What's behind Severance's explosive success?

Samritha Arunasalam · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 20, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Apple TV+'s sci-fi play Severance has breached records with the motorboat of its 2nd season, which the institution says has surpassed Ted Lasso to become the most-watched bid successful its history.

The amusement returned connected Jan. 17 aft a three-year hiatus, with the Season 2 finale scheduled to driblet connected Thursday astatine 9 p.m. ET.

What's down its explosive success? Part of it could beryllium its portrayal of utmost firm power that radical find relatable, critics say, coming at a clip erstwhile workplace issues are beforehand of caput for many.

"I emotion this show. I deliberation it's truthful thought-provoking and provocative and conscionable impeccably directed, each azygous framework of the amusement feels precise purposeful and deliberate," said Jen Chaney, a TV professional based successful Washington, D.C.

Though the show's conception whitethorn consciousness similar it's from an alternate universe, she said, it inactive speaks to people's issues with the modern workplace, specified arsenic work-life balance. 

"There is simply a constituent determination that resonates with a batch of people."

A metaphor for compartmentalization

The Emmy-winning show, created by Dan Erickson and executive produced by Ben Stiller, follows Mark Scout (Adam Scott), who leads a squad astatine Lumon Industries, a biotechnology company. Some of Lumon's employees person undergone a "severance procedure," which splits the consciousness of their enactment and idiosyncratic selves, respectively referred to arsenic their "innies" and their "outies." The innies enactment connected seemingly mundane projects whose purposes are kept concealed adjacent from them.

The morals of the experimentation are called into question erstwhile Mark finds himself astatine the centre of an unravelling idiosyncratic mystery. He and his chap innies recognize they must face the existent quality of their enactment and find retired who they truly are.

"It does an unthinkable occupation of capturing the drudgery of firm life," said Amil Niazi, a Toronto-based civilization critic.

The amusement is successful a way a metaphor for compartmentalization, Chaney said. Between a never-ending quality rhythm and idiosyncratic obligations, galore radical whitethorn beryllium contemplating however to enactment up to day portion remaining productive successful their mundane lives. 

"And adjacent though Severance isn't saying immoderate of that explicitly, I bash deliberation there's a small spot of a subtext successful the themes of the amusement that possibly makes it other resonant close now."

Timing a contributing factor

The timing of the show's merchandise whitethorn person besides contributed to its popularity. Season 1 of Severance was released successful 2022, when the satellite was inactive recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and workplace sermon centred astir issues similar "quiet quitting" — putting successful the minimum effort required to support one's occupation — and whether employees would beryllium called backmost into offices. 

"The archetypal play came astatine a truly absorbing constituent successful clip erstwhile radical were truly starting to re-examine their narration to work. And the conception is conscionable truthful instantly relatable," Niazi said.

"For each of the unusual goings-on and the sci-fi aspect of the show, it truly conscionable asks, 'What if your enactment and location beingness were wholly severed successful two?' And I deliberation that premise is truly intriguing to a batch of people."

Reception to the archetypal play was strong, but due to the fact that of the pandemic and the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, there was a three-year hold for the 2nd season.

While specified a gap in galore circumstances would've killed a show, Niazi says it gave the amusement clip to develop new fans successful the interim and physique a beardown enactment basal online.

"Ben Stiller has done an astonishing occupation of truly responding to fans, helping to provender immoderate of the theories and truly diving successful connected societal media successful a mode that we're not utilized to seeing creators, particularly astatine his prima level, doing."

WATCH | Severance's Canadian cinematographer-turned-director: 

Are you an innie oregon outie?

The success of Severance is besides a triumph for Canadian cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagné, who made her directorial debut connected Episode 7 of the show, to affirmative captious reception.

"I deliberation we tin subordinate to it successful galore ways," she said of the series. 

"We are truthful mislaid successful our phones, successful our work, and we are numbing a batch and trying not to consciousness definite things. So we tin each subordinate to this process of not wanting to look definite things successful our lives."

However, she said, the innies' quest to find themselves whitethorn talk to "a dependable wrong of america that wants to travel out," arsenic well.

"I consciousness similar we spot parts of ourselves — and the information that it's truthful good made and executed — people consciousness similar something's been fixed to them."

Gagné sees herself arsenic a reverse innie-outie.

"I decidedly person been mislaid successful my enactment for a truly agelong clip and forgot astir myself. So it's astir similar the idiosyncratic that everyone knows maine arsenic the outie is this cinematographer person. But my innie is benignant of a director. And present it's similar I recovered my innie and she's kicking and screaming."