Severance Season 1 recap: Everything to remember before Season 2

Season 2 of Severance on Apple TV+ has dropped its first episode on January 17, 2025, and new episodes will release every Friday till March 21, 2025. The sci-fi thriller series is set in a world where employees at the fictional Lumon Industries undergo surgical procedures to split their lives into two distinct identities as