Night Shyamalan’s original series for Apple TV+, Servant, has a lot of people talking. While some love how it’s disturbingly creepy while also being subtle and slow-paced, others aren’t impressed with the direction. With two seasons under its belt, viewers keep inching closer to truly understanding what’s going on with Leanne, the cult, and baby Jericho (or rather the baby they call Jericho).
But so many lingering issues remain that fans (and naysayers) wonder if the show is making any sense. Isn’t that the point, though? That it doesn’t make absolute sense but rather sparks conversations, not to mention tons of crazy theories about what’s really happening.
Dorothy Isn’t A Reporter Anymore
Is it possible that if Sean and Julian would maintain the façade that baby Jericho is still alive that they might go even further and pretend that Dorothy is still going to work when, in reality, she doesn’t actually have a job?
One Redditor posits that Dorothy isn’t a reporter at all, at least not anymore. Many segments of her shown on the Turner’s TV are typically puff pieces that could have been filmed any time. Could they be old recordings? Is it possible that Dorothy is actually going to therapy instead and has become so dissociated with reality that she still thinks she’s going to work? And Sean continues to play old footage to keep up the ruse?
Dorothy Is Dead
Another theory suggests that Dorothy actually hung herself long ago, likely the day that Jericho died, and in the same fashion she is seen considering in the second season finale, using her scarf wrapped around the baby’s crib. It wouldn’t be the first time a TV series explored the concept of a main character who has actually been dead the whole time.
Is it that she is dead and doesn’t realize it, a theme Shyamalan has also explored before in his movies? Or maybe it’s her spirit driving Sean and Julian, who are actually the ones who are in denial, with the guilt over her death. The theory notes that Sean is often trying to make rotten or gross foods taste good and even experiences rot himself when his hand burns badly and he loses his sense of taste.
It’s All Happening In Sean’s Head
One Reddit theory takes the idea even further in guessing that nothing happening is actually happening at all but rather it’s all in Sean’s head.
The belief is that the entire family died in a fire shortly after Jericho was born while Sean was away and he has created an entire fake life in order to deal with the trauma. Some of the clues that back this up include that he rarely ever leaves the house and doesn’t interact with many people outside of the family, save for Roscoe and Tobe.
They Live In An Enslaved World As Breeders
Among all of the theories on Reddit, this one takes the cake for the most outlandish. The Redditor, who calls it more of a fun theory, suggests that maybe the Turners are living in a world as “suppressed breeders” who are assigned servants.
They have tried repeatedly to escape the oppression, with house fires, hangings, and other methods, but they are always brought back with one sole purpose: to breed. The theory goes on about aliens, lies, and mind control, getting weirder and weirder with each idea.
Mr. Marino Is Actually Sean
In the second season, Leanne’s goes to work for a family called the Marinos. In an online showing Leanne playing with the young son Sergio, Mr. Marino is seen from the back as he walks in the room and he speaks to Leanne.
A Redditor believes that his voice sounds awfully like Sean’s and guesses that Sean might somehow be the mysterious man who ended up killing his family and himself, though it’s not explained as to how nor why.
Cult Members Are Angels
Here’s a Redditor who believes that the mysterious cult members are actually angels who were born into human bodies. This explains why they believe they are sent to help specific people who are in need and must be in certain places at certain times to fulfill their purposes.
It’s obvious they have some kind of supernatural abilities. However, this theory doesn’t really check out considering how cruel, violent, and murderous cult members like Aunt Josephine are. That said, the Redditor explains this away with another theory: Leanne has to be killed in a specific way so as to return to heaven and save her soul.
Leanne Causes The COVID-19 Pandemic
Shyamalan would really have to want to integrate current times with the already confirmed season three in order to make this theory become a reality. Since the second season took place during Christmas 2019, season three could involve the pandemic and suggest that the “war” Leanne alluded to in the final moments of season 2 leads to the coronavirus.
The belief is that since it would fit perfectly with the timeline, working COVID-19 into the show’s storyline, could make sense.
Dorothy Is In A Mental Institution
One of the most interesting supporting characters on the show is Natalie, Julian’s sometimes girlfriend who seemed to come in and out of the family’s life. She knew how to perform hypnosis, which she was called upon to perform on Roscoe to help him recollect what happened during the time he lost. She was a generally calming person in Julian’s life.
Was she actually real? One Redditor thinks that she is actually someone who works in the psychiatric ward of a hospital where Dorothy has been since the accidental death of Jericho. What viewers see on the show is how Dorothy views things while she is under hypnosis. And when Natalie speaks to Julian on the phone or leaves him voice messages and says things like that she is trying to help him, she is really saying those things to Dorothy while she is under hypnosis.
Natalie Is Holding A Séance
Further to the previous theory, another Redditor points out that Natalie has used phrases like “let me try to speak with you” which seems like odd wording to say to someone on a voice message.
Is it possible that she’s actually holding a séance or hypnotism of one of the main characters who is actually still alive? Others chime in noting that Julian seemed to be very troubled whenever he heard her voice and would begin to use drugs, almost as if she was putting him in a state of hypnosis or playing with his mind.
They Are In Purgatory
This theorizer thinks that not only is Dorothy dead but so is Sean. And they are both existing in the house with Leanne as a form of purgatory, like what was depicted in the series Supernatural as a sort-of tormented afterlife. The basis of the show is them going through various motions to try and get out.
The explanation for the existence of them being able to interact with others, including Tobe, Roscoe, Julian, and even Mr. Pearce, is that they are all, in fact, dead.
