In the trailer for the Apple TV+’s upcoming limited series “Severance,” things are looking grim for employees at the eerily tranquil corporation Lumon Industries.
They’ve all agreed to undergo a surgical procedure called Severance that separates memories of their work life from their personal life. Once on the “severed” floor, staffers go about their jobs with no knowledge of the outside world. And when they’re off the clock, they remember nothing about work.
All seems well until Mark (Adam Scott) is approached at a diner by Petey (Yul Vazquez), a former colleague who used to be his best work friend — and who Mark no longer remembers. “I used to think it would take a monster to put someone in a place like that office. Especially if the person was himself. If you want to know what’s going on down there, you’ll find the beginning of a very long answer,” Petey warns him.
Things get confusing anxious and violent until we hear Mark asking” What is it we actually do here?” And then — make of this what you will — we flash to a moment when one of Mark’s bosses asks him “do you know how to look kind?” Uhhh, we don’t know, man. We don’t know.
But it’s all set to the Beta Band’s 2001 classic “Squares,” creating a fun Spike Jonze/Charlie Kauffman vibe — or maybe something like the TVA from “Loki.”
The first two of nine episodes will premiere on Apple TV+ on Friday, Feb. 18, with new episodes dropping each Friday.
Apple teases that the “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.”
The series stars Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry, Dichen Lachman, Jen Tullock, Tramell Tillman, Michael Chernus, and Christopher Walken.
Ben Stiller is the director and executive producer.
The series is written and created by Dan Erickson. Mark Friedman, Chris Black, John Cameron and Andrew Colville are executive producers alongside Erickson. Ben Stiller, Nicky Weinstock and Jackie Cohn executive produce through Red Hour Productions, and both Patricia Arquette and Adam Scott serve as producers. Endeavor Content serves as the studio.