It has been over two years since Severance season 1, so it’s worth a reminder of the sci-fi show’s biggest reveals before the second season arrives in 2025. The Apple TV show follows Mark (Adam Scott) and his co-workers at Lumon Industries, where they undergo a surgical procedure to sever their work lives from their personal lives. When they are inside the office, they have no memory of their outside lives, and vice versa.

Severance season 2 will be released in January 2025, and this long wait means that fans may have forgotten some of the important plot details from the first season. Severance is filled with twists and turns, especially in the season 1 finale, and it ends on a tantalizing cliffhanger. The story of the second season remains a mystery, but the announcement trailer shows Mark and Helly back in the office.

10

Helly Is The Daughter Of Lumon’s CEO

Helly R is Helena Eagan

One of the biggest reveals from Severance season 1’s finale is that Helly R is really Helena Eagan, the daughter of Lumon Industries CEO Jame Eagan. She was sent to the MDR department so that she could preach the benefits of the severance procedure, as Lumon tries to convince the world that everyone should accept it. This explains why Helly kept returning to work, even after her innie attempted suicide. It also explains why she was allowed to send a message to her outie, since Lumon knew she would ignore her innie’s pleas for help.

It’s unclear how Helly can continue working in the MDR knowing what she knows, and Lumon might not want to let her after her innie disrupted her speech in the season finale. Helly’s presence means that Lumon will be keeping an extra close eye on Mark and the rest of the MDR. Her relationship with her father and the structure of the family business are both still unclear, so season 2 could explore this further.

9

Mark Figured Out That His Wife Is Alive

The reveal about Ms. Casey raises more questions

The very ending of Severance‘s first season shows Mark figuring out that his wife didn’t really die in a car crash. Gemma is actually Ms. Casey, the wellness counselor on Lumon’s severed floor. This revelation raises even more questions. It appears that Gemma faked her own death, but the truth could be more complex, especially because her reasons for doing so are unclear.

Severance drops a few hints about Gemma before the big reveal, but this just makes the mystery even more compelling. There are some clues which suggest Ms. Casey may not be severed at all, which means she really is willfully deceiving Mark. Gemma’s death was the main reason that Mark decided to undergo the severance procedure, so the reveal that she’s alive will be seismic for him in more ways than one.

8

Milchick Found Dylan Initiating The Overtime Protocol

Dylan will probably be punished, but he still has power over Milchick

Dylan bravely stays behind at Lumon so that he can activate the Overtime Contingency for his three colleagues, but he is eventually tackled by Seth Milchick, the supervisor on Lumon’s severed floor who is tasked with keeping the workers in line. Along with Harmony, Milchick is usually the one who doles out punishments when the severed workers get ideas beyond their station.

Milchick will have to come up with a more severe punishment for Mark and his colleagues, but it’s important to remember that Dylan has some power over him after Milchick initiated an unauthorized Overtime Contingency to visit Dylan at his house. One interesting Severance season 2 theory is that Milchick will use another protocol which was briefly seen on a computer screen. Among the options for the severed workers is the ominous “Clean Slate,” which could reset the memories of the innies.

7

The Lumon Workers Aren’t The Only Severed People

Gabby Arteta is severed to avoid the pain of childbirth

Severance shows that the technology Lumon uses is hugely controversial, with public protests against severance and people telling Mark that they would never do it themselves. Despite this public outcry, Lumon clearly has plans to expand the technology. An influential state senator managed to get his wife severed so that she could avoid the pain of childbirth. This means that there could be more severed individuals far beyond Lumon’s offices.

The potential implications of the severance procedure are massive. If a woman can be severed to deal with childbirth, then anyone could be severed to avoid negative experiences. Convicts could pay to be severed for the duration of their imprisonment, governments could sever their soldiers so they don’t suffer from PTSD after battle, and companies could forcibly sever employees to enter them into a kind of slavery.

6

Petey Reintegrated, But Died Shortly After

Petey feels the side effects of reintegration

Helly first enters the office as Petey’s replacement, and it doesn’t take long for Severance to reveal what really happened to him. Petey contacts Mark’s outie and tells him about the reality of what happens in Lumon. From there, Mark begins his own investigation, but Petey clearly suffers from the side effects of the reintegration procedure. He experiences both his innie and his outie personality at once, before dying at a gas station.

