Ben Stiller continues his involvement as one of several executive producers on Apple TV+'s Severance Season 2, along with
Ben Stiller has been involved in the series since creator Dan Erickson submitted his pilot script to Stiller's production company in 2015. Two years later, Stiller asked Adam Scott to lead the series as Mark Scout, which eventually led to Stiller directing six episodes.
While Aoife McArdle won't return to direct any more episodes of Severance in Season 2, several new directors will take his place. Ben Stiller's involvement in the series continues as its primary director and executive producer.
Ben Stiller's Collaborative Nature
In an interview with The Wrap, while discussing the massive delay with Season 2, creator Dan Erickson expressed how written scenes "they thought would work" weren't "quite right" during filming.
Erickson said it was "just a feeling" and how he and Ben Stiller "work together really closely on crafting the story," from the outlining phase to scripts:
"It's just a feeling. Ben [Stiller] and I work together really closely on crafting the story, both at an outlining phase and then with the scripts. You just sort of know when you know. We were very adamant that we not move ahead at any point until we really felt like we had it."
As executive producer for Severance, Stiller loved the "uniquely genuine" tone of Erickson's script and the "surreal" setting of the vast liminal space of the Lumon building. However, he also admitted that he "wasn't quite sure" what Severance was before Theodore Shapiro scored the series defining the show's vibe.
When working with Erickson and the rest of the writers, Stiller said they "started to put those elements together" during filming and editing, which is when it "started to feel what it was:"
"We started to put those elements together, both when we were filming and editing. When the actors started to do the scenes, we started to feel what it was. We’re always checking in with each other on what feels like the show or not."
In a separate interview with Collider, Stiller spoke more about his involvement in the series. He clarified that while he didn't direct every episode of Season 2, he was still there "every day" as a producer.
Stiller also discussed how his film Escape at Dannemora influenced Severance and how "that team stayed together," with Jessica Lee Gagné returning as his cinematographer and Geoffrey Richman and Malcolm Jamieson as editors.
Will His Involvement Continue with Severance Season 3?
Speaking with Collider in November, Ben Stiller confirmed that while the series will not "keep going as long as it's successful:"
"You have a responsibility to the audience that you’re going somewhere with it. That’s always been a part of it for us, really understanding where it’s heading to, and Apple’s been really supportive of that and been sensitive to what the story is and not saying, 'Okay, this is something that has to keep going as long as it’s successful.'
Severance will "go as long as the story goes" with work on Season 3 "starting up:"
"It should go as long as the story goes, and that’s something we have an idea of, and we’re working towards as we’re starting up our Season 3 work."
Last season ended with a massive cliffhanger with the Innies experiencing their Outie's lives in the outside world for the first time. Adam Scott's Mark Scout also learned that Dichen Lachman's Ms. Casey was actually his outies' supposedly dead wife.
Season 2 of Severance will see big changes moving forward, focusing far more on the Innies as they attempt to escape Lumon's clutches, Overtime Contingency, who Britt Lower's Helly Riggs outie is, and her relationship with Jame Eagan, the eighth CEO of Lumon Industries.
Season 2 of Severance will be released weekly on Apple TV+ starting Friday at 12 a.m. PT/ 3 a.m. ET.
LATEST NEWS
