a wholesome video, and the comment section on his Instagram was full of fans talking about it. Take a look:

• “Mr. Milchik your outie is a sweetheart” - @tzofiarivka
• “I'm bawling. Tramell, no one deserves this more than you, not trying to take away anything from everyone. You deserve this so much, Lumon diva. Proud to be your fan” - @liza_art_and_cats
• “STOOOOPPP this is so wholesome 😭😭 congrats Tramell!! So well deserved!!” - @sarasfanarts
• “I know exactly why I’m crying in the club right now 😭” - @fionnualajay
• “This made my whole day 😍. Milkshake deserves all the Emmies. And awww how sweet with your Mom ❤️🥹” - @faithysms

Sounds like everyone’s rooting for Tramell Tillman! From some of the most uncomfortable moments on Severance to the character being part of some of the danciest, he’s definitely a fan favorite.

Is Tramell Tillman Predicted To Win At The Emmys?

We can’t wait to see the actor take his mama to the Emmys, but let’s talk about the actor’s chances. There’s a lot of stacked categories this year, including the Best Actor in a Drama award, and Supporting Actor in a Drama is no exception. Tillman was nominated alongside The White Lotus’s Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, and Sam Rockwell along with Paradise’s James Marsden and two other members of his Severance cast, Zach Cherry and John Turturro.

CinemaBlend’s own TV Editor Nick Venable is predicting Tramell will win. Gold Derby currently has the actor as No. 2 behind Walton Goggins, but otherwise it’s a bit too early in the game. Either way, it definitely sounds like he has strong odds. The awards show will air on CBS on Sunday, September 14.

The Emmy nominations are out, and after watching all the nominated performances for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series on the 2025 television schedule, I’m completely torn as to who I think should win. Pedro Pascal, Sterling K. Brown, Noah Wyle, Gary Oldman, and Adam Scott all put in amazing turns in amazing shows. How to pick just one? I don’t know if I can, but by the end of this story, I hope to have some clarity.

Pedro Pascal For The Last Of Us

Pedro Pascal may indeed be the “internet’s daddy,” and a big reason why is his role as Joel in The Last of Us. There is one more season for The Last of Us, but given Joel's limited role in Season 2 (IYKYK), this may be Pascal's final shot at winning an Emmy for this particular role. If I'm honest, I think he deserves this award more for Season 1 of The Last of Us, as his role was much bigger, of course. However, since every scene he's a part of in Season 2 has so much emotional weight, it's not like he's undeserving now.

The last few years have been amazing for Pascal and his fans. He also has Fantastic Four: First Steps coming out this month, and The Mandalorian and Grogu on the 2026 movie schedule. For Pascal to win an Emmy for one of the best video game adaptations ever would be a crowning achievement. An achievement he well deserves. But he’s hardly alone in this category.

Adam Scott For Severance

Apple TV+ has put out some amazing movies and TV shows in the last few years and at the top of that list has to be Severance. The Emmys have certainly recognized that with an amazing 27 nominations in 2025, leading all shows. Adam Scott, who plays Mark S., leads a fantastic cast that includes fellow nominees Britt Lower, John Turturro, Tramell Tillman, and Patricia Arquette.

I do think, as amazing as Severance is and as fantastic as Scott is, he may be the longshot in this category, which goes to show just how loaded it is. I won’t be surprised by anything when the Emmy is announced on September 14th, but still, if I were a betting man, I wouldn’t be betting on Scott. He’ll surely be nominated again after Season 3 of Severance.

Noah Wyle For The Pitt

HBO Max's fantastic medical drama The Pitt was at first a tough watch for me, at first. It took me a couple of restarts to finally get into it. That’s not because I thought it was bad, in fact, it was quite the opposite, it was so good–and so real–that I had to turn it off. It was literally freaking me out by how real it felt.

The show’s star, Noah Wyle, has five Emmy nominations to his name from his days on that other medical drama he once starred in, ER, but honestly, he hit a new level of performance with The Pitt. Though he never won for ER, and he might not win here, given the competition, his performance is riveting, heartfelt, and most importantly, real.

Sterling K. Brown For Paradise

Hulu’s Paradise is the brainchild of Dan Fogelman, who is also responsible for a little show called This Is Us, for which Sterling K. Brown was nominated for five Emmys in this same category and won the award in 2017 after Season 1. Brown and Fogelman teamed up again for Paradise, and the outcome, unsurprisingly, was another fantastic season of television and a slew of Emmy nominations.

Brown brings his trademark emotional depth to a character, Secret Service Agent Xavier Collins, who might have been two-dimensional in anyone but Brown and Fogelman’s hands. On the surface, the show is a science fiction whodunit, but with Brown leading the amazing cast, it’s so much more than that. A win here would be Brown’s fourth Emmy (he also won for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson and Best Narrator for Lincoln: Divided We Stand), so it’s never a surprise to see him on the stage accepting an award for acting excellence.

Gary Oldman For Slow Horses

Finally, we come to what is actually my personal favorite. Slow Horses, which you can stream with an Apple TV+ subscription, has been among the best shows on streaming for four seasons now (with a fifth right around the corner). Gary Oldman, who plays the crusty, smelly, chain-smoking, washed-up spy Jackson Lamb in the thriller, has been outstanding for all of those seasons.

This is only Oldman’s second nomination for Slow Horses, which almost seems criminal. The Oscar winner has never won an Emmy, and while I would be happy to see any of these actors win, I’m quietly rooting for Oldman, because I really love the show, and his performance is so good, I can smell his character through the screen–and I mean that in the best way.

Who Will Win Is Anyone’s Guess

This is the Emmys, so of course there are always going to be five worthy Emmy nominees for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series, but this year just feels different to me. It seems especially hard to predict a winner. While I’m personally rooting for Oldman, as I said, I don’t know that he’ll take it home, and really, nothing would surprise me here.

I’ve been sitting here for almost a day thinking about this, and still have no clue who will win. All five actors put in deserving performances in excellent (and very popular) shows. Even though I said Adam Scott is maybe the longshot, the more I think about Severance and its dozens of nominations, the more I change my mind about that. That’s where we are with this category. I go back and forth between all five. I can’t wait to tune in to CBS in September to find out who wins.

It’s once again time to look back at everything we’ve watched so far on the 2025 TV schedule and beyond in order to celebrate and honor the very best that broadcast, cable and streaming platforms have to offer. Or, you know, whatever shows everyone in the TV Academy voted for, even if they don’t square up exactly with audience expectations. That’s right, the 2025 Emmy Awards nominations were announced for the upcoming awards ceremony.

What We Do In the Shadows’ Harvey Guillén and Running Point’s Brenda Song announced this year’s major nominations, but we also rounded up all of the supporting and guest-star noms that were left out of the live video, followed by a smattering of caffeine-fueled reactions and commentary pointing out the biggest snubs and other fun facts.

77th Emmy Awards Quick Facts

• Network: CBS
• Air Date: Sunday, September 14
• Air Time: 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT
• Host: Comedian Nate Bargatze

Welcome, TV Lovers And Award Show Fanatics!

The Emmy nominations are almost always a hurried and harried affair, so let's make sure we have all our much-needed items nearby to help us make it through the morning.

Coffee? Check.
More coffee? Check.
The rest of the coffee? Check.

Well, that was quicker than expected. So let's take a look at the first of two categories already announced this morning.

Outstanding Reality Competition Program

• The Amazing Race
• RuPaul’s Drag Race
• Survivor
• Top Chef
• The Traitors

MY PREDICTION: The Traitors

Outstanding Talk Series

• The Daily Show
• Jimmy Kimmel Live!
• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

MY PREDICTION: The Daily Show, which has won the past two years of the "post-John Oliver winning every year" era

It's Go Time

Big props to Chairman Cris Abrego for kicking things off. He gets my nomination for whatever this would be nominated for.

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Series Or Movie

• Colin Farrell, “The Penguin”
• Stephen Graham, “Adolescence”
• Jake Gyllenhaal, "Presumed Innocent"
• Brian Tyree Henry, “Dope Thief”
• Cooper Koch, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”

MY PREDICTION: Stephen Graham

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Limited Series Or Movie

• Cate Blanchett, “Disclaimer”
• Meaghann Fahy “Sirens”
• Rashida Jones, “Black Mirror”
• Cristin Milioti, “The Penguin”
• Michelle Williams, “Dying for Sex”

MY PREDICTION: Michelle Williams

Outstanding Limited Series

• Adolescence
• Black Mirror
• Dying for Sex
• Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
• The Penguin

MY PREDICTION: Adolescence

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy

• Uzo Aduba, “The Residence”
• Kristen Bell, “Nobody Wants This”
• Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”
• Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”
• Jean Smart, “Hacks”

Nobody celebrates an Emmy nomination quite like Kristen Bell, whose hubby Dax Shepard captured her mostly nude reaction to the news.

MY PREDICTION: Jean Smart

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy

• Adam Brody, “Nobody Wants This”
• Seth Rogen, “The Studio”
• Jason Segel, “Shrinking”
• Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building”
• Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear”

MY PREDICTION: Seth Rogen

Outstanding Comedy Series

• Abbott Elementary
• The Bear
• Hacks
• Nobody Wants This
• Only Murders in the Building
• Shrinking
• The Studio
• What We Do in the Shadows

MY PREDICTION: The Studio

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama

• Kathy Bates, “Matlock”
• Sharon Horgan, “Bad Sisters”
• Britt Lower, “Severance”
• Bella Ramsey, “The Last of Us”
• Keri Russell, “The Diplomat”

MY PREDICTION: Britt Lower

But for all that I'd love to see the Severance co-star take home the gold, I'm quite enamored by Kathy Bates' humbled reaction to her nomination, and who doesn't love Kathy Bates?

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama

• Sterling K. Brown, “Paradise”
• Gary Oldman, “Slow Horses”
• Pedro Pascal, “The Last of Us”
• Adam Scott, “Severance”
• Noah Wyle, “The Pitt”

MY PREDICTION: Sterling K. Brown

Outstanding Drama Series

• Andor
• The Diplomat
• The Last of Us
• Paradise
• The Pitt
• Severance
• Slow Horses
• The White Lotus

MY PREDICTION: Severance

Additional Limited Series & TV Movie Nominations

I'm not sure if it's just me, or if everyone else also always believes that the prior year's Emmy nominations were spread out and timed better. With zero supporting performer categories being addressed in the live announcement, I'm going to run through those as well for the major categories.

Outstanding TV Movie

• Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
• The Gorge
• Mountainhead (MY PREDICTION)
• Nonnas
• Rebel Ridge

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Limited Series Or Movie

• Erin Doherty, “Adolescence”
• Ruth Negga “Presumed Innocent”
• Deirdre O’Connell, “The Penguin” (MY PREDICTION)
• Chloë Sevigny, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”
• Jenny Slate, “Dying for Sex”
• Christine Tremarco, “Adolescence”

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Series Or Movie

• Javier Bardem, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story" (MY PREDICTION)
• Bill Camp “Presumed Innocent”
• Owen Cooper, “Adolescence”
• Rob Delaney, “Dying for Sex”
• Peter Sarsgaard, “Presumed Innocent”
• Ashley Walters, “Adolescence”

Additional Comedy Series Nominations

Same deal here for the Comedy noms.

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy

• Liza Colón-Zayas, “The Bear”
• Hannah Einbinder, “Hacks” (MY PREDICTION)
• Kathryn Hahn, “The Studio”
• Janelle James, “Abbott Elementary”
• Catherine O’Hara, “The Studio”
• Sheryl Lee Ralph, “Abbott Elementary”
• Jessica Williams, “Shrinking”

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy

• Ike Barinholtz, “The Studio” (MY PREDICTION)
• Colman Domingo “The Four Seasons”
• Harrison Ford, “Shrinking”
• Jeff Hiller, “Somebody Somewhere”
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach, “The Bear”
• Michael Urie, “Shrinking”
• Bowen Yang, “Saturday Night Live”

Shrinking stars Harrison Ford, Michael Urie and Jessica Williams shared celebratory texts after their respective nominations were announced, making me want to hang out with that squad even more than I already did.

Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series

• Olivia Colman, “The Bear”
• Jamie Lee Curtis, "The Bear"
• Cynthia Erivo, "Poker Face"
• Robby Hoffman, “Hacks”
• Zoë Kravitz, "The Studio"
• Julianne Nicholson, "Hacks" (MY PREDICTION)

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series

• Jon Bernthal, "The Bear”
• Bryan Cranston, "The Studio" (MY PREDICTION)
• Dave Franco, “The Studio”
• Ron Howard, "The Studio"
• Anthony Mackie, “The Studio”
• Martin Scorsese, "The Studio"

Additional Drama Series Nominations

Stop me if you've heard this one....we're looking at the unmentioned Drama categories.

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama

• Patricia Arquette, “Severance”
• Carrie Coon, “The White Lotus”
• Julianne Nicholson, “Paradise”
• Parker Posey, “The White Lotus” (MY PREDICTION)
• Natasha Rothwell, “The White Lotus”
• Aimee Lou Wood, “The White Lotus”

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama

• Zach Cherry, “Severance”
• Walton Goggins, “The White Lotus”
• Jason Isaacs, “The White Lotus”
• James Marsden, “Paradise”
• Sam Rockwell, “The White Lotus”
• Tramell Tillman, “Severance” (MY PREDICTION)
• John Turturro, “Severance”

Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama

• Jane Alexander, "Severance"
• Gwendoline Christie, "Severance" (MY PREDICTION)
• Kaitlin Dever, "The Last Of Us"
• Cherry Jones, "The Handmaid's Tale"
• Catherine O'Hara, "The Last Of Us"
• Merritt Wever, "Severance"

Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama

• Giancarlo Esposito, “The Boys”
• Scott Glenn, “The White Lotus”
• Shawn Hatosy, “The Pitt”
• Joe Pantoliano, “The Last Of Us” (MY PREDICTION)
• Forest Whitaker, “Andor”
• Jeffrey Wright, “The Last Of Us“

Praise Kier For All These Severance Nominations!

Holy ORTBO, people! One of the biggest winners of the day is already Severance, even months before the actual awards get handed out. If anyone was worried about the Apple TV+ drama not making much of an impact after a three-year absence, the whopping 27 Emmy nominations is proof that this show is a critical darling of the highest order.

