Even though Severance is one of the most mind-bending dramas on TV right now, if you quietly feel like you can relate to Mark S. and the rest of the severed floor, you’re probs not alone. When I spoke with Patricia Arquette leading up to the premiere of season 2, she shared she “definitely think[s] people, in general, are pretty severed in their lives,” from hard-core gamers who prefer their second life over the real world to married people who are having a “whole different life” through a secret affair. Patricia believes “Severance is a bit of a warning” for two-timers of all kinds who are “not really integrating.” With the extremely anticipated sci-fi thriller finally back on the air, the rest of the world is wondering, now more than ever, if reintegration is in the cards for Mark, Dylan, Irving, or Helly.
In fact, some of you fanboys and girls were so eager for answers, that you couldn’t help yourselves from sharing your wildest Severance theories with the internet. Patricia Arquette was “blown away” by the global Kier fever. So much so that sometimes she would “chime in as if [she] was Cobel and tell them that they have to meet their quota or something like that.” Chatting with the legend had me nervous that her inner Lumon diva might pop out when I least expected it (and honestly, I would’ve lived for it). Instead, Patricia Arquette’s thoughts on Severance season 2, including the truth about the MDR, had me begging for more Co-bel.
Patricia Arquette On Severance Season 2
What changes for the innies in season 2?
Season 1 was an incredibly tense rollercoaster for Lumon’s favorite innies. When I asked Patricia if things could possibly get more intense, she explained the stakes were definitely raised. “I feel like the first season, everyone was naive — especially the innies. They were almost like four and five-year-old little children having temper tantrums,” Patricia said.
Now with a whole new Lumon promised in season 2 after their severed experiment has been exposed to the world, “[the innies] are like teenagers and love has a different kind of realness to it. There’s more responsibility and conflict, inner conflict, that they have,” Patricia described. As for how much Ms. Cobel contributes to this next-level conflict, Patricia had a surprising insight. “Where it was like us against them the first season, it’s a little bit them against themselves to some extent also mixed in, which I think is part of growing up.”
Patricia Arquette says cycles could be broken in season 2 of Severance
Severance is a big world full of even bigger bads, but I still needed to know how Patricia would sum up season 2 in just a few words. “I don’t know what exactly the word would be. It’s like…rediscovery,” she mused about the nearly impossible task (sorry, queen). “It’s almost like when you learn a lesson and then you have to learn it again, remediation…like when you discover that there’s a cycle that you didn’t really know you were participating in, and then you’re at a different moment — this apex of a possible change.”
My translation? Everyone, from the innies to their outies to Mrs. Selving, has been living on a hamster wheel for far too long. Even worse, maybe they’re just now truly realizing that someone else was spinning that wheel faster and faster. The question the characters are (hopefully) going to answer by episode 10 is “will [they] or won’t [they]” break the cycle and get off?
Patricia Arquette had “questions” about her character Harmony
Patricia has spent a lot of time getting into Harmony Cobel’s head over the years. And frankly, it’s a bit of a scary place. “The weird thing about Harmony is she’s so indoctrinated to this religion/corporation and to the ideology of that,” Patricia explained. “Those voices are in her head, those rules are in her head, and there’s something very particular about that level of brainwashing almost.” Getting into the “twisted,” “rebellious” ways Harmony goes about “meeting her own needs” led Patricia to master bringing those voices to life. Especially in moments like throwing a coffee mug at Mark’s head and then convincing him it was going to bring them closer. When I asked if she’d ever had a horrible boss herself, Patricia laughed. “Oh, yeah, I definitely have before.” Not surprising, considering the Oscar winner has been a game-changer in the industry since True Romance.
Early on, Patricia had “questions” about “[Harmony’s] motivations and what exactly she was doing … particularly towards the end of season 1.” With season 2, she says that “as things steamroll and everyone starts falling apart and you start seeing all of these things coming to a head” the audience is going to “learn more about [Harmony].” So for the fans like me who are obsessed with finding out the truth about Mrs. Selving, some of our questions will finally be up for discussion.
Patricia Arquette knows what’s really happening in the MDR
If you ask Reddit, a million and one things could be happening with maco-data refined on the severed floor. Theories range from cloning, to mind control, to the idea that the Lumon staff are the experiments themselves, not the ones doing the testing. Patricia has seen some of the speculation about the hit show’s many wormholes and thought “Whoa, they’re super smart” or “Wow, that’s interesting.” But if you’re hoping for her take on your latest ramblings, don’t hold your breath.
Patricia eventually decided “I shouldn’t read any more of these, in case the writers come up with something that’s very similar” because “some [season 1 theories] were very close to certain aspects, so I thought, “Uh-oh, this could be trouble.” As for the truth about the MDR she had one little spoiler to share. “I do know what we’re refining, but I’m not telling you.” So, if you catch me impatiently waiting for new episodes every Friday at midnight, you know why.
