'Severance' Adds Alia Shawkat, Gwendoline Christie, Merritt Wever and More to Season 2

Praise Kier! Severance has added eight new cast members as the Apple TV+ series starts production on season 2. Among those joining the expanded ensemble are Alia Shawkat, Gwendoline Christie and Merritt Wever. 

Rounding out the new additions are Christopher Guest regular Bob Balaban, Beauty and the Beast voice star Robby Benson, Stefano Carannante (Mirabilia), Lord of the Rings actor John Noble and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga). 

They all join the series' returning stars Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry, Dichen Lachman, Jen Tullock, Tramell Tillman, Michael Chernus and Christopher Walken, with Ben Stiller also back as executive producer and director. 

"We are thrilled and delighted to be back on set for the exciting second chapter of Severance," Stiller said in a statement along with the debut of the first image of Scott back as Mark Scout from the set of season 2. "Though we don't know how long we've been gone or who we are outside, we are told people enjoy the show and we couldn't be happier. Praise Kier!"

On the Apple TV+ series from creator and writer Dan Erickson, Mark Scout is one of several employees at Lumon Industries who has undergone a procedure that surgically divides one's experiences and memories between their work and personal lives. Despite embarking on this revolutionary "work-life balance," Mark and his co-workers start to question what's going on inside the mysterious corporation and what their lives outside look like.   

Following the shocking season 1 finale, which revealed a bit more of the employee's outer lives, audiences can expect to see more of that going forward. "That’s a world that we’re just beginning to explore," Erickson told ET. "So, it’s really exciting and humbling that we get to keep doing it for a whole other season." 

But how the universe of Severance is expanded inside and outside of the corporate walls will be done in a strategic way, with audiences getting answers to things established in season 1 while discovering new things to question. "It’s hopefully going to be the kind of show where you feel satisfied enough that you get answers to things that you’re wondering about for a long time but then new questions come up," Stiller said. 

"But I want it to be something where people really feel as they’re going through that they’re in a world where they’re not feeling like things are just being thrown at them for no reason," he continued. 

Severance season 1 is now streaming on Apple TV+.

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