Season 2 earned NINE acting nominations — Jane Alexander, Patricia Arquette, Zach Cherry, Gwendoline Christie, Britt Lower, Adam Scott, Tramell Tillman, John Turturro, and Merritt Wever — and the other 18 nods were across a variety of different categories. From various Picture Editing nods to a pair of Outstanding Direction noms to ones for stunts, music composition, visual effects and more.

Oh yeah, and Outstanding Drama Series, the biggest award of the night. I'm a huge Severance obsessive, so if the show wins all 27 awards, I would come away happy. (And also confused, since several of the nominated talents are competing against each other in the same category, and thus would make it impossible for all 27 to win, but nothing is impossible at Lumon.)

2025 Emmys By (Some Of) The Numbers

As it normally goes, a bulk of the Emmy nominations went to a relatively limited number of shows. But it wasn't just the same three shows this year, even though past behemoths like Hacks and The Bear are still showing up in a big way. Let's look at some of the more interesting stats to be culled from this year's noms.

• Shows With The Most Nominations
  • Severance - 27
  • The Penguin - 24
  • The Studio - 23
  • The White Lotus - 23
  • The Last Of Us - 16
  • Hacks - 14
  • Andor - 14
  • Adolescence - 13
  • The Bear - 13
  • The Pitt - 13
• Networks / Streaming Platforms With The Most Nominations
  • HBO / HBO Max - 142
  • Netflix - 120
  • Apple TV+ - 79
  • ABC - 37
  • FX on Hulu - 35
  • NBC - 29
  • Disney+ - 28
  • CBS - 26
  • Hulu - 23
  • Peacock - 19

While so many accolades go to shows that have been on the air for years, I'm always intrigued by which completely new series end up getting nominated across the categories, since it means those shows went above and beyond to capture everyone's attention spans. This year is no exception, either. Check out some of the biggest wins amongst freshman TV shows, not counting limited series.

• Most Nominations For New Shows
  • The Studio - 23
  • The Pitt - 13
  • The Residence - 4
  • Mid-Century Modern - 4
  • Nobody Wants This. - 3
  • The Diplomat. - 3
  • Agatha All Along - 3
  • The Four Seasons - 1
  • Matlock - 1
  • Pop Culture Jeopardy! - 1
  • The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives - 1
  • Bad Thoughts - 1

A Few Quick Takes From CinemaBlend's Riley Utley

When asked to talk about some of her most positive takeaways from the Emmy nominations, she first gave credit to the voters for letting surprises into Drama's Supporting Actor category:

Another big plus in Riley's book? The love showered onto the acclaimed limited series Dying for Sex. Here's what she had to say:

Expect to hear a bit more from Riley when it comes to snubs.

POLL: Let Us Know What Show You Think Should Win Outstanding Drama Series

Since I've already shared my impulsive predictions for what actors and series will win when the Emmys air in September, let me get YOUR thoughts on what should win for Outstanding Drama series.

POLL: Let Us Know What Show You Think Should Win Outstanding Comedy Series

Second verse, same as the first. Or in this case: Second poll, same as...the first...roll. Ugh. Everyone forget what was just said, and answer the poll below!

The 6 Most Glaring Drama TV Snubs From The 2025 Emmy Nominations

Even with all the Severance nominations at play, I could still spend the next 10-15 minutes yapping about all the parts of the show that didn't get attention for. But none of that would readily count as a snub, so let's take a look at some of the examples that actually count.

In no discernible order:

1. Barely any love for the long-anticipated final season of The Handmaid's Tale or its star/producer Elisabeth Moss. The only nominee for the previous Oustanding Drama winner is Cherry Jones for her guest spot.
2. For all the nominations that The White Lotus did earn, this is the kind of show that's an embarrassment of acting riches where everyone is relegated to Supporting categories. But it's worth pointing out that Michelle Monaghan and Patrick Schwarzenegger were two of the core stars who did not get recognized by the TV Academy.
3. The Pitt's cast readily deserved more acting honors than the three that were announced. Noah Wyle, Katherine LaNasa, and Shawn Hatosy were certainly deserving, but what about other standouts like Fiona Dourif or Tracy Ifeachor or Taylor Dearden? The list goes on.
4. Allison Janney should probably get an automatic Emmy nom anytime she stars in anything, and her work on The Diplomat did not prove to be an exception to that assumption.
5. Somewhat rare is the Outstanding Drama or Comedy series that doesn't earn nominations for any of its lead and supporting actors, while Star Wars Emmy noms are even rarer. But for all that Andor racked up a ton of below-the-line appreciation, the only two performers nominated are Alan Tudyk for Voiceover and Forest Whitaker for Guest Actor.
6. I guess I didn't really expect Yellowjackets to have a ton of sway with Season 3 nominees, but it still feels like a big middle finger to the horror genre.

The 6 Most Glaring Comedy TV Snubs From The 2025 Emmy Nominations

Now let's thumb our nose at the TV Academy voters whose actions led to the following comedy-centric snubs.

1. I get that It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is like Emmy kryptonite and may have a lasting effect on its stars, but I don't understand how Kaitlin Olson missed out on a full trio of nominations. She definitely deserved it for heading up ABC's High Potential, she definitely deserved it for her emotional return to Hacks' fourth season, and she probably deserved it for guest-starring as Sweet Dee in Abbott Elementary's big crossover episode. Get your shit together, dawg.
2. After getting nominated in 2022, 2023 and 2024, Tyler James Williams missed out on his first Emmy nomination since Abbott Elementary began. To me, that’s shocking. One, because he’s remarkable as Gregory, and arguably gave one of his best performances in Season 4, as his relationship with Janine flourished. However, this also highlights a long-standing snub too, as Chris Perfetti was left out once again of the Supporting actor category. So, all around, it’s shocking and disappointing that the actors of Abbott didn’t get nominated. (Written by Riley Utley)
3. Let’s talk about a long-time Emmys oversight: The Righteous Gemstones. Across its four seasons, it has received ten nominations, but none for the major categories, which is a shame. The fourth and final season was remarkable, and while I’m thrilled it picked up six nominations, it should have gotten more. I wish Danny McBride, Bradley Cooper and the cast got nods for their performances. And it 100% should have been a frontrunner for Outstanding Comedy. However, it’s sadly never been a contender. (Written by Riley Utley)

4. I am very pleased that What We Do In The Shadows earned a nomination for Oustanding Comedy for its absolutely superb sixth and final season, but I'll never understand how this cast doesn't get more awards love. If you have Harvey Guillén hosting the nomination announcements, it sure would be nice if he was also listed among them. R.I.P. Guillermo's Emmy dreams.
5. Yes, I'll keep the horror bent going here by endlessly griping that Agatha All Along was completely shut out of any acting categories, while Kathryn Hahn did earn a nomination for her work on The Studio. Certainly well-deserved, but I know somebody put some kind of hex on this shit. Was it Wanda? So jealous.
6. How is Natasha Lyonne not an automatic lock for this category? She's this generation's vape-pluming Jessica Fletcher, and she deserves awards.

CinemaBlend's Laura Hurley Is Hyped For Matlock, Shocked By Pedro Pascal

Before dipping into another list of big snubs, let's turn back to the positive side for some good vibes from CinemaBlend's own Laura Hurley.

Once upon a time, Emmy nominations were full of network TV shows getting awards love, but that changed with the advent of premium cable and streaming dramas. I’m delighted to see that after Kathy Bates took the top prize for Best Actress as the 2025 Critics Choice Awards for her work in CBS’ Matlock, she has officially been nominated for Best Actress in a Drama at the 2025 Emmys. Not only is she the only star representing network TV in a Drama category, but she has made history as the oldest nominee for Best Actress at the age of 77. I’m rooting for network TV to get some love this year, and Kathy Bates has certainly delivered the kinds of performances as Matty Matlock to deserve an Emmy.

The Last of Us finally returned for Season 2 after two years of hiatus, but fans wouldn’t get another full batch of episodes with Pedro Pascal opposite Bella Ramsey. His character, Joel Miller, was killed off in just the second episode, and Pascal would ultimately only be credited with three of the season’s seven episodes. Don’t get me wrong – I cried when Joel was killed off despite thinking I’d pull through without any tears, but I was still surprised to see Pascal nominated for Best Actor in a Drama Series. I’m not predicting that he’ll win up against stiff leading man competition, but I did a double take when I saw him nominated as a lead.

The 3 Most Glaring Limited/Unscripted TV Snubs From The 2025 Emmy Nominations

Now let's cap off our closer look at Emmy snubs with Limited Series and Unscripted categories.

1. I'm not sure what anyone is meant to glean from this, but the fact that both Late Night with Seth Myers and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Kimmel were left out of the Talk Show category's THREE nominations cannot mean great things.
2. Am I wrong for thinking LEGO Masters is still one of the most feel-good reality TV shows out there? Plus, Will Arnett is as great a host as it gets, and he'll be the first, second, and third to agree.
3. Anytime a mainstay nominee like The Voice goes without a nod, it's a shock. And one that leaves the door open for other shows to swoop in.

So don't forget to tune into CBS on Sunday, September 14, to catch the full 2025 Emmy Awards telecast, starting at 8:00 p.m. ET.

It's been three months since the Severance Season 2 finale was part of the 2025 TV schedule, but I know I’m still emotionally recovering from everything that took place during it. While I’m not surprised it took a toll on the series’ star Adam Scott, it’s interesting to hear him talk about one scene he was worried about, because he clearly crushed it. SPOILERS are ahead!

There are a lot of standout scenes from the finale, particularly how the season ends with Mark and Helly running away from Gemma after all that time when his outie thought his wife was dead and wanted to reunite with her. One moment from the episode that Scott’s friend and fellow actor Kristen Bell asked him about during an interview with Variety was when Innie and Outie Mark talk to each other over a camcorder. Here’s how he said he reacted to seeing that scene on paper:

It’s one of the many genius scenes of Severance, but Adam Scott was not here for it when it came to being the man who had to pull it off. He said it was one of those shoot days that always felt like it was “on the horizon,” continuing with these words:

Hey, it’s understandable. The actor had to play both versions of Mark as they had a conversation with each other with a camcorder. It cannot be easy to keep both Marks straight, and it’s a real key scene to the audience's understanding that Innie Mark has become his own person and is rejecting Outie Mark’s wishes. As he explained further:

The actor of course didn’t screw up, he killed it in all the ways possible for that scene, and it really helps frame the ending of the season.

Scott spoke further about what went into that scene with these words:

Adam Scott sounds like a guy who doesn’t quite realize his talents as he passed off all of the credit for a scene that he had to play both parts in to everyone else involved, but of course, every scene of Severance is a collaborative effort. Considering the actor is currently in contention to earn another Emmy nomination for his role, he’s definitely being humble.

As we wait for the Emmy nominations to be announced, prior to it being one of the upcoming award shows for later this year, I will still be thinking about the Severance finale and what it means for Season 3 and potential Severance spinoffs.

We’re still a long ways away from Severance Season 3 being available to stream with an Apple TV+ subscription, but I’m already starting to question one of my core assumptions in the aftermath of Season 2, that Ms. Cobel is aligned with Mark Scout’s anti-Lumon stance. Considering everything that played out in the final three episodes of the season, I might have even put money on Cobel having permanently switched allegiances. But star Patricia Arquette throw it all into doubt.

Arquette shared quite a few opinions and musings regarding her expertly portrayed Severance character, and why the character’s Selvig persona seemed to be so terrible with her recycling habits. But I’m most intrigued and perhaps bothered by the Emmy winner’s comments after being asked if she thought viewers should be rooting for Cobel. According to the actress:

Her comments are certainly merited, since there are plenty of projects out there that go that flip-flopping route with characters. Even Trammell Tillman's Mr. Milchick has earned grace points from viewers for the sporadic moments of empathy and sympathy that he displays, only to turn around and prove his Lumon allegiance in the next breath.

But then Arquette continues and makes a point to say that Cobel could go in either direction when Severance returns, throwing my hopes for Mark into disarray. Here's how she put it:

At this point in the show's run, I don't think I would ever expect Cobel to return to Lumon to try and get her job back, at least without Helena Eagan groveling on her hands and knees. Once she sped away from Lumon HQ after Helena's seemingly fatalistic invitation, only to go off and retrieve her notebook filled with designs for the Innies' chips, I thought Cobel would have remained headstrong about not returning to the company that ripped her creation away from her.

But now it seems possible that Cobel could once again turncoat against those siding with her if the situation becomes advantageous to her. Which is not good for either oMark or iMark, and will probably make life hell for several other people in the process.

Of course, I’ve had past theories about Cobel that didn’t pan out, at least not yet, just as others’ theories about Helena being in the finale were debunked, so I won’t be too surprised if my worries about her are all for naught once Season 3 is being played out. This is one of the rare cases where I can’t wait to find out if I’m wrong or not.

In the meantime, I’d love to see what’s up with the spinoff talks that Ben Stiller teased, and have roughly a few million ideas to talk out on that front.

Severance Season 2 begins and ends with Mark running. However, while watching this season as it aired on the 2025 TV schedule with my Apple TV+ subscription, I didn’t realize how perfectly it bookends itself. Now, the show’s creator, Dan Erickson, has explained the meaning behind the two scenes, and I’m emotional.

Now that we’ve had time to process the emotional Severance Season 2 finale, Dan Erickson is giving us more to chew on. In a letter published on Deadline with a copy of the Season 2 finale script, the creator wrote about why that finale scene of Mark and Helly running away from Gemma “scared” him. He explained:

It hurts! At the start of the season, Mark runs around the halls of the severed floor by himself looking for Ms. Casey (AKA his outie Mark’s wife Gemma). Then, at the end, when he achieved the goal he was running toward at the start of the season, he immediately ran away.

That final scene by itself is painful, because Gemma is clearly devastated by Mark’s choice, and outie Mark will also be torn up about it. However, at the same time, this moment shows how innie Mark has asserted his autonomy and acted for himself and the other severed people on the floor.

As Erikson said, it was both “triumphant and agonizing,” and thinking about it in conjunction with that opening scene only adds emphasis to those feelings. Explaining all of that further, the show’s creator wrote:

It truly is a remarkable moment that’s unforgettable. To see Mark run away from the person and mission he’d devoted so much time and effort to was incredibly emotional. And it’s moving in a lot of ways.

On one side, it’s tragic to see him turn his back on Gemma, especially after everything outie Mark went through to get her out. On the other hand, seeing innie Mark do what he thought was best for him and run back in an effort to save all the other severed folks was equally emotional, but in an almost triumphant sense.

