Please Enjoy All Seasons Equally: Adam Scott Teases ‘Severance’ Season 3
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Apple is about to start filming the penultimate season of its hit psychological sci-fi thriller Severance, and while there’s still likely at least 20 more episodes to go, it seems the producers have already locked in the ending.
Sadly, we’re still in for a bit of a wait before we even get to see the season 3 kick off, much less season 4. While Apple has committed to that final season, there’s no word on when it’s going to start filming. While some shows like Silo and Slow Horses have had multiple seasons filmed back-to-back, that doesn’t appear to be in the cards for Severance, which will likely air its third season before beginning on its fourth.
Nevertheless, it seems the spiritual forces behind Lumon Industries already mapped out the entire saga. In an interview with Variety, series star and executive producer Adam Scott said he already knows how things will ultimately end.
Oh, yes. I’m an executive producer on the show, so I’m involved in all of it. We talk with the writers and Dan [Erickson] all the time. I know everything about what’s going on. [As an actor] I like having as much information as possible.
Adam Scott
“It’s going to be great. There are so many surprises. I can’t wait to shoot it,” he added, also confirming that while original executive producer Ben Stiller won’t be directing the third season (as we previously reported), he remains “very involved with the show.”
Scott, who is also receiving the Canal+ Icon Award at this year’s Cannes International Series Festival, also expressed how excited he was to get back with fellow cast members after their two-year hiatus following the wrapping of season 2 filming. “We miss each other,” he said.
That sentiment was echoed by his co-stars, Britt Lower and Trammel Tillman, who sent Scott a surprise message congratulating him on his upcoming award, while adding “You make coming to work feel like going to summer camp — a weird summer camp where we have no access to sunlight.”
In the interview, Scott also told Variety how badly he wanted the starring role of Mark in Severance:
It’s an incredible role in an incredible world. It’s everything I’d always wanted to do. When I read the script, first of all, I thought: ‘I probably won’t get this job. But if I do, if I’m able to land this, it will be because I’ve been earning this over the last 30 years. The opportunity to be considered for something like this and a role where you get to explore different sides of this person.’
Adam Scott
Amazingly, Scott auditioned only once, which he cited as fortunate because “The more you do it, the more you can screw it up.”
Even so, he explains how he had to take some time to get into the groove of some of the quirkier aspects of the show, such as transitioning between his “innie” and “outie” personality in the elevator. “Ben had this ‘elevator set’ he would keep off to the side,” Scott said, “so whenever we had a few minutes, we could go over and practice, and try to see how that transformation would occur.”
It apparently took “hundreds of times” before Scott and his co-stars figured out something that worked, and he credits Stiller with the now-iconic eye-fluttering movement.
Although Scott isn’t giving us any spoilers, he sort of obliquely hints that the final ending may not resolve all the loose threads, pointing to Twin Peaks as a sort of parallel.
“I love ‘Twin Peaks’ so much and I love that people keep discovering it over and over again. I don’t know if [‘Severance’] will live in culture and be remembered like that, but I agree – there’s a lot of power in not knowing.”
Adam Scott
He also adds how he “loved” how The Sopranos ended. Despite admitting he was frustrated by it, he also said, “it was brilliant and I still haven’t figured it out.” He adds that he feels the same way about music, adding that “I’ve always loved bands that wouldn’t tell you everything about how music was made and who made it. I like when there’s a place for my imagination to reach out and meet the work.”
Of course, Scott may love leaving things hanging, but he’s merely an executive producer of Severance, and not even one of the writers. Even Stiller, while responsible for the retro-futurist look we see on the screen, it’s ultimately the creative work of Dan Erickson, and who told Rolling Stone last year that he plans to resolve all of the important mysteries — the ones “that we are specifically pointing at” — and that there’s no risk of a Lost-style ending. “I like to think that people will be satisfied by the answers,” Erickson said.
