There is a plan for Severance season three, but it might take a while

If this writer had known how long the wait for season two of Severance would be when she devoured season one, she might have willingly undergone the procedure to let her innie do the waiting for her. Season one aired its final episode on April 8, 2022, and we won’t see the implications of innie Mark and co.’s journeys to the outside world until the first episode of season two airs on January 17, 2025. That’s a long gap, one which Severance co-executive producer Mohamad El Masri recently characterized to IndieWire as “just nuts.” “I even have to go back and watch the first season and remind myself of how it all ties together,” he shared. (So did we! You can read Saloni Gajjar’s recaps here.) “I’m excited for the audience to also have to sort of go back and re-watch and, you know, re-familiarize themselves with the journey of season one.”

While you’re doing your own rewatch, you can at least rest assured that there’s some sort of plan in place to wrap up the show’s many mysteries; the numbers (hopefully!) won’t just be “scary” forever. According to El Masri, series creator Dan Erickson and EP/director Ben Stiller already have a “whole vision mapped out,” including “answers” to the show’s mythology. “There was always a thinking ahead to future seasons,” he confirmed. “Even in season two, we were talking about, what is the end game and how does this show end?” While Apple TV hasn’t officially greenlit season three yet, El Masri also teased that “there was work being done on season three while they were still shooting season two.”

Sending soft strays towards similar shows like Lost and Westworld, El Masri promised that Erickson was “not that guy” to be “figuring out as we go.” “He is very meticulous and very detailed about the world that he’s created,” the producer explained, adding that he had been given a 50-page, “really massive series Bible” that Erickson had spent five years developing Severance when he came on board.

To that end, don’t expect the team to rush through the writing process for season three either. “What I would say is that Ben (Stiller) and Dan (Erickson) and the entire team, they’re perfectionists and they want it to be great. And if that takes, you know, a year, two years, three years or whatever it’s going to be, they’re just going to take the time they need to make it the show that they want, and clearly that’s paid off and in a remarkable first season,” El Masri continued. “I feel like Ben and Dan and everyone, they’re not going to put something out that they don’t feel is amazing.” As nice as it is to rally behind someone with such a firm plan, if a music dance experience would boost their productivity by even 10%, this writer will be the first to wheel out the maracas.