It was a major step that fully solidified the growing conflict between the innies and the outies, and the implications of Mark’s choice here will likely be a major point of Severance Season 3. It’s also a hard pill to swallow, because no one is in the right or wrong here. Both versions of Mark have good intentions and are trying to save themselves and who they love. However, in the grand scheme of things, both can’t get their way, and that makes me emotional.

Then, you add on the evolution of everything between the first time Mark ran through the halls in Season 2 and when he ran back into the halls in the finale, and it gets my thoughts going and makes me very emotional in a complex way.

The story of Severance is mysterious and important, and quite honestly, I didn’t think it’d expand beyond what is considered one of Apple TV+’s best shows. However, after Season 2’s remarkable run on the 2025 TV schedule, Ben Stiller has revealed that they have “two specific ideas” for spinoffs. So, that means I’ve come up with theories regarding what they would be about.

What Ben Stiller Said About Severance’s Possible Spinoffs

There are a bunch of questions regarding what will happen during Season 3 of Severance. During an interview with Variety, Ben Stiller and Adam Scott wouldn’t really answer any of them, understandably. However, when asked if they saw the series turning into a franchise, the director shocked me by revealing:

Frankly, I never thought Severance would go beyond Severance. So, it’s thrilling to know that there are ideas being thrown around for spinoffs, even if they are in the early early stages of formation or “nascent,” as Stiller put it.

He obviously wouldn’t reveal these ideas either, however, after learning that there are potential spinoffs being kicked around the severed floor, I’ve come up with two ideas myself.

My Two ‘Specific’ Ideas For Potential For Severance Spinoffs

While watching the first two seasons of Severance with my Apple TV+ subscription, I’ve had moments where I have thought about how much I’d love to learn more about various aspects of Lumon. There’s so much lore, history and complexity when it comes to this company, and that’s where both my spinoff ideas stem from:

1. A Prequel Series About Lumon’s Founding

As we’ve learned in various episodes of Severance, the Lumon lore and the Kier family history are wild. Episodes like “Woe’s Hollow” gave us some crazy insight into the founders of this company and the family Helena grew up in. We also know that while Lumon is a biotech company of sorts, it also has cult-like tendencies (i.e., the Waffle Party).

However, with every piece of knowledge we gain, I wind up with more questions.

I want to know how Lumon ended up this way and why the Keir family founded this company in the first place. We know this corporation has been in the family for generations, and both the family and some employees worship their founder in a very intense, almost religious way. So, there’s a lot of story to mine there. Therefore, let’s run a spinoff all the way back to the beginning to learn how on Earth this family wound up with so much creepy power and influence.

Ever since we saw the goats in Severance for the first time, I’ve been curious about the department known as Mammalians Nurturable. I want to know more about why Gwendoline Christie’s character, Lorne, is so connected to the animals. I want to know why their office is rolling green hills under fluorescent lights. And I still have questions about what the purpose of the goats even is.

I could see a whole spinoff about this department that’s basically separate from Severance, and I’d love it.

I would also take shows about Choreography and Merriment or Optics and Design. All the various departments of Severance are so deeply unique and mysterious that they deserve their own stories, and that could be accomplished with a spinoff.

Overall, I think the world of Severance is rich enough to warrant at least two spinoffs, and I think both of these would be cool. However, I’m positive that whatever Ben Stiller and co. have in mind is better, so here’s hoping that someday we’ll find out what their specific ideas are and they’ll turn into upcoming Apple TV+ projects.

You can always count on Severance to leave us with questions, and as we wait for Season 3, there’s a big one about Helly R. and Helena that’s caused quite the debate. At the end of Season 2, we saw Helly (or that’s who we’re told it is) help Mark get Gemma out and revolt against Lumon in a way. However, some fans are theorizing that it was actually Helena down there. Now, though, Britt Lower has set the record straight on whether her innie or outie was the one on that severed floor during that fateful moment.

As we wait for Season 3 of Severance, Britt Lower sat down with THR to talk Season 2, and one specific debate her character (or characters) has caused. While multiple Helly theories are floating around, a particularly popular one centers around the idea that it was actually Helena down there with Mark in the final moments instead of Helly. When asked about this and the possibility of not really knowing which variation she was, Britt Lower said:

Now, we’ve been tricked before. Earlier in Season 2, Helena was pretending to be Helly, which multiple fans theorized about. So, while it looks like Helly is present during the finale's action, there’s still some suspicion that we could be tricked again.

However, Lower is sure that’s not what’s going on here. As she tracked her innie’s actions between Season 1 and 2, she broke down what Helly has been through, and why it led to her actions at the end of the latest finale. She said:

Continuing to break down Helly's evolution on the severed floor, Lower said:

She’s right, at the end of Season 2, the innies have a new conviction to save themselves. They rise up against Mr. Milchick, and, notably, Mark and Helly run back into the office after leaving Gemma right outside the floor.

It feels like they’re ready to fight based on what they know about Lumon and their outies, and because of that, Lower believes there’s no way Helena is the one with Mark at the end of Season 2. Definitively putting this debate to an end, she said:

I have to agree with Lower, I don’t believe Helena is capable of acting this way, whereas it’s totally in Helly’s wheelhouse. While her outie put on a fairly successful ruse in the first half of the season, I don’t think she would have done all this while pretending to be her innie. She might be doubting her place in Lumon, but not so much to tear the company down (at least in my opinion). So, even before Lower debunked the theory, I thought that was Helly.

However, now the actress has confirmed it. That was Helly, and going into the next season of the upcoming Apple TV+ show, I’m curious to see how this innie and her outie grapple with what is going down on the severed floor of Lumon.

Sadly, we’ll have to wait a while to find out, though, because Season 3 of Severance has no release date. So, in the meantime, stream the first two seasons with an Apple TV+ subscription, and keep thinking and theorizing about everything Britt Lower just explained.

Spoilers ahead for Severance Season 2, which can be streamed with an Apple TV+ subscription.

It’s now been over a month since the Severance Season 2 finale hit the 2025 TV schedule, and that heartbreaking final scene between Gemma, Mark and Helly has been living rent-free in my head. I know I’m not alone, because fans continue to crank out theories about what we’ve witnessed and what’s to come in Severance Season 3. It turns out executive producer Ben Stiller is listening (as is Lumon!), and he gave the loveliest explanation for why he’s joined the discourse.

It turns out Ben Stiller — who has directed more than half of the Severance episodes across two seasons — really enjoys jumping on social media to talk Season 2’s big goat reveal and weigh in on where the sprawling story is going. That’s not exactly common amongst TV creatives, but as Stiller told Variety:

There honestly may not be a healthier way to view the Internet than how Ben Stiller does, and I say we should all officially strive to be more like him. The Tropic Thunder star isn’t just paying attention to the fans who agree with everything he does and want to praise him. He listens to people with a different view and tries to understand why they don’t like something.

He also doesn’t take it that seriously (not all that surprising, coming from the guy who wrote, directed and starred in Zoolander). Even the disagreements are something he said he finds “fun,” and he likely takes away the perspective of a different corner of Severance’s audience.

Ben Stiller makes a good point that this kind of fan interaction wasn’t possible before social media. There was watercooler talk, of course, but the Internet has opened up fan reactions so that showrunners have instant access to honest feedback. What theories are being debated? What side characters are viewers interested in? Which stories are sending Redditors down the deepest rabbit holes?

Why shouldn’t Ben Stiller and others take advantage of this as a way to better understand the very people who are ingesting their media? Now, I’m not saying he should let that influence the product. Severance has had some brilliant minds behind it — including creator Dan Erickson — and Season 3 will feature some big creative changes, but knowing what your audience is talking about can’t be a bad thing.

Helly-related fan theories were particularly prevalent in Season 2, including that big ORTBO episode, and “Chikhai Bardo” — possibly one of the darkest episodes of television ever — pretty much brought all frivolous jokes about scary numbers to a halt after we realized it all just meant Gemma was being tortured.

Maybe Ben Stiller can shoot me a DM and tell me how I’m supposed to laugh at Dylan’s jokes without thinking about whether or not he’s a bad dad.

All kidding aside, I think it’s really cool that Ben Stiller cares enough about Severance and its fans to jump into the sometimes-scary world of social media to debate the show. Now let’s get to Season 3 already!

Fans of Will Trent thankfully don’t have to worry about the ABC drama joining the long list of shows ending this year, as the audience-pleasing third season has already been confirmed for a Season 4 return later in the 2025 premiere schedule. But there is something those fans should be stressing over — at least as much as Will freaks about over large animals — in the form of a new character popping up in the GBI agent’s life.

Severance vet Yul Vazquez, whose character I’m still thinking of questions for, has joined Will Trent to perhaps cause some trouble for the titular character, Angela and others. Let’s take a quick run through what we know so far about Vazquez’s impending arrival.

Who Is Yul Vazquez Playing In Will Trent Season 3?

• Vazquez is joining Will Trent for a major recurring role, as described by TVLine.
• His character's name is Sheriff Caleb, seemingly without a last name provided just yet.
• Sheriff Caleb is noted as being a hometown hero whose most prominent traits are being "rugged, handsome" and "fiercely stubborn."

How Will Sheriff Caleb's Story Cross With Will's?

It appears as if Caleb is the kind of authority figure — which in this case involves self-appointed authority — who looks out for the local community while harboring a chip on his shoulder for any outside influences that try to affect the way he runs things. I'd expect him to say, "Yeahhh, seeee?" a lot, like an old-timey gangster.

Unfortunately for all involved, a high-profile case within his jurisdiction is assigned to Will and Faith, and the sheriff makes it clear from the jump that they're not so welcome. At least until the investigation goes in an unexpected direction, which causes Caleb to rethink the usefulness of the GBI agents.

When Will Yul Vazquez's New Character Show Up?

Sheriff Caleb is set to arrive on Will Trent for Episode 17 of the ongoing third season, which will be the penultimate installment. Titled "Why Hello, Sheriff," the ep also has the distinction of being directed by co-star Erika Christensen.

Why Sheriff Caleb Will Likely Stick Around For Season 4

Considering Season 3 has just two episodes left to air, the "major recurring" status is probably the biggest initial clue that Vazquez isn't just popping in and out. But then there's the trailer for the episode, which outright refers to the sheriff as a "newfound enemy." I guess he could technically become a new-lost enemy right away, but I have my suspicions. Check out the trailer below!

And if those connected dots still weren't enough, executive producer Liz Heldens was asked straight-up if Yul Vazquez is being built up as a big bad villain, prompting only this answer:

One would think Will and Faith's case would get wrapped up in a way that would allow them to exit Caleb's town without crossing paths again with him for the rest of their lives. But it sounds like the case they're looking into will have overarching ramifications for where Season 4 is heading. If anything we can hopefully look forward to the sheriff surviving longer than Susan Kalechi Watson's character did.

Be sure to tune into the final two episodes of Will Trent Season 3 when they hit ABC on Tuesday nights at 8:00 p.m. ET, and are available to stream next-day with a Hulu subscription.

While it felt like just about everyone was in on the Severance hype, when I recommend other shows on the 2025 TV schedule that are only available with an Apple TV+ subscription, sometimes people have no clue what I’m talking about. Now, a creator of a series that is housed on the streamer is calling out the service for its marketing tactics, going as far as to say that it's “probably the worst marketer in the universe.”

Alex Berger is a French-American producer behind hit shows like The Bureau and The Agency, he’s also the man behind the Apple TV+ series La Maison. While speaking at Canneseries (via Variety) about the success of The Agency (which is available with a Paramount+ subscription), he also opened up about the disappointment he felt with La Maison, seeing as both shows premiered in 2024. Explaining why he was upset about how Apple marketed his drama, the executive producer explained:

La Maison, which is a French drama about a family that runs a haute couture house, was critically acclaimed. In fact, it boasts a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it flew under the radar.

It feels like this show has what it takes to be one of the best Apple TV+ series. However, Berger blames the lack of marketing for it when it comes to the number of people who actually watched it.

After his initial comments regarding his disappointment toward Apple TV+’s marketing strategy, Berger was asked why he chose to take his project to this streamer. He explained that he had hoped his series could help expand the service’s international offerings. However, ultimately, he was “very frustrated” with how his project was advertised, explaining:

Over the years that Apple has been producing television, it has made a ton of critically acclaimed hits. Shows like Jason Segel’s Shrinking, the adaptation of Silo, Seth Rogen’s The Studio and more have been met with love from critics. However, when it comes to the masses watching these projects, it’s harder to track and truly know if they’re big hits.

Obviously, Apple TV+ has some massive, and I mean massive, hits. Ted Lasso has become a major moment in the world of television, winning Emmy after Emmy alongside the hearts of millions. Now, it’s even coming back for Season 4, and hype is high. Severance also went super viral this year with Season 2, and became the streamer’s most watched show, logging 589 million minutes viewed in the U.S. across all its episodes (per Deadline).

While this service has some notable and very big successes, it also doesn’t have the same number of hits as streamers like Netflix, Max, Hulu, and Paramount+.

According to Berger, this could be because of how shows are marketed on the platform. He’s clearly very frustrated with how his drama was treated, despite its critical acclaim, because it didn’t reach as many people as he would have liked.

Now, it will be interesting to see if Apple TV+ evolves in its marketing ways to make it so more people know about its impressive library of content.

Spoiler alert! Major spoilers ahead for Severance’s second season, so if you’re not caught up, be sure to stream episodes with your Apple TV+ subscription.

The second season of Severance has come to an end on the 2025 TV schedule, and while I will certainly be thinking about Gemma in that heartbreaking final scene until Severance Season 3 premieres, there’s another Lumon employee who I can’t get off of my mind: Dylan. Zach Cherry's character was developed so much this season, which became especially apparent when I revisited the series premiere. Knowing everything we do now, there’s one joke in “Good News About Hell” that’s taken on a whole new meaning.

Severance Season 1: It was a simpler time. After enduring the literal torture of “Chikhai Bardo” and everything that followed in Season 2, I was craving the blissful ignorance of finger traps and the coveted-as-fuck egg bar. It healed my soul to hear Irving quip, “Hi, kids. What’s for dinner?” However, where Dylan’s smart-ass response would normally have elicited a chuckle, now the question he asks forces my brain down a Dylan rabbit hole.

