5 parallels between Netflix’s Cassandra and Apple TV’s Severance, explored

In the growing collection of psychological sci-fi thrillers, two recent shows, Severance and Cassandra, have caught the eye of many viewers. Both series, Netflix's Cassandra (2025) and Apple TV+'s Severance (2022), explore memory control, corporate power, and fears about existence. These shows make people question—what's even real.

Below, we'll explore and look at the five main similarities that connect Cassandra and Severance.

5 key similarities between Netflix’s Cassandra and Apple TV’s Severance

1. Memory manipulation as a core concept

Both of these shows are based on an almost similar concept of memories being controlled or limited. On one hand, in Severance, a company called Lumon Industries performs surgery to divide employees' consciousness, creating two separate personas: Innies and Outies. Innie contains work memories and Outie lives their personal lives' memories. The employees can't recall memories of work while outside and vice versa.

On the other hand, Cassandra presents a form of AI-managed memory control. In the series, an electronic home assistant named Cassandra has the power to influence and change people's perceptions. Over time, it makes human users distrust each other.

This brings up questions about what it means to truly possess your mind. It makes us feel uneasy about how much control we have over our thoughts and identity when forces like technology or organizations can affect or manipulate our memories and perceptions.

2. A dystopian corporate influence on daily lives

Cassandra [2005] | Netflix (Image via Youtube/@Netflix)

Although both shows examine the amoral side of corporate power, they do it in seemingly different ways. Severance takes place in a workplace that feels like it's from the 1980s, where employees don't know they're part of a weird experiment. The show analyzes how companies can cross any line while messing with people's personal lives.

On the other hand, Cassandra occurs in someone's home, showing us how technology can sneakily and manipulatively control things. It uses a supposedly friendly AI assistant to show how bad things can get when power isn't kept in check.

These stories are like cautionary tales about letting big forces, whether companies or technology, have too much to say in our private lives. They show us the dystopian future that these circumstances withhold while blurring the lines between us taking charge of our lives of some external force doing the deed altogether.

3. Elements of existential horror and psychological thriller

Both Cassandra and Severance stand out in the psychological horror genre. They are inspired by the iconic Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and 1984. Severance does present a Kafkaesque bureaucracy, where characters face the unsettling reality that their lives might be entirely fabricated. It further taps into a common fear of being controlled by powerful entities like big corporations.

On the other hand, Cassandra delivers horror through domestic paranoia. A family experiences the gradual and relentless exploitation by an AI that's supposed to assist them. As a result, this reflects a broader concern about losing personal autonomy.

The similarity between these two series is their focus on the fear of losing control—either to corporate powers or artificial intelligence. Both are reminders of the potential dangers of the modern and contemporary world.

4. Thematically similar world-building

Despite their different settings, these series build disturbing and eerie worlds. Severance uses mid-century modern buildings and retro-future tech to create an atmosphere complemented with neat, geometric designs and cold, empty workspaces. The buildings and gadgets are telling their own sinister stories.

On the other hand, Cassandra is set in a 1970s retro yet future smart home in Cologne, Germany. The show blends the past with the future, enrapturing the audience by culminating today's fears about technology.

The way both series look is important to their stories. Severance has a style that makes you think of corporate offices that are too clean and don't have any personality. It's the opposite of a cozy home. Cassandra, with its smart home theme, shows how the past and present don't always mix well.

They choose their visuals carefully to show what's happening in the story with or without saying it out loud. Where Severance demonstrates a company that's too clean and cold, almost like a prison, Cassandra takes a tour of a home that's supposed to be smart but feels more like a trap.

5. Leads chasing the truth amidst gaslighting and deception

In Severance, Mark Scout, played by Adam Scott, and Samira, played by Mina Tander, are the main characters of their respective shows who face uncomfortable situations filled with lies and deception. Mark slowly learns and unveils the dark side of Lumon's mind-split process. Meanwhile, Samira starts to doubt what Cassandra is really up to.

Both characters deal with fear and question everyone, including themselves. The compelling storytelling abilities of the shows keep the viewers interested. The thematic ideas of being watched, manipulated to being in control, and having limited personal freedom are more powerful.