Notes: Severance spoilers follow.
Severance has left viewers puzzled with its season one cliffhanger.
Executive produced and directed by Ben Stiller, the Apple TV+ thriller series stems from an eerie premise – What happens when a biotech company uses a procedure known as "severance" to separate their employees' personal memories from their work memories?
Nothing good can come out of it, as the nine episodes of this first instalment have proved, with season 1's final episode confirming that Lumon Industries has more than one skeleton in its closet.
Related: Severance season 1 twist ending explained as Lumon's sinister scheme revealed
Following the first season finale, which ended on the 'overtime contingency' – where the workers wake up in and become conscious of the world outside of Lumon – being stopped, co-showrunner Dan Erickson explained what led to the cliffhanger.
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"Well, it was a long discussion, and we talked about a bunch of different endpoints for the season," he told Entertainment Weekly.
"And I don't mean to throw [Ben Stiller] under the bus, because I think it was a brilliant decision and the right decision, but he was the one who ultimately suggested, maybe the end of the overtime contingency is the end of the season.
"I was like, 'Okay, people are gonna be mad!' But I think it's by far the most effective point where we could have ended this part of the story, storytelling-wise and for the characters."
Related: Severance season 2 potential release date, cast, plot and everything you need to know
Erickson continued: "They've all finally gotten what they asked for, and it has raised all these new questions and all these new problems that they're now going to have to deal with moving ahead."
The series has a star-studded cast, including Parks and Recreation star Adam Scott as well as Britt Lower, Patricia Arquette, Zach Cherry, Christopher Walken and John Turturro. Given the success of the first season, it has been renewed for a second chapter.
Severance is streaming now on Apple TV+.
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Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy.
Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).