Dylan’s Sarcastic Takedown Has Deeper Meaning After Learning More About His Outie In Season 2

The first time we meet Lumon’s MDR employees, we immediately get a sense of both their individual personalities and their rapport with each other. Like in many workplaces, the macrodats operate like something of a dysfunctional family, and it’s pretty funny to see that the greeting from Irving (John Turturro) has irked his colleagues, particularly Zach Cherry’s Dylan, for a while.

Mark (Adam Scott) points out how confusing the “What’s for dinner?” question is, asking Irving, “Like, did the kids make you dinner in this scenario?” Which prompts Dylan to chime in with:

Now back in 2022, that was just a dumb joke, and Dylan taking Irving’s dinner question so literally just spoke to the simple humor of the unworldly innies. But that was before we knew more about Dylan’s outie and the kind of dad he is.

It Turns Out Outie Dylan’s Fathering Skills Might Be Less-Than-Ideal

Not only do we find out later in Season 1 that Dylan is the only one of the macrodats with children (other than Petey, who is no longer with Lumon by the start of the series), we find out that — to put it bluntly — he’s kind of a shit dad.

Maybe that’s being too harsh. We definitely don’t see Dylan treating his three children terribly or really even neglecting them, but we don’t see him playing with them or interacting with them either.

It’s more that his general lack of motivation feels all-encompassing, and I think his watching TV and forgetting to bake the store-bought cookie dough is meant to speak more to his overall contribution to his and Gretchen’s home life.

So while Gretchen (Merritt Wever) graciously says that her husband “never quite found his thing,” we know that innie Dylan has a higher standard for his outie and would no doubt stand by his questions about his other half being “dumb,” “a dick,” and/or “kind of a fuck-up.”

Everything Changed For Innie Dylan When He Learned He Had Children On The Outside

However, back in Season 1, we didn’t know this about Dylan. While his outie was struggling to find satisfaction in his life away from Lumon, we only knew of his innie, who was thriving down on the severed floor. He didn’t know life could have a bigger purpose until Milchick (Tramell Tillman) activated the Overtime Contingency to find the card Dylan had stolen from O&D.

Waking up in his outie’s closet and having his son run in to hug him changed absolutely everything innie Dylan knew about his existence, and it was immediately obvious how important being a dad was to him. Perks like the Music Dance Experience no longer had meaning. He didn’t want a waffle party; he wanted to remember his kids being born! He all of a sudden has something to fight for.

That moment was the beginning of the whole Macrodat Uprising, which changed all of the innies’ lives forever, and I think not only was that passion to be a good dad in Dylan’s innie all along, I think he helped rekindle it in his outie.

I Think Innie Dylan Got His Outie To Stop Taking His Family For Granted

There’s been lots of discussion from the characters, the writers and the fans of Severance about how much of an innie’s personality bleeds through from the outside. What personality traits can’t be erased by bifurcating your brain? I think that shot fired at Irving in Season 1, Episode 1 was a big clue into how Dylan operates.

Joking or not, innie Dylan’s first thought when Irving asked, “What’s for dinner?” was to wonder about the welfare of his colleague’s theoretical children. His innie acted like a dad before any of us (even him) knew he was one.

Even in Season 2, while everyone was perplexed by the fact that Ms. Huang was a child, Dylan was the only one who asked if she needed help, saying in “Who Is Alive?”:

Dylan’s innie had a painful end to the season. He fell in love with Gretchen and then got dumped for his own loser outie. However, in doing that, it sounds like the “affair” was the wakeup call outie Dylan needed.

The anguished cry of, “Gretchen!” will never stop ringing in my ears, but it probably was the happiest ending we could have hoped for from this bizarre love triangle. Despite what he said, innie Dylan couldn’t provide for Gretchen, but he did inspire his outie to be a better husband and, in turn, a better father.

That crack about Irving’s presumably nonexistent children was just the first of many hilarious insults hurled good-naturedly at Dylan’s MDR brethren, and I think it’s pretty crazy that even when we knew so little about what was happening inside or outside of Lumon that these characters’ complexities were already being formed.

That said, I don’t know if Dylan joking about Irving being a “shit dad” was an intentional clue into the innie’s conscience or his outie’s guilt, but given it was one of the first things we heard from Zach Cherry’s character, it definitely feels more loaded after seeing him grow so much over two seasons.

After the Severance Season 2 finale, I have no idea where Ben Stiller, Dan Erickson, and their new showrunners and writers will go next with one of the best shows on Apple TV+, but I hope they continue to develop such well-rounded stories for these complex characters.

Spoilers for Season 2 of Severance are in play! If you want to watch the series, you can do so with an Apple TV+ subscription.

Ever since watching Severance’s Season 2 finale, I can’t stop thinking about the line “You’ll kill them all.” It’s screamed by Dr. Mauer at Gemma and Mark as they’re about to leave in an elevator, and while I have my assumptions about what it means, I needed to know more. Thankfully, CinemaBlend had the chance to ask Gemma actress Dichen Lachman about it, and her explanation of this quote’s meaning will haunt me until Severance Season 3.

In the final episode of Severance to air on the 2025 TV schedule, we finally saw Gemma escape that hellish testing floor with Mark. During the season, we learned that Lumon was trying to tamper with her emotions with various rooms that contained her biggest fears or things she loathed. This required her to be severed well over 20 times.

However, she managed to escape when Mark came down to get her from the Cold Harbor room. As they were running out, though, Dr. Mauer yelled, “You’ll kill them all.” And that left me spiraling…Thankfully, CinemaBlend’s Mike Reyes got the chance to ask Dichen Lachman about this fateful moment and powerful line of dialogue. In response, the actress said:

Lachman’s comments seem to imply that the doctor was referring to the various versions of Gemma that existed on the floor she was living on for so long. By choosing to leave with Mark, she was killing all the other versions of her that existed down there. That by itself is spooky and quite morbid to think about.

However, the longer I think about this, the more I wonder how it will impact all the severed employees.

To me, this whole sequence that includes this line and ultimately ends with Mark leaving Gemma outside the severed floor to run back into it with Helly is showing that all innies are in danger over what’s going down in Lumon. They don’t want to die, and the outies deciding to try and escape or free them could lead to a life where the innies no longer exist.

That’s kind of terrifying to think about, and I think it will have massive implications come Season 3.

In Season 2, we saw Irving get fired from Lumon, effectively killing his innie. They even honored his life on the severed floor later. While his character isn’t technically dead, it’s only his outie’s conscious that is currently living. The same thing happened to Gemma.

By leaving the floor she was on, the doctor screamed, “You’ll kill them all” to signal that her choice will kill all the other versions of her.

However, I also think this line applies to Lumon as a whole. This conflict between the innies and outies really started to ramp up in the final episode, and Mark’s innie choosing to stay in with Helly solidified that tension as an even bigger issue going into Season 3.

So, yeah, this idea of killing innies haunts me, and it’s going to continue to until we get Season 3, because I have a feeling this conflict and ethical dilemma will be a major part of it.

I know some of you out there are still reeling from what Lumon Industries has provided on the 2025 TV schedule. As Severance’s emotional Season 2 finale blew fans' minds, the road ahead is as mysterious as the tricky corridors that make up the hellish enigma our beloved employees are investigating Part of those efforts involve knowing where you’re going, which is exactly the point of actor Dichen Lachman’s sweet story about how Jurassic World Dominion led to an adorable gesture of assistance.

During our recent conversation about Ms. Lachman’s return for Jurassic World: Chaos Theory Season 3, we actually took a sharp left turn into the realm of this Apple TV+ subscription hit. What started as a story about Dichen Lachman’s challenges with dinosaur names led to her sharing with CinemaBlend an anecdote about how Season 1's hallway scenes were made easier by this industrious Assistant Director:

After reading this story again, I’m kind of jealous of Dichen Lachman, and not because she’s a Jurassic Universe star who gets to command Atrociraptors. For as many things as I forget to do in everyday life, if someone drew dinosaurs on the instructions/to-do lists I have to tackle, it’d make things a lot easier.

Though thankfully it doesn’t sound like the insightful Severance actor didn’t have to tackle anything as massive as what’s happened in Season 2. With the latest round of questions and answers opening with Adam Scott’s trippy hallway run sequence, that sort of effort would probably require a lot of species rendered on cardboard walls.

And at a high enough speed, who can really tell the difference between a Velociraptor and a Baryonyx? Although now that we’re talking about it, I wonder if the unique conditions of time and space in the Lumon building could help a human outrun a T-Rex?

If you ever have the chance to talk to Dichen Lachman, I heartily suggest you take it. Not only does she have some deep theories that open up the puzzle box that is Severance, you never know what Jurassic-themed story she’ll share with you next. Which, as a massive fan of Michael Crichton and Steven Spielberg’s mythic creation, is something I highly value in a conversation partner.

Fans of Ms. Lachman can, of course, break their hearts all over again by revisiting Severance on Apple TV+. Or, if you haven’t caught up on Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, you can watch all three seasons using a Netflix subscription, with Soyona “The Broker” Santos coming into the picture from Season 2 onward. Running shoes are not required, despite what some may say.

Alright, so…Severance is great and well-written and deserving of praise and all, but you guys do realize that Apple TV+ has a lot of other amazing shows as well, right?

In this world dominated by the best streaming services, there are just SO many amazing TV shows that we have to keep up with. Whether we’re waiting for the final season of Stranger Things on Netflix or pacing in our kitchens as we impatiently anticipate the arrival of The Bear Season 4, there are so many great TV shows to look forward to, for both Innies and Outies.

But it feels like most TV shows on Apple TV+ have flown under the radar, with Severance being one easy exception during its Season 2 run. However, as a personal connoisseur of the best Apple TV+ shows, there is one other series on the platform that I really wish would get as much love as Severance – and it’s not the other standout exception Ted Lasso. Hear me out.

Both Of Severance’s Seasons Have Been Amazing

Before I get into making non-Severance suggestions, though, I want to give Dan Erickson's twisty mystery its deserved flowers.

I would never be the person who'd try to preach that Severance is not that great, because I think Severance is one of those shows that really only comes around once in a lifetime. Where every time a new episode dropped, it felt like the entire world stopped revolving until fans finished watching, with each new detail sparking intriguing and often outlandish theories and conversations.

When I caught up on Severance, I was a part of the party, and every week, I was into it. While I was legitimately still crying about the Severance Season 2 finale a week after it aired, it’s one of those shows that I know I’ll be back for when Severance Season 3 comes around.

However, there’s one other show on Apple TV+ that I really wish got as much love as this series – and it’ll make you feel all the feels.

But I Really Wish That Shrinking Got The Same Amount Of Love

Is Shrinking the same as Severance? No, not in any way, shape or form. But the amount of love, time, and effort poured into it is still very much there, and you can tell from the first minutes of the pilot.

I’ll give you a quick premise for those who don’t know what Shrinking is about. The series stars Jason Segel, famous for his starring role in the How I Met Your Mother cast, and he plays a therapist named Jimmy. He lost his wife in a car accident a little while ago and is dealing with his issues, as well as trying to raise his teenage daughter and still working as a therapist.

To start coping, he begins telling his therapists how he really feels about their issues – and begins doing quite unhealthy and unconventional ways to help them grow from their problems that slowly start to help him. But life obviously gets in the way, and things happen that turn his life upside down.

If you’re someone like me who has dealt with mental health issues in the past, this is the kind of show for you. It is handled in a delicate manner that is somehow both respectful and funny, and that is a hard thing to do when it comes to comedy.

But let’s get into other reasons as to why you should check out this show.

It Has Heart, Comedy, And A Great Cast

First off, this show has a heart—a lot of it. I don’t think another show has made me cry this much in every single episode since This Is Us, and that's saying something because I am a crier.

Every episode feels like a new connection that you not only make with the characters but within yourself. You start to realize things that you might not have focused on before, just from a little show about a therapist – and you really feel for these characters and what they go through.

But just because this show has heart, it doesn’t mean it’s not funny – and it is. I mean, the series comes from one of the same people who created Ted Lasso – Bill Lawrence – so you know it’ll be funny. But the other co-creators? Jason Segel is a part of that team, and Ted Lasso cast member Brett Goldstein actually has a crazy important role in Season 2, but I’m not going to spoil that.

This show is funny. There are moments where I actively snorted out my drink or food or whatever I was ingesting into my body when I watched it. It made my sides hurt from the laughter that poured from my lips over and over again. It made me cry tears of joy—that later turned into weepy sobs because, yet again, it hit hard at home, and it’s because of this incredible cast.

And my god, the Shrinking cast is incredible. Aside from lead Jason Segel, you have the legendary Harrison Ford as a main character, Jimmy’s co-worker, Dr. Paul Rhodes, who has Parkinson’s disease. Aside from him, you have an incredible slew of characters played by actors who genuinely care about the work and devote so much of who they are to each episode.

In every single episode, you will find someone new to attach to, love, cherish, and adore because that’s what this show is – it makes you care.

It’s Really Helped Me Deal With Problems In Real Life

While I wouldn’t say that Shrinking is as good as a therapist—and I am not giving any advice on that matter because I am not a professional—I will say that it’s made me rethink a couple of things in my life.

The way the story is delivered really gets into your personal mind and makes you think about times in your life when you could have approached a problem or situation from a different standpoint or perspective. And now, because of this show, I really do actively think about a lot of the things I do and how they affect others.

Literally, I just started to smile more at people and try to step out of my comfort zone and do things I wouldn’t normally do. I think this series is a big reason why I started doing that. And I genuinely can’t thank it enough. There’s just something about it that makes it feel so…familiar to me, like a family member who’s come to visit after a year away, and we sit down for a half hour-to-fourty-five minute long conversation each week a new episode airs.

It’s special…and it’s helped me. And that’s really what makes this show so amazing.

Look, is Shrinking the kind of show where we are all going to be theorizing each week like we did for Severance? No, it’s not. But what Shrinking does do is make you really sit with yourself and reflect while also making you laugh a ton. And that’s just as beautiful to me, if not more.

So, while we all wait for Severance Season 3 to come along, I suggest checking out Shrinking in the meantime. There are two seasons out, and a Shrinking Season 3 is set to release as well. You won’t regret it.

MASSIVE SPOILERS are ahead for Severance Season 2, now streaming in full with an Apple TV Plus subscription.

It’s been about two weeks since the Severance finale dropped, and I honestly cannot get this show out of my head. I’ve even started to rewatch the series from the beginning as we wait to get more information than we currently have on Season 3. (I can’t believe I wasn’t into Season 2 at first due to the long wait!) And as the final moments continue to replay in my head, I have one Helly theory to talk out.

Remember when Mark S. totally broke Gemma’s heart (and mine) by going to Helly and running away with her? Since my gears have been turning about what could happen next in this very complex love triangle, it's led me to think about where things could go from here. Time to talk it out.

And in the spirit of the show, please enjoy each section of this article equally.

I Can’t Stop Thinking About How The Severance Finale Left Things With Mark And Gemma

After having all the questions and theories circulating around about Gemma and her connection with Lumon and Cold Harbor throughout the season, I was so happy to finally understand that Mark’s wife has been a test subject of sorts regarding severance science. It seems like Lumon has been trying out if severance can be used as a tool to delete trauma from one’s brain. Gemma’s final room (of 24), “Cold Harbor,” was a direct reference to her biggest trauma regarding infertility and losing Mark as she was instructed to put together the very same crib Mark was going to put together before her “death.”

After seeing Gemma and Mark go through so much pain due to being apart throughout the show, I was overjoyed by their reunion and what looked to be the pair finally escaping Lumon’s grasp. However, Severance then did the most diabolical thing by having Mark go back to being his innie just minutes later and running away from his own wife to hold hands with Helly and run away with her… Where? I’m not sure, and per creator Dan Erickson to Variety, they don’t seem to “have a plan necessarily,” either.

After Helena And Helly Have Both Had Sexy Times With Mark, I Have A Season 3 Theory

Now, I feel mortified for Gemma. Just moments after seeing her husband again, he ran away from her, and she was left alone again. On the other hand, I can totally understand what’s going on with Mark S. He’s in love with Helly R. and doesn’t know any other life than what’s on the severed floor. By running away with her, they are choosing themselves over Lumon and fighting for their livelihood. But there’s also another element of this that won’t leave my brain: Mark S. has been sexually involved with both Helly R. and her outie, Helena Eagan in recent weeks... and I’m going to guess the innies have never attended a sex ed class.

So, my theory is that I think that Helly/Helena could end up pregnant during the events of Season 3, and that could make things even more complicated. If so, it would be Innie Mark’s either way, and it would only further make his case and drive for having his own life and reason to exist rather than reintegrating with Outie Mark.

It Would Break Me If This Happened And Gemma Found Out

If Helly/Helena does become pregnant with Mark S’s baby, it would absolutely make the whole situation with Gemma worse, since Mark and Gemma’s relationship struggles and traumas prior to her “death” were all about infertility. I truly cannot think of a more messed up way for this love triangle to play out if Gemma becomes embroiled in trying to get Mark back and she comes across her husband’s Innie trying to move on and start a family with Helly.

I’m convinced this could be part of the plotline for a couple of other reasons aside from it just making things more complicated and dramatic, too. Of course, you've noticed by now that the title credits for Severance Season 2 had a Kier baby crawling around, which could signify this right there. Oh, and then there’s definitely more going on regarding Mark and Gemma’s fertility history than we know about since the same man who was running Gemma’s rooms in Lumon was their fertility doctor. And Season 1 is all about Mark’s sister having her first baby as well. With all that in mind, I would be very surprised if Season 3 did not explore this thread further!

Plus, I Can’t Shake How Helena Seems Jealous Of Her Innie

One final point I want to touch on has to do with Helly’s outie, Helena Eagan. Throughout Season 2, the series set up something really interesting regarding Helena’s relationship with her innie and Lumon. I think one especially key scene this season is when Helena watches back the moment when she and Mark S. kiss at Lumon over and over again. The Eagan heir also doesn’t seem to like her life much and clearly has a soft spot for him during their interactions when she is undercover in the early episodes of Season 2.

With that in mind, I’m worried that not only Helly R. will continue to be a problem for Outie Mark and Gemma, but Helena could be as well. If Helly/Helena were to become pregnant with Mark’s baby, I could totally see Helena getting involved (if she’s able to) and making things worse by insisting on having it and coercing Outie Mark into it.

Then there’s the weird culty Kier element of Lumon Industries, where I could also see Helena’s dad wanting to preserve the baby in hopes of reincarnating Kier or something like that. During one of the finale’s scenes, when Helena’s father spoke to Helly R, he made comments about how she has the purity of Kier in her, and I could see him and “the board” being all over the new Baby Eagan. All that doesn't even mention the scientific interest Lumon might take in regards to the first Innie pregnancy.

Anyway, that’s where my head is currently at with Severance after the finale. You can watch CinemaBlend’s Season 2 interviews with the Severance cast as we await what’s next.

Aside from Parks and Recreation and Severance being Adam Scott’s two most famous roles that just happen to primarily take place in his characters’ workplaces, recently, fans have made another connection between the two shows. During Season 6, Episode 12 of Parks and Recreation, Scott’s character of Ben Wyatt basically pitches the concept of Severance to his wife, Amy Poehler’s Leslie Knope. And yes, Scott has seen the scene go viral.

While we cry over the Severance Season 2 finale and get ready for Season 3, Adam Scott was recently shown the Parks And Rec clip where Ben suggests that he and Leslie keep their home life and work life “separate” like a “firewall system.” Check out his reaction while on Radio X:

How wild is that scene? If you have any suspicions about it, as a huge Parks and Recreation fan, I can confirm it’s from an episode that aired back in 2014, over a decade ago.

What blew my mind even more was what Adam Scott shared about the making of it:

It’s true. Adam Scott only directed one Parks and Recreation episode in the 96 he was part of, and it was the one people keep sharing for its Severance connection. It’s called “Farmers Market” and it has Ben Wyatt coming back to work at City Hall after a hiatus. And when Leslie Knope goes over-the-top, as per usual, with taking work home with her, Ben suggests the couple leave work at work.

And funny enough, Scott didn’t even remember filming the scene until the internet found it. In his words:

So in other words, Adam Scott kept his work at work when it comes to this growingly popular moment on Parks and Recreation. This has such severed energy!

Now, one might think the scene from the show is proof that it was actually Scott who created the idea for Severance. However, it was creator Dan Erickson who created the idea for the AppleTV+ show while working temporary jobs and imagining a world in which he could dissociate from work instead of experiencing it.

After Ben Stiller got ahold of the script for the first episode of Severance to direct it, he got in touch with Adam Scott and pitched him the idea. Scott called the concept a “sticky, catchy, great idea,” and he waited a year before he even saw a script, but he was in!

As we learned recently, Stiller had to fight for Scott to earn the lead role, but one of the reasons he did want him in the first place was because of his history on a workplace comedy like Parks and Recreation (which the actor actually hasn’t rewatched for a sweet reason).

Now, as we return to Severance hiatus mode, check out one Ben Wyatt-coded moment during our exclusive interviews for Season 2 and go back and watch that Swverance -coded Parks and Rec moment with a Peacock subscription.

So, the Severance Season 2 finale came and went, and I’m still sobbing over it, but here we are—talking about a character who feels like they were forgotten in the last hour.

Okay, maybe that’s jumping a bit to conclusions, but it’s how I feel deep down, and it’s something I need to talk about. The 2025 TV schedule has been filled to the brim with excellent additions, and of course, Season 2 of Severance was among those. While one of the best Apple TV+ shows, the series really gained a ton of momentum in its second season and has even beaten out Ted Lasso to become the biggest series on Apple TV+.

But with so many twists and turns and moments that made you stop and think in the finale, there was one character that is still on my mind even today, days later. So let’s talk about it.

The Finale, In General, Left Me Absolutely Sobbing – And Angry

So when it comes to Severance, I was far behind everyone else because I didn’t catch up with the show until earlier this year when the second season began to air. Every second was amazing, and it made me love and hate certain characters, and develop a certain interest in Milchick and his weirdness (but coolness, too).

Every single episode felt like a new cliffhanger, a never-ending stream of questions. We would get answers in one episode and then leave with a ton of new inquiries the moment the credits rolled. I think that just means it's good television, and it certainly keeps fans engaged.

And now, the Season 2 finale has come, and I sobbed plenty in those last minutes – as well as got annoyingly angry.

I mean, I had a feeling it wasn’t going to work out all hunky-dory because Severance Season 3 is confirmed, but it still hit me hard. Watching Gemma yell at her husband through the door and not understanding why Mark was running to Helly, and everything else that was happening absolutely shattered my heart.

I honestly can’t even be mad at Helly because it really comes down to Mark. He knew what would happen, and he willingly chose to double-cross his outie to be with Helly, even though I think deep down he knows what will happen next. I’m mad at his decisions, but at the end of the day, all I can really do is wait.

However, while everyone keeps talking about Gemma and Mark and Helly and everything else, there’s another character we’ve forgotten about.

But I Can’t Stop Thinking About Irving

Yeah, I can’t stop thinking about Irving, and I am so concerned about the rest of this story.

Aside from the fact that I really love John Turturro as the character and certainly want to see him in Season 3, it felt like Season 2 really dug deep into Irving’s Outie life, where we see that he knows something is up at Lumon, he is doing a lot of digging, and it’s going to get him in deep trouble.

This entire season has been leading up to some big moment with Irving – heck, even his dream in “Woe’s Hollow” was terrifying and added to the momentum. But then, in the penultimate episode, Burt (Christopher Walken) confronts him in his home and takes him on a drive.

But instead of killing Irv, he takes him to a train station and tells him to ride until the end of the line to get out as far as he can go. And then he…leaves?

I mean, I was expecting there to be at least something with Irving in the finale, but he’s barely even mentioned or talked about. All we know is that he’s on the train, and it’s heading off. But I don’t think it’s as simple as that.

Why Did Burt Stay At The Train Station After Irv Left?

We’ve also gotten to know Burt a lot throughout Season 2, from Christopher Walken's touching take on the character and Irv to learning about his Outie life. But something doesn’t line up incredibly well with how they left things.

The biggest thing that stands out to me is that Burt stays in the train station after he drops Irv off. Truthfully, it felt like they were trying to keep a low profile, but then why would Burt willingly let himself stay in the train station? Wouldn’t he have wanted to dip the moment that he saw Irv get on the platform for the train?

And you can’t even say that he wanted to stay to see Irv take off – he stays within the hub of the train, not within distance to watch Irv get on. And that ticks off something in my brain, that maybe this isn’t the kind of escape Irv may believe it to be. If Burt did have good intentions, a part of me thinks he might just be sitting down because he knows Lumon pretty much knows everything, and he’s just waiting for someone to confront him.

But if it’s not, and he stayed at the train station to maybe communicate with a Lumon employee that Irving was on a train and ready to be taken out, then I could see that, too.

Is Irving Riding Into A Trap?

That’s my biggest fear – that Irving was too kind and really believed all of Burt’s words, and secretly, this is all a trap that will lead to his ultimate demise.

It’s because of Irving that so much stuff happened. He was a massive catalyst behind a lot of the significant moments of Season 2 – primarily that huge ORTBO episode and the aftermath of that within Lumon.

With that in mind, I doubt Lumon will let any of this go. I really do think that somehow, Irv might get himself seriously hurt, and all we can really do is sit back and watch. Maybe I’ll get lucky enough for him actually to survive, and all of this will be for nothing. But Severance really doesn’t leave cliffhangers without answering them…and I have a feeling this will lead to something significant.

Season 3 Will Tell All

As I said before, Severance Season 3 is confirmed. While John Turturro has said in the past that he didn’t want to continue past two seasons, he recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, saying that he believes this story of both Irv and Burt goes past Season 2—so I do think he’ll be back.

And with this in mind, I think this really does paint a big portrait (pun intended) of what’s going to happen in Season 3. I think whatever happens with Irving might be even more intense than those opening shots of Season 2 or the finale altogether. All I can really do is hope that we get answers quickly and efficiently.

While it’ll be a little bit because we get Season 3 of Severance, I think I’ll rewatch for all the context clues and more. I might even get a Lumon sweatshirt; who knows?

There was some exciting news this week about Severance Season 3, which will be available with an Apple TV subscription and has been confirmed for months. We also now know that Apple Studios has acquired the show from its original production company, Fifth Season, and it seems like a fourth season is all but 100% certain. I’ll get into that later. We also have an idea when Season 3 will begin filming, which I’ll also get into here.

Season 2 of the show was a massive hit for the streamer, becoming Apple TV’s most-watched show. It was also nominated for an incredible 27 Emmy Awards, winning eight, including Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Britt Lower, who plays Helly R./Helena Eagan, and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Tramell Tillman, who plays Mr. Milchick.

It is so popular that Season 3 was announced on the day the Season 2 finale dropped. With Season 3 on the way, we are starting to see the shooting schedule come into place, which gives a clearer timeline for when we might get to watch the anticipated season. Let’s get into all the details!

What Is The Severance Season 3 Premiere Date?

At the time of writing this, Severance Season 3 does not have a set premiere date, which isn’t that surprising, as there have been some changes behind the scenes that we’ll get into. However, we at least have an idea of a timeframe of how long we’ll have to wait for the next season – and thankfully, it looks like it won’t be nearly as long as last time.

Unfortuantly fans, that doesn't mean the new season is just around the corner. According to an in-depth article in Deadline in February 2026, the producers are eying a summer start date for production of the season. It's hard to predict just how long production will last, as Season 2's shooting schedule was, frankly, a mess, between Covid protocols and the two Hollywood strikes. However, it does seem like we won't have to wait three years again.

This was hinted at in the New Heights podcast with Travis and Jason Kelce when Severance executive producer Ben Stiller said that there will not be as long a wait between Seasons 2 and 3 as there was with the first season and the current season. Season 3 of Severance won't be on the 2026 TV schedule, but there is an outside chance of it hitting towards the end of 2027. I know, I know, it's disappointing, but there are some good reasons the show takes so long, which, again, I'll get into below.

Part of the delay is likely due to the announcement that Ben Stiller will not be directing the show in Season 3. Stiller reassured fans in a post on X that he’s “not going anywhere,” and will continue to serve as the executive producer. That is sure to have some ripple effects both on the production schedule and the look of the show, much of which was shaped by Stiller.

Now that Apple Studios has acquired the show, it could accelerate the process, but given how complicated the show is, we're not holding our breath. Honestly, it's more important to me (and most fans) that they get it right, rather than do it quickly, as frustrating as the timeline is.

