Severance season 2’s first trailer is so unpleasantly upbeat and trippy, I can’t wait to return to the office on Apple TV Plus

Severance season 2’s first teaser has me worried for Mark Scout (far left) and his fellow Lumon employees
(Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

Apple has debuted the first trailer for the hotly anticipated second season of its hit series Severance – and now I’m even more excited to return to the office in early 2025.

Released today (October 23), the teaser, which is set to The Who’s funky ‘Eminence Front’ track, gives us our first proper look at Severance season 2 in typically twisty-turny fashion. It’s only around 80 seconds long, but I suspect there’ll be plenty of fans who’ll not only attempt to dissect what’s on show, but also theorize about what lies in store for Adam Scott’s Mark Scout and his Lumon Industries colleagues – new and old – ahead of the popular show’s latest chapter.

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Expectedly, Mark is at the heart of season 2’s inaugural teaser – he’s arguably the protagonist of one of the best Apple TV Plus shows, after all, so it makes sense that he’d be front and center of this video.

What’s particularly interesting about Severance season 2’s first trailer, though, is that many of the Apple TV Plus project’s primary supporting cast members are only briefly teased in this first round of footage. Indeed, the likes of Britt Lower’s Helly, Zach Cherry’s Dylan, and John Turturro’s Irving are only glimpsed in quick flash cuts interspersed between the trailer’s main footage, which shows Mark navigating a labyrinthine hall of Lumon Industries corridors to try and find his co-workers.

Unfortunately for Mark, he doesn’t run into the colleagues he’s searching for. Instead, before the teaser ends, he’s greeted by a trio of new employees – “who are you people?”, a baffled Mark asks – before Tramell Tillman’s Seth, the overseer of Lumon’s severed floor division, appears. “Welcome back, Markus,” Seth unsettlingly says with a smile as he carries a bunch of blue balloons with Mark’s face on them. “Been a minute”, he adds, before the footage cuts away to Severance’s title card. Color. Me. Intrigued.

Welcome back to the office, Mark (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)The show’s latest trailer arrives 24 hours after Apple invited us to attend a big Severance season 2 meeting. At the time, I theorized that it was destined to reveal season 2’s first teaser, so I’m glad I’ve been proven right.

Not to blow my own trumpet, but I also predicted that a full cast list and season 2 plot synopsis would be presented by Apple. I was partly correct on that front as well, with the tech giant’s streaming division providing a short story brief and confirming which actors are part of Severance’s sophomore outing on one of the world’s best streaming services:

“In Severance, Mark Scout (Scott) leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure, which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives,” the story synopsis reads. “This daring experiment in ‘work-life balance; is called into question as Mark finds himself at the center of an unraveling mystery that will force him to confront the true nature of his work… and of himself. In season 2, Mark and his friends learn the dire consequences of trifling with the severance barrier, leading them further down a path of woe.”

Joining Scott, Lower, Tillman, Cherry, and Turturro on the season 2 cast roster are returning faces Jen Tullock as Devon, Michael Chernus as Ricken, Dichen Lachman as Ms. Casey, Christopher Walken as Burt, and Patricia Arquette as Harmony. The only confirmed newcomer so far is Sarah Bock (Bruiser), who’s been hired as a series regular but whose character identity remains a mystery. Show creator and executive producer Dan Erickson, plus director and executive producer Ben Stiller, are also back as key members of season 2’s chief creative team.

Severance season 2 will launch with a single episode premiere exclusively on Apple TV Plus on January 17, 2025. New episodes will air weekly until the season 2 finale on March 21. While we wait to return to the office, read our thoughts on five big questions Severance season 2 needs to answer.

You might also likeRead up on everything we know about Silo season 2 before its November 15 debutOr get the lowdown on what we know about Foundation season 3Alternatively, check out the best Apple TV Plus movies worth streaming today

As TechRadar’s senior entertainment reporter, Tom covers all of the latest movies, TV shows, and streaming service news that you need to know about. You’ll regularly find him writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and many other topics of interest.

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