Petey’s death is something that Lumon will want to keep under wraps, but Mark knows all about it. The reintegration process could provide a way out for Mark and his colleagues in Severance season 2. They’ll need to figure out a way to avoid the side effects that killed Petey, but Reghabi suggests that this is possible in her brief meeting with Mark. Helly and Mark could dismantle Lumon if they have a little more time on the outside.

5

Reghabi Killed Graner, Lumon’s Head Of Security

Lumon will want to track down their former surgeon

Reghabi is the former Lumon surgeon who reintegrates Petey. She’s on the company’s radar, but they don’t know where to find her after she leaves. Graner, the head of security on Lumon’s severed floor, coincidentally comes close when he follows Mark, but Reghabi sneaks up behind him and kills him before he can find her. Reghabi’s whereabouts are still a mystery at the end of season 1.

With Graner suddenly missing, Lumon will be keen to figure out what happened to him. If they can find a way to retrace his steps, Reghabi’s location may become compromised. This could spell trouble for the MDR department, since Reghabi might be their only ticket out of their eternal torture. There is always the possibility that other surgeons like her might hold similar views on severance.

4

Burt Retired Peacefully

Christopher Walken’s character leaves Lumon

Christopher Walken’s Burt is one of the most interesting characters in Severance season 1. He is the head of Lumon’s Optics and Design division on the severed floor. Burt and Irving are drawn to each other, suggesting that they may be connected somehow on the outside, but the season finale reveals that Burt’s outie has another romantic partner, so it’s unclear how Irving might fit into this picture. He could be an old flame, someone Burt is having an affair with, or part of Burt’s non-monogamous relationship. He could just as easily have no relation to Burt.

By the end of season 1, Burt retires from Lumon. This is a strange moment for Burt’s innie. He is finally free from endless labor, but he will cease to exist once Burt has no use for him. Burt seems to be happy and healthy in the brief moment that Irving sees him on the outside, which is the first piece of evidence that severed people can put an end to the arrangement with no side effects like the ones suffered by Petey.

3

Harmony Was Fired After The Board Discovered Footage Of Helly’s Suicide

Harmony could still return to Lumon in season 2

Patricia Arquette’s Harmony Cobel provides a huge twist in Severance‘s first episode, when it’s revealed that she is also Mark’s neighbor on the outside. As the season progresses, she tries desperately to keep things running smoothly on the severed floor, so that she can make a good account of herself in front of the company’s board, who are often mentioned but never seen in person.

Ultimately, the board discovers the surveillance footage showing Helly’s suicide attempt in the elevator. Harmony is fired for her attempts to cover up this incident. After being dismissed, there’s a brief moment when Harmony seems to reject Lumon, and she earnestly congratulates Mark on his decision to quit. She soon changes her tune. Despite being fired by Lumon, she acts quickly to try to shut down the Overtime Protocol. This could be her attempt at getting back into the company’s good graces, or it could be an act of self-preservation, as she doesn’t want her role in the severance program to become public knowledge.

2

Irving’s Paintings Suggest His Outie Has Some Lingering Memories Of Lumon

There could be other outies with some vague knowledge of the inside

Irving’s innie is programmed to see viscous black goo whenever he begins to nod off at work, to shake him into staying awake. His outie’s dark, black paintings bear some resemblance to this goo, but they also show the elevator which carries people to the lower floors beneath the severed floor. This suggests that Irving’s outie retains some fragments of the memories formed by his innie.

If Irving is not completely severed, then other employees could have some memories leaking out from Lumon’s severed floor. It’s possible that Mark and Helly will eventually develop these memories, since it seems likely that Irving has been severed for much longer than either of them. Lumon’s severed floor is much larger than just the MDR department, so there may be new characters introduced in season 2 with some links between their innie and their outie.

1

The MDR’s Work Is Still A Mystery

Season 2 has a lot of questions to answer

Although Mark and his team are under constant pressure to hit their quarterly quota, none of the workers in MDR know what the numbers on their screen mean. They can only guess what their labor amounts to, but Lumon gives them no clues. It’s possible that their work is completely meaningless, and they are all simply guinea pigs for Lumon to observe as they collect data to develop their severance program. The quarterly targets are just arbitrary measures of productivity.

This isn’t the only unsolved mystery from Severance season 1. There are still plenty of questions about Lumon’s operations and the severed floor. For example, the goat department didn’t receive any explanation in the season finale, nor did the erotic dancers at the waffle party. Severance season 2 has a lot of room to explore, and Petey’s hand-drawn map shows that there are many hidden corridors in the office.