The Severance Season 3 Cast

There are several people in the Severance cast that we can expect to return just based on the cliffhanger that Season 2 left us on. This includes:

• Adam Scott as Mark Scout/Mark S.
• Zach Cherry as Dylan George/Dylan G.
• Britt Lower as Helena Eagan/Helly R.
• Tramell Tillman as Seth Milchick
• Jen Tullock as Devon Scout-Hale
• Dichen Lachman as Gemma Scout/Ms. Casey
• Michael Chernus as Ricken Hale
• Patricia Arquette as Harmony Cobel

We did leave out John Turturro and Christopher Walken as Irving Bailiff/Irving B. and Burt Goodman/Burt G, respectively. Their stories were left up in the air in Episode 9, and thus far, everyone involved has been coy about the duo returning. However, there has been no confirmed news that Walken and Turturro won't be part of the cast, either. However, in early 2026, Turturro dropped a hint about when production would start (which is backed up by other news that this summer is the target), and that sounds like it means he'll be back, at least.

There will be plenty of popular characters back next season – especially after the terrifying and sad cliffhanger with Gemma, with Mark and Helly's innies running off together. One other character that we don't know the fate of, Ms. Huang (Sarah Bock), remains a mystery as well. But hey, mystery is what Severance is all about!

What Will Severance Season 3 Be About?

While there hasn’t been much revealed about Severance Season 3 yet, the writers have given us bits and pieces of what we can expect. Here is what we’ve heard:

Season 3 Will Have A Much Different Tone

Season 2 of Severance indeed began to dive deeper into psychological thriller territory and moments that truly had us scratching our heads. Still, the biggest moment was at the very end with that last shot of Mark and Helly running down the corridor, away from the exit. Ben Stiller spoke to IndieWire in March 2025, saying that the moment is meant to symbolize a turning point in the “tone” of the show:

With this in mind, there’s a lot that this can lead to.

Season 3 Will Dig Deeper Into People Uniting Against Lumon In Solidarity

Season 2 dipped its toes into showing what might happen when several factions of the severed floor at Lumon come together. And now, it looks like Season 3 might explore that.

Creator Dan Erickson talks with GQ in March 2025 about the moment Dylan G. stands with another department of the severed floor against Milchick. It’s meant to show that there’s more solidarity beginning to form between the departments now, which is something that will hopefully be explored more later.

The keyword there is ‘begin,’ which I hope means that Season 3 will continue to explore that situation.

John Turturro Believes This Isn’t The End For Irv

As we mentioned previously, it’s sort of up in the air right now when it comes to Irv’s fate, as well as Burt's. We last saw them in the train station where Burt sent Irv on his way to escape Lumon, but we really know nothing else about what happens to him, and we didn’t see either in the finale.

However, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in March 2025, John Turturro believes that this isn’t the end of the story for Burt and Irv – it could be if someone wanted it to end, but he thinks there’s more to tell:

Turturro also seemingly confirmed he will be back for Season 3 of Severance in an interview with People at the Emmys earlier this year, saying he hopes the character returns “with a vengeance.” That still leaves Walken’s participation up in the air, but if Irv is returning, it seems likely that Burt will too, but that’s far from confirmed right now.

They Are Still Writing The Third Season Now

In the update from Deadline in February 2026, editor-in-chief Nellie Andreeva indicated that seven episodes had been written, with another two or three to go. Not to belabor the point, but Severance is complicated, and one thing that supposedly slowed production last season was changes that were made late in the season, which affected earlier episodes, and reshoots were common. The producers hope that by buttoning up all the scripts prior to shooting, it will make the production go more smoothly for Season 3.

The writers and producers of the show, which includes Adam Scott, have been very tight-lipped about the process and the plot of the show, but with filming beginning in a few months, hopefully, we'll start hearing some more hints about what is ahead for the innies and outies working at Luman.

What are you excited about in Severance Season 3? It'll be a long wait (as is true about many shows on streaming these days), but it'll surely be worth it!

Spoilers for the Season 2 finale of Severance are ahead! If you aren’t ready to go down this elevator yet, you can stream the first two seasons with an Apple TV+ subscription.

We finally found out what Lumon is doing with those numbers. We officially know where Gemma was and how she was being treated. However, we don’t really know why Lumon was trying to tamper with her emotions. So, I decided to ask Gemma actress Dichen Lachman about it, and she shared an A+ theory.

As Severance’s second season came to a close on the 2025 TV schedule, MDR's work was finally revealed, and we learned that Mark’s wife’s emotions were being tampered with to make it so she didn't feel them when faced with some of her biggest fears and/or things she loathes. However, we don’t really know why Lumon did this. So, when I asked Dichen Lachman why the company was doing this, she told us:

After learning that Mark's files in MDR are connected to the rooms Gemma went in, he finished his final file, Cold Harbor. That made it so his wife had to go into this final room, which had a lone baby crib in it.

That was arguably one of the worst things she could face, considering her history with pregnancy. So, this being her final room seemed to imply that it’s the task that will be the hardest for her to complete because her emotions could have taken over. Her being able to take the crib apart shows that Lumon’s efforts are working.

Dichen Lachman went on to connect her theory to a bigger societal idea. She explained that it seems like many people would like to “numb” the unpleasantness in their lives. That larger idea played into her theory about the severance technology and these tests Gemma went through, as she said:

She then said she wouldn’t do something like that personally, because “you can’t really enjoy moments if you don’t have sad ones or painful ones.” And that is an idea I’d like to see explored in Season 3.

Personally, I think this is a great theory, and between Gemma’s final room and the birthing cabins, it tracks that Lumon is doing all this to take away pain or suffering. And obviously, since this is Severance, a goal like that comes with costly consequences.

Over on CinemaBlend’s Instagram, we posted this clip of the actress explaining her theory, and the fans were in agreement. @alexemplify specifically wrote that all of our experiences, "good and bad, our traumas and fears" shape us. Their interpretation of this theory continued with:

Much like fans’ reactions to Severance’s Season 2 finale, they have deep thoughts about this theory. Lachman does too, and so do I. Now that we know Season 3 will happen, I’m thinking even harder about all this because I’m sure we’ll learn more about it whenever new episodes come out.

Overall, I think the Gemma actress’s theory is fantastic, and I hope we get to learn more about it in Season 3. Between that, Mark’s innie leaving Gemma to run with Helly, and the ongoing battle between the innies and the outies, we’re set up for a morally complex installment that I can’t wait to watch, theorize and debate.

BEWARE, there are spoilers here for a number of shows, including Severance, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and Lost.

This might sound a little harsh because I do think Severance, which can be watched with an AppleTV+ subscription, is a brilliant show, but it’s starting to run the risk of tripping down the same path of shows like The Walking Dead, Game Of Thrones, and Lost. Those shows almost crumbled under the weight of their constant cliffhangers and ever-sprawling stories. I am worried about Season 3 and whether we’ll get satisfying conclusions about everything.

Just How Big Is This Conspiracy?

With each season, the story of Severance gets bigger and bigger. It’s no longer about a small group of macrodata refining innies doing Keir’s work on the severed floor. Now we have Gemma and her dozens of innies (plus her outie). We have Helly R. fighting with her outie doing the bidding of her father. There is an entire cult built around Keir that seemingly has its fingers in every section of the economy and the culture, not to mention entire towns dedicated to the company. Just how big is this show going to get?

The Walking Dead, instead of staying with one group of survivors and telling their story, continued to add locations, characters, and situations until the whole thing just sprawled way too far. I bailed out when Rick (Andrew Lincoln) was seemingly rescued by a helicopter from a well-outfitted group of mysterious people who were maybe some kind of government agency in Season 9. I dunno, I didn’t stick around to find out what happened. It had all grown too unwieldy and I was done.

Now that Severance has fully embraced adventures outside of the Lumon headquarters, how far afield do they plan on taking us? The “bottle episode” aspect of Severance was its greatest trick and now that those mysteries have been answered I’m concerned the show can’t recapture the magic. The mystery was small, but now it’s huge, and getting bigger. Is Lumon going to be like the Widmore Corporation in Lost with its tentacles in everything and no oversight from anyone? Just how far does the conspiracy spread? How can two people trapped on the severed floor stop it? The mystery may be lost.

Sometimes A Story Just Needs To Wrap Up

Shows don’t need to air forever, some of the best shows tell their story, wrap up, and the creators and actors move on. Shows that just get more and more sprawling, with characters moving further and further away from each other are complicated to wrap up in a satisfying way. When they are always asking more questions than they are answering, or asking bigger and bigger questions, they rarely stick the landing.

Even worse, dragging them on and on like this often ruins their legacy completely. No one loves Lost as we did when it started. The passion was lost (no pun intended). The same applies to The Walking Dead. The cliffhangers meant nothing, and fans didn’t trust the show to ever wrap up in a satisfying way. This has never been more true of a show than Game of Thrones (which has its own connection to the Severance finale). I don’t want to see this happen with Severance.

In any television show out there, some episodes genuinely take the cake for their dark themes – or rather, just being dark overall. Some shows are darker than others, but there's always an episode that genuinely makes people sit there for a moment and contemplate what they just watched – those are the kinds of dark episodes we are going to get into today.

Oh, and also, spoiler alert!

'The Rains Of Castamere' (Game of Thrones)

I mean, of course, I have to put "The Rains of Castamere" here. It's one of the most shocking Game of Thrones moments ever, when we watch basically a third of the Stark family get taken out by traitors. And yes, I will still never forgive the Boltons or the Lannisters for what they did.

'The Day Will Come When You Won't Be' (The Walking Dead)

It would be a sin for me not to put "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be" here. It features Glenn's demise, one of the most heartbreaking The Walking Dead deaths, and really shows the entire group that we have come to love for six seasons straight get absolutely blasted with the arrival of Negan and his Saviors. It's still a dark episode, one I skip on any The Walking Dead rewatch.

'Ozymandias' (Breaking Bad)

There are some fantastic Breaking Bad episodes, but oftentimes, most of them are pretty dark, and "Ozymandias" is one of those. Considered one of the best television episodes ever by many critics, this episode really capped off the damage that Walt had done to his life when he watched Hank, his brother-in-law and DEA agent, get shot dead.

'To You, In 2000 Years - The Fall Of Shiganshina: Part 1' (Attack On Titan)

There are plenty of great dark anime out there that I could steal episodes from to put on this list, but I have to say the winner must be "To You, in 2000 Years—The Fall of Shiganshina: Part 1." I mean, you really can't get darker than having your mom get eaten in the first episode of your series—right in front of you as you're being dragged away. No wonder Eren was so messed up.

'Pretty Much Dead Already' (The Walking Dead)

For a time, The Walking Dead was the show out there that everyone talked about each week, and one of the darkest episodes of that time was "Pretty Much Dead Already." It was the first midseason finale for the show and featured a stumbling Sophie coming out of the Greene farm when everyone had been looking for her for several episodes already. Breaks your heart every time.

'The Hellfire Club' (Stranger Things)

I don't really consider a lot of Stranger Things dark, but I will say that as the series has progressed, these episodes have gotten a lot scarier, and the first that comes to mind is "The Hellfire Club." The episode starts off well enough—including the introduction of Stranger Things Season 4 All-Star Eddie. But then Vecna makes his first appearance at the end of the episode, and it is a horrorfest that instantly turns the entire thing darker than ever.

'Phoenix' (Breaking Bad)

Walter White has done some pretty horrible things as a human being, and one of his darkest moments, for sure, in Breaking Bad, was in "Phoenix." We already knew that Walter didn't like Jane, but standing there, watching her overdose right next to Jesse, was another level of darkness that I didn't think he was capable of.

'Heaven's Half Hour' (Daredevil: Born Again)

There are many moments in the original Daredevil series that I could point to, but I have to give it to a recent entry, Daredevil: Born Again, and the premiere episode. We literally open up with Matt and his friends just getting a drink, and BOOM, Foggy is shot, and Matt literally hears him die by the sound of his heartbeat. Darkness to the brim.

'The Dance Of Dragons' (Game Of Thrones)

While "The Dance of Dragons" isn't a super dark episode in itself, it's a moment in it that makes it super dark. One of the most heartbreaking Game of Thrones deaths happens here when Stannis burns his daughter alive because of Melisandre's ridiculous nonsense about a king's blood sacrifice. And then we watch her die. It's messed up in the worst ways.

'Living Doll' (The Twilight Zone)

I think The Twilight Zone is one of those shows where the episodes might not seem so dark now in comparison to what we have experienced on TV, but there are still some good ones there, and one is "Living Doll." The episode is all about a husband who is annoyed by a talking doll his stepdaughter has, but the doll begins to talk back to him, saying how much she hates him and how she wants to hurt him—it gets really dark, real quick.

'The Bent-Neck Lady' (The Haunting Of Hill House)

Honestly, every Mike Flanagan TV show has some incredibly dark episodes, but "The Bent-Neck Lady" is by far the darkest. It shows Nell finally realizes that the visions and ghosts that have been haunting her all her life are actually her. The reveal is incredibly sad and dark and one I often think about.

'72 Hours' (The Golden Girls)

I'm sure that at first glance, you would never expect me to put something like The Golden Girls on this list, but "72 Hours" is a very dark episode. Rose's doctor reaches out to her and says that her blood transfusion may have included HIV-positive blood, and now she has to wait for three days for results. It's a very harrowing episode for a show that is, at its core, a sitcom.

'Honor' (The Walking Dead)

There are plenty of moments in The Walking Dead that I could put on here, but one of the darkest episodes was "Honor." I'm sure most don't even know it because it happened in Season 8, but it was the episode where Carl, Rick's son, ended up getting bitten while trying to save a doctor for their community. It's literally one of the darkest episodes of the entire series, especially watching Rick and Michonne wait for the gunshot that signals Carl's death.

'Bullets Over Bel-Air' (The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air)

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was an iconic sitcom for many reasons, but it also wasn't afraid to go dark in some of its episodes. One of which was "Bullets Over Bel-Air," in which Will is shot by a robber and then Carlton goes out and buys a gun to try and be safe. It's an entire episode focused on gun violence.

'ABQ' (Breaking Bad)

There are plenty of Breaking Bad episodes out there that are genuinely dark, but one I always think of is ABQ, which is the finale of season 2 of the show. While most of the episode isn't necessarily super dark, the ending moment is where Walt watches as two planes crash above his home, sending debris to the ground, because the air trafficker's daughter just died – you know, the daughter that Walt watched overdose and didn't do anything about it.

'Bad News' (How I Met Your Mother)

At first, we all think that the "Bad News" in this episode is going to involve a fertility test with Lily, but the bad news is suddenly broken to Marshall that his father has suddenly passed from a heart attack. It's so out there that it creates a devastating episode in this sitcom.

'Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken' (Game Of Thrones)

The episode 'Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken' isn't necessarily dark itself, but rather the ending scene. After Sansa is forced to marry Ramsay Bolton, he forcefully assaults her on their wedding night. Meanwhile, Theon (Reek at this point) is just standing over there forced to watch. My god.

'To The Lost' (Boardwalk Empire)

Boardwalk Empire wasn't afraid to venture into dark territory, and one of its darkest episodes was "To The Lost," mainly because of the death that happens when Nucky shoots Jimmy, a protege of his, because he failed to start a feud. The moment is shocking, considering that throughout the series, these two have basically been side by side, and now, all of a sudden, it was over.

'Coda' (The Walking Dead)

I will never forgive The Walking Dead for what they did to Beth in "Coda." One of the darkest episodes of the series, it shows the group reuniting with Beth only for her to get shot in the head when she stands up for herself. She didn't even get to reunite with her sister again. Talk about awful.

'Long Term Parking' (The Sopranos)

The Sopranos cast is filled to the brim with epic talent, which only means there will be epic episodes that tend to lean a little darker. When Silvio finds out that Adriana's slipping info to the FBI, she's taken out. It was dark and scary and showed just what happened when you crossed the Soprano family.

'Connor's Wedding' (Succession)

With how talented the Succession cast is, I wouldn't be surprised if they made half of their episodes darker, but the darkest I could point to was "Connor's Wedding." At first, it feels like just a normal episode, but all of a sudden, Logan Roy drops dead, and we, as well as the kids, are left to deal with the fallout of what occurred as the episode progresses.

'Two Storms' (The Haunting Of Hill House)

First of all, this episode is an absolute unit of cinematography. It's shot beautifully. But aside from me geeking out about how amazing it looks, "Two Storms" is dark because it's so creepy, and we keep seeing Nell's casket repeatedly getting moved or messed around with.

'Hardhome' (Game Of Thrones)

The first half of "Hardhome" is pretty tame, honestly. It's all about watching Jon and the Wildlings try to come to a compromise to, you know, survive. But then the White Walkers come and literally destroy it all, and the number of deaths that occur makes it one of the most brutal episodes for me to watch ever.

'Please Remain Calm' (Chernobyl)

I. Can't. Stand. This. Episode.

At all.

As someone who recently rewatched Chernobyl, I find this to be the darkest episode of the miniseries. Watching those three brave souls go into the factory to drain the radioactive water and try and stop this madness was terrifying, but seeing their lights go out at the end? Good god. The entire episode is shot beautifully, but man, is it dark in many instances.

'Endure And Survive' (The Last Of Us)

As someone who is one of the biggest fans of The Last of Us franchise, this episode took it out of me, both mentally and physically. I already knew that Henry and Sam (from The Last of Us cast) would die from playing the game but man, they made this episode twenty times darker with the ending and it still makes me jump and look away each time I've watched it.

'Papa's Got A Brand New Excuse' (The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air)

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has some serious moments that often lead to darker episodes, and one of those was definitely "Papa's Got A Brand-New Excuse." Will's father shows up out of nowhere, but, of course, by the end, he gives an excuse not to spend actual time with Will. We get an entire monologue from Will about how he doesn't need his father before he breaks down. It's so sad.

'Alone Again, Natura-Diddly' (The Simpsons)

There are some side characters on The Simpsons that you might have forgotten about, but one was taken out in the darkest possible way. In "Alone Again, Natura-Diddly," Ned Flander's wife, Maude, is struck in the head by a t-shirt and then knocked to her death. Yes, this happens in real-time on The Simpsons. This is an actual episode from Season 11.

'Too Far Gone' (The Walking Dead)

You want to talk about dark episodes of The Walking Dead? "Too Far Gone" is up there. The episode is the midseason finale for Season 4 and shows the all-out war that happens at the prison. But before then, we also watch The Governor completely snap and kill Hershel, who was hands down the group's moral compass for a long time.

'Teddy Perkins' (Atlanta)

This episode is just creepy, man. It's creepy in all the right ways. Aside from the social commentary that every episode of Atlanta seems to have, seeing Donald Glover dressed up in full prosthetics and makeup and creeping out Lakeith Stanfield is an episode I will never quite get over.

'Playtest' (Black Mirror)

There are plenty of dark episodes on Black Mirror, but one that I always think of is "Playtest," specifically for its ending. There are so many twists and turns that it's hard to keep up with it, and then the main subject, Cooper, is just killed because everything was all in his head and nothing was real—it's just too much and too dark so quickly.

'Chikhai Bardo' (Severance)

Severance is an excellent Apple TV+ show, and usually, I don't think I'd put an episode here, but "Chikhai Bardo" is a dark episode because we find out what really happened to Gemma and how she's essentially a slave for Lumon, forced to carry out multiple Severance scenarios for whatever grand design they are planning. It's messed up in so many ways.

'The Female Of The Species' (The Boys)

As someone who loves Kimiko in The Boys, the first episode, where we really see her and get to know her, is one of the darkest of the series. We see just how violent and terrifying she really is. She is not for those who have a weak stomach, but man, I love it.

What are some dark episodes that you would think of? I need to go watch some of the best rom-coms as a palette cleanser now. Goodness gracious.

Spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet watched Severance’s Season 2 finale with an Apple TV+ subscription, so be warned!

It seems like Severance’s long-awaited second season just arrived, and yet we’re already in post-season mode, with so many details to speculate about ahead of the already confirmed Season 3 (with reported changes for the creative team). From Gemma’s reaction to iMark and iHelly to the wild reveal about the goats’ importance to a mother-flipping marching band, the finale delivered all the goods while still leaving plenty of storylines unconcluded.

One massive example that fits the bill is Mark’s current reintegration status, which was seemingly put on hold after his at-work nosebleed that resulted in him going into a mini-coma. We haven’t seen Reghabi since Episode 7, when she hit the road after Devon threatened to call Ms. Cobel, and it’s entirely unclear how many more treatments he might need, or what effects the treatments are having on his body.

Now, I can only assume I’m not the only Severance fanatic who’s believed that Mark’s coughing fits in Season 2 are a side effect of the reintegration process, similar to the headaches and nausea that we already know about. But what if they’re completely unrelated? Creator Dan Erickson somehow made that question relevant when asked by iO9 to clarify if the coughing is a consequence of the medical procedure. In his words:

Whoa, whoa, whoa, what?!? I mean, obviously if someone called up a 911 operator or pizzeria and asked that same question, they'd get a different answer from whatever Dan Erickson would say. But that's almost definitely not the context that the Severance creator was speaking of.

Instead, he seems to be saying that fans might get a different take on Mark's coughing if they'd ask, for instance, star Adam Scott about it. Or one or more of the writers. Or even Reghabi herself. (Not the actress, but the character, who would probably deny that she had anything to do with his respiratory issues.)

Dan Erickson clarified his own belief, but while still seemingly making it clear that his word is not necessarily bond where this detail is concerned.

"Sort of how I view it" is such a baffling way to phrase a response about something that Erickson likely knows a full answer to. Because if it isn't a side effect of the reintegration process, then what are we talking about?

Is it possible that Mark is suffering from some other kind of malady that no one is aware of yet, least of all Mark himself? Is there some kind of long-gestating side effect that comes with working on the Severed Floor?

That one doesn't seem as likely if Adam Scott's character is the only one who's been coughing, but there could obviously be other symptoms that we're not clocking properly. What if one of the symptoms is "falling in love with your Outie's wife?" If that's the case, Dylan is boned.

If Lumon's chips are having some kind of additionally detrimental effect on employees' health, that's a completely different angle for Innies to take in staging a revolution against the corporation. But it doesn't seem like the show's writers would wait until Season 3 to introduce that as a general idea.

That said, it wasn't until the Twilight Zone-inspired episode "The After Hours" where viewers were made aware that Jame Eagan has apparently been impregnating various women, with some of them going to Lumon's birthing cabin to get the pregnancy taken care of, so to speak. So if that can be a "new" reveal, I guess it's plausible that we'll find out next season that Outie Mark has permanent bronchitis.

Here's hoping it won't be another three years before we finally make it back down the elevator to see what kind of delightful new art will be on the wall next.

Spoiler alert! This story contains major spoilers for “Cold Harbor,” the Season 2 finale of Severance. If you’re not caught up, stream the series with an Apple TV+ subscription and then continue reading.

One of the biggest questions that Severance left us with after Season 1 was, “What’s up with the goats?” It felt unlikely that Season 2 would tell us why there were goats on Lumon’s severed floor, no less provide a satisfying explanation. However, not only did we meet Gwendoline Christie’s Lorne, the head of Mammalians Nurturable, and her herd on the episodes that aired on the 2025 TV schedule, but the finale disclosed their purpose. It was a scary and emotional reveal, and Christie sat down with CinemaBlend to talk it out.

Gwendoline Christie was one of several big names to join one of the biggest shows on Apple TV+’s schedule this year. Her role was pretty significant, too, as Lorne was in charge of raising the goats (like Emile, full of verve and wiles) to be sacrificed to usher human spirits (like Gemma’s) to Kier’s door. Before Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) could take Emile’s life, however, Lorne wearily asked how many more of her kids she would lose, and Christie told our own Riley Utley why it seemed Lorne had reached her breaking point:

Radical action was, indeed, taken. Mark S. unwittingly interrupted the ceremony, and a brutal fight broke out between the Lumon exec and the Macrodat. Gwendoline Christie’s character ultimately went full Brienne of Tarth on Drummond’s ass, saving Mark and, of course, Emile.

I am blown away by Gwendoline Christie’s take on this revelatory moment, and why she finally felt compelled (or broken enough) to stand up against Lumon’s cruelty. We asked Gwendoline Christie if Lorne was concerned that she might face consequences for the rebellion, to which she replied:

Gosh, the innies may have just half a life, but there’s no question their hearts operate at full capacity.

There were a lot of beautiful and heartbreaking moments on the Severance Season 2 finale, including Milchick’s A-MAZ-ING performance with the marching band of Choreography & Merriment and when Gemma watched Mark choose Helly R. over her in those gut-wrenching final moments. However, we’d be quite the fetid moppet to let Gwendoline Christie’s performance be forgotten in all of it.

The actress showcased Lorne’s grief for her lost goats in a way that made her uprising against Mr. Drummond make so much sense. We may have only learned the reason behind the goats, but Lorne’s face showed us that the ritualistic killings were nothing new for her.

Hopefully we haven’t seen the end of Lorne, as Severance is returning for a third season, albeit with some exciting creative changes. Stay tuned.

Spoiler alert! This story includes major spoilers for the Severance Season 2 finale. If you’re not caught up, get that Apple TV+ subscription up and running before continuing to read here.

It seems like just yesterday we were bemoaning the fact that it had been three years since Severance left us with that brutal Season 1 cliffhanger, and yet, here we are. A 10-episode second season has come and gone on the 2025 TV schedule, and fans are processing all of the events in some amazing ways. From Milchick’s unexpected marching band breakdown to the spot-on comparisons between Gwendoline Christie’s goat woman and her Game of Thrones character Brienne of Tarth.

Gwendoline Christie Is Kicking A-- And Taking Names In Every Severance And Game Of Thrones

Severance fans went wild with theories about the goats following Season 1, and praise Kier, because Ben Stiller, Dan Erickson, et al. delivered on the promise of goat-related answers in Season 2. After being introduced in Episode 3 as Lorne, the head of the Mammalians Nurturable division, Gwendoline Christie's character returned in the finale, and she ultimately helped Mark subdue Mr. Drummond in an effort to save Gemma (and Emile the goat!).

Fans like meghan__ho couldn’t help but compare the Severance finale fight scene with the Game of Thrones Season 4 battle between Brienne and The Hound:

Gwendoline Christie may be making a bit of a name for herself in TV finale fights, and I don’t hate it. I’d have to say I agree with X (Twitter) user Andrew Solende that TV doesn’t get much better than these two scenes, as he wrote:

It would seem that working with the Wednesday actress is as fulfilling as you’d hope, because even Adam Scott seemed star-struck by Gwendoline Christie, telling CinemaBlend that “everything” about the Game of Thrones star was his favorite thing about her.

And Mr. Milchick’s Band Played On

Another huge moment in the Severance Season 2 finale — apart from Gemma’s heartbreaking final scene — came after Mark S. completed the Cold Harbor file. A fog machine was triggered, as was I when “Sirius” (the anthem of every of ‘90s-era NBA/Michael Jordan fan) began to play. After an awkward bit between Mr. Milchick and an animatronic Kier, a marching band from Choreography and Merriment began to play, and again, fans lost their minds on social media:

Some accused the Severance crew of adding “filler” to the final episode with its extended musical scene. OK, did we actually need several minutes of Tramell Tillman’s Mr. Milchick dancing to a marching band’s version of the Kier anthem? The answer is yes, absolutely we needed that, end of discussion. I think this fan agrees:

Those musicians had a job to do, and it didn’t matter that Helly and Dylan trapped Milchick in the bathroom. The band played on through all the chaos, as another X user noted:

I was unsure whether we'd see Irving or Dylan in the season finale, as both of their stories seemingly wrapped in Episode 9, and as disappointed as I was to be right about John Turturro’s character, I was so pleased that Zach Cherry was back. Not only did his innie inspire his outie to be a better man, but he came through like a hero for his fellow innies, and I love this hype video honoring him as the king he is:

There was quite a lot to process in the Season 2 finale and in Severance’s second season as a whole. We know so much more about Lumon, and now of course we have even more questions. We’ll likely have plenty of time to mull over those questions, rewatch the series again and theorize over plot points big and small before Severance Season 3 returns with some huge creative changes.

Spoilers for Severance Season 2 and specifically its finale are ahead! If you have not seen it, you can watch the first two seasons in full with an Apple TV+ subscription.

Well, Severance Season 2 has officially come to a close on the 2025 TV schedule, and it did so with a bang. This installment ended with a lot of answers to questions we’ve been asking for years surrounding topics like the goats and Cold Harbor, and it left us with more inquiries to ponder going into Season 3. For me, one of my biggest questions had to do with Mark’s choice to leave Gemma at the door and run back into the office with Helly during the finale's final scene. So, I obviously had to ask Gemma actress Dichen Lachman about it.

After a full season of Mark trying to get back to his wife, Gemma, they were finally reunited in the Season 2 finale. However, it wasn’t without great challenge, as Mark’s innie did not fully approve of the plan to get her out, because it could kill him and all the other innies. So, in the end, he left Gemma standing outside that locked door screaming while he ran back into the chaos with Helly.

Now, I had to ask Dichen Lachman how her character felt about this choice, since we only see her screaming, and she told me in an interview with CinemaBlend:

During Season 2’s finale, we got to see Mark’s innie and outie communicate for the first time in an extensive way, and it became abundantly clear that they were not on the same page. That was then amplified tenfold when the innie version of Adam Scott’s character left his outie’s wife outside the door to the severed floor without him.

He ran back into Lumon hand-in-hand with Helly, poising us for a chaotic Season 3 – especially when it comes to Mark’s relationships with his two loves. Now that we know a junior season will happen because this great Apple TV+ series was swiftly renewed after the premiere of the finale, I’m getting amped about seeing this wild storyline play out.

Lachman’s comments only made me more excited as she opened up about the complexities of this situation and how they could be explored in the next season. She said:

I also can’t wait to see what creator Dan Erickson cooks up for the next season of Severance. After Gemma was stuck in Lumon for so long, I’m desperate to see how she returns to life outside. I need to know what happened to Mark and Helly. And maybe most importantly, I have to find out how innie and outie Mark will clash over this fateful decision to leave Gemma.

This finale set up a deeply complex problem for Adam Scott’s character as well as Helly and Gemma, and I don’t think any of them have fully realized that yet. Gemma’s intense and emotional reaction implies that she is starting to understand what just went down, and we have yet to see if she actually went up the stairs or not.

Now, I’m desperate to know what happens next, because Dichen Lachman’s comments about how her character felt during that life-altering moment added even more tension to the striking and emotional final scene of Severance Season 2.

The more I watch Severance, the more I want to know, and that means, I’m constantly itching for new episodes! Thankfully, Season 2 is airing right now, and we’ve gotten some answers about topics like Gemma’s whereabouts and more. However, I still always want more. It turns out, two of the show’s famous fans, Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell, need more too, as their hilariously violent messages to the show’s star Adam Scott prove.

In the middle of Severance’s run on the 2025 TV schedule, Adam Scott appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show to chat about Season 2. The host asked him if he gets “pushed” for details about the show, and in response he called out some of his famous friends, jokingly saying this about Bell and Shepard:

He brought receipts too. After that humorous statement, Clarkson proceeded to play the messages from the power couple, and while the Severance star said Bell and Shepard were “the best,” he also said these “are not particularly fun.”

Dax Shepard And Kristen Bell Sent Adam Scott Hilarious And Aggressive Voicemails About Severance

While these are hilarious, I imagine these voicemails must be jarring to get. During the interview, Scott played the messages he got from the actors, and he started with this one that’s equal parts intimidating and silly:

• Dax Shepard: Alright, you son of a bitch, Bell and I just sat here on the edge of our seats, waiting to find out what happens when you guys come to…
• Kristen Bell: You losers!
• Dax Shepard: Oh buddy, are we [bleeped out] pissed that this episode just ended.

Scott laughed with Clarkson over the messages, joking that they really weren’t “necessary.” However, that didn’t stop the actors from sending them. In another voice note from the Parenthood star, he joked that Bell had been hospitalized after running through a window, and the Step Brothers actor would have to wait until next week to find out if she was OK.

Like many fans of Severance, these two clearly (and hilariously) did not want to wait to find out what happened, they wanted answers ASAP! So, as you can imagine the wait for Season 2 was extra hard for them, as Shepard stated in another message:

However, don’t you worry, while these are a lot, they’re all in good fun. Plus, Adam Scott didn’t hold back with his response to them.

Adam Scott Had An Equally Savage Response

After all that, Adam Scott joked that he wasn’t above fighting back, and fight back he did. In response to seemingly Shepard’s final voicemail about him getting back to set, the Parks and Rec actor said:

My goodness! He can dish it just as well as Shepard and Bell can, and I bet many can relate to the funny stress and tension in every message here. Overall, Severance is easily one of Apple TV+’s best shows, and so many people care deeply about what will happen to Scott’s character Mark, and need to know what happens next.

Thankfully, now we have it, and Season 2 is almost fully out, as the finale drops this Friday. To catch the highly anticipated season finale of Severance – which could very well cause Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell to send Adam Scott more strongly worded voicemails – all you need is an Apple TV+ subscription.

After waiting roughly eleven millennia (or three years) for Severance’s sophomore season to follow-up on the mind-shattering Season 1 cliffhanger, many fans quickly fell right back into hyper-theorizing habits like no time had passed. Now that its second finale is hitting the 2025 TV schedule, the hunger for the not-yet-confirmed Season 3 has fully taken over this particular outie’s brain, which makes the first big update about the mystery-thriller’s future so intriguing.

While creator Dan Erickson and the executive-producing director Ben Stiller are still the general head honchos behind the scenes of Severance’s endless and runnable hallways, it’s being reported by Nexus Point News that the co-showrunners for Seasons 1-2 have exited and been replaced, and the same goes for the entire writers room. It’s a shocking turn of events, considering the show’s brand of existential, easter egg-filled storytelling is such a draw for fans, but I’m choosing to be more excited than woeful.

Let's take a closer look at those dread-laden numbers, fellow Macrodats.

Severance Swapped Out Its Showrunners For Season 3

For its first two seasons, Severance boasted Chris Black (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) and Mark J. Friedman (Wayward Pines) as showrunners, even though Erickson and Stiller often handle promotional interviews in the way that other series' showrunners tend to. In any case, both reportedly exited their roles in the gap between Season 2 and whatever comes next.

Taking over as co-showrunners are two highly talented creatives who are well-versed in genre storytelling. First is Mary Laws, who co-wrote Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon before writing and producing for AMC's Preacher, landing a similar stint on HBO's Succession, and showrunning Hulu's local-legend anthology Monsterland, among other projects.

Joining Laws will be Eli Jorne, who worked as a writer/producer on such wild-concept comedies as Elijah Wood's Wilfred, Patrick Stewart's Blunt Talk, and Jason Sudeikis' animation hybrid Son of Zorn. More recently, however, he's been a creative force for the indie wrestling drama Heels and The Walking Dead franchise, where he worked on the flagship series before creating the follow-up The Walking Dead: Dead City for Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan.

Weirdly enough, Severance's second season started to feel more like one of The Walking Dead's quasi-anthologized seasons where episodes focused on smaller groups rather than the entire ensemble. So Laws and Jorne together makes for a potentially perfect fit.

Severance Writers Room Has Been Completely Restaffed

The two other exiting writers noted in the initial report are producer Amanda Overton (Monarchy: Legacy of Monsters) and supervising producer Anna Ouyang Moench (Beef). No reasons were given for these or other exits, but one wonders if Monarch's upcoming second season had anything to do with it, given both Overton and Chris Black are involved with it. Meanwhile, Moench is noted as being an EP on the second season of Netflix's Beef, so that may have also been part of it.

Joining Mary Laws and Eli Jorne are a quartet of incoming Writers Room additions, which are noted as follows:

• Lauren Bello (Producer) - writer on Foundation, writer/editor on The Sandman
• Ezra Claytan Daniels (Co-Executive Producer) - writer on Night Sky, writer/editor on Doom Patrol, writer for Black anthology horror film Horror Noire
• Sean Clements (Co-Executive Producer) - host of podcast Hollywood Handbook, writer/producer on Ash vs Evil Dead, writer/actor/co-EP on Kevin Can F*** Himself
• Aiyana Kim White (Executive Story Editor) - writer/editor on Tiny Pretty Things, writer/co-producer on Lucifer, writer/co-EP on Cross

It's not clear whether or not these will be the only changes made to Severance's creative team, or if other writers will be added in time. It's assumed that Ben Stiller will still be handling at least half of any upcoming episodes as a director, but no word on what others may get behind the camera.

I'd Be More Worried If The New Creative Team Didn't Come From A+ Shows

More often than one might expect, creative teams get overhauled due to one or more problems cropping up behind the scenes, sometimes regarding workplace behavior more than anything creative-minded. And studio execs often fill the gaps by promoting from within, which isn't always the best move, depending on the show.

Thankfully, no such salacious. reports have surfaced tied to Severance as of yet, so if we can buy into the idea that the changes were organic and with the show's best interests in mind, then there's legitimate reason to be excited about these changes, as opposed to fretting over the quality of the show. Had the new showrunners been completely new to the industry, or had worked only on unscripted or completely disparate projects prior, it might have sparked a different and more desperate reaction.

But I love the fact that Severance's likely third season will be crafted by brains who worked on brainy and twisty shows like Succession, Ash vs Evil Dead, Doom Patrol and The Sandman. And hopefully they'll be way quicker about writing it all, too, while I'm throwing all my nearby coins into the wishing well.

Severance's Season 2 finale will be available to stream with an Apple TV+ subscription on Friday, March 21.

Spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t watched the latest Severance Season 2 episode with an Apple TV+ subscription, so be warned, refiners!

It pains me to think that that last nine months of the 2025 TV schedule will be completely free from new Severance episodes, with the extended Season 2 finale dropping like an egg-shaped bomb on March 21. The second chapter in this meticulous mystery has delivered one shocking doozy after another, and the penultimate installment took some direct inspiration from another twisty sci-fi favorite, The Twilight Zone. Somebody more talented than me mash these two theme songs together, stat.

One of The Twilight Zone's best episodes, "The After Hours" was the 35th episode that aired from the anthology series' first season. (I wish someone could guarantee that Severance makes it to 35 episodes.) And it's the same title used by Dan Erickson for Ep 209, so it's as good a place as any to start pointing out similarities.

The Title "The After Hours"

At a glance, the shared titles may seem like a mundane tip of the hat to Rod Serling's influence. It rather directly applies to both Outie Mark and Helly, whose respective anti-Lumon plans require waiting for action to be taken after the traditional workday has been completed. For Mark, it's being smuggled to the company's birthing cabin with Cobel and Devon, while Helly is attempting to memorize the directions to the Testing Floor. It's unclear if either plan will bear fruit, however.

And if Severance turns out anything like the end of the Twilight Zone ep, then we might be watching all of our favorite characters forced into accepting their doomed fates, without a clear option for how to change their realities. But more on that shortly.

It All Starts With A Mysterious Elevator Ride

I don't have to tell Severance viewers how important elevators are to Lumon employees, particularly those with (presumably?) patented chips in their heads. So imagine my surprise to see that the original "After Hours" kicking off with Anne Francis' Marsha White hopping into an elevator that mysteriously travels to a floor that isn't supposed to exist. It more or less brings Marsha from one reality to another, or at least another perception of it.

Though she may not be a completely different person, each times she exits the elevator, Marsha's tale is a basic reflection of the Innies' existence, from the utter confusion about the ninth floor to the inability to fully escape the overbearing walls surrounding her.

Password: Golden Thimble

When Cobel pulls up to the birthing cabins near the end of the episode, she convinces the woman guarding the gate to let them through in two distinct ways. First by directly referring to some of the Twilight Zone episode's dialogue, namely that Marsha White is looking for a golden thimble on the ninth floor. Which is a wild bit of in-universe referencing, since it implies that someone in charge of security at Lumon is a Rod Serling fan. (Looking at you, Drummonds.)

More disturbingly, however, Cobel goes beyond just the coded language and falsely alludes to Devon being the latest of what seems like many women who were impregnated by Jame Eagan, either intentionally or not. I'm not sure if the implication was that Cobel would be aborting the baby, but they were allowed in. It would make me sick to think about how many illegitimate Eagan children are walking the streets of Kier and nearby towns.

It Takes Place Within A Sparse Workplace Within A Branded Corporation's Marquee Location

Speaking of those hallways, the Twilight Zone episode takes place within quite the popular department store, with (at least) eight floors of wares for customers to peruse. It may or may not be that company's largest store, but you can bet this isn't the branch they'd stick in Salt's Neck next to the ether factory. And while it's made to look bustling in one part of the building, other areas are quite empty, save for the limited employees working there. As Marsha herself puts it at one point:

I don't think it would be logically possible for any other company on the planet to have as much unused space as Lumon does, given its labyrinthian hallways and large, simply furnished offices. It's literally meant to confuse workers and keep them from discovering other departments on the floor, which is more complicated than the department store's situation, but close enough to count.

"A One-Way Bus Ticket To Any Department Store West Of Cleveland"

After Marsha complains about having purchased a damage thimble on a floor that doesn't exist, the store manager believes her to be a highly disturbed woman, and tells one of his employees that he'd like to buy her the above-mentioned "one-way bus ticket" out of town.

Granted, he doesn't actually get around to buying that bus ticket, but I think that declaration was itself a Serverance reference, with Burt showing up uninvited inside Irving's house with an offer the other man can't refuse: a one-way train ticket to a location that Burt couldn't be told about, so that he wouldn't have anything to report back to Lumon, since it's all but confirmed that he's still working for them in the outside world. I can't help but think that Irv will return in the finale, but also fear that he might have taken Burt's advice to heart.

The Main Character Is Revealed To Be Someone Only Allowed Out Into The Outside World As A "Real" Person For A Limited Time

The big twist behind the Twilight Zone's "After Hours" is that Marsha White wasn't hallucinating at all. Rather, she was actually one of many sentient, talking mannequins within the department store that, for one month out of the year, are able to escape their ninth floor home and live amongst real people. It is quite the escape for them, to the point where Marsha legitimately forgot that she wasn't a real person.

While the reveal wasn't played quite as traumatically as it could have been for Marsha herself, the moment definitely triggered memories of watching Gemma suffer Dr. Mauer's psychological torture on the Testing Floor. Because for all that she was willing to return to her station without fighting it, the longing behind Marsha's last line definitely sticks around for a while after watching. When asked if she enjoyed herself, she replied:

And then she settled into place and stopped moving, and all the chills started running all over my spine. The episode caps off with a scene featuring the store manager discovering the Marsha mannequin, which could very well have its own implications that I'm just not recognizing at the moment.

If someone can figure out how to make time pass by extremely slowly between now and Severance's finale hitting, I'll buy you a real Living Doll. Just don't read the customer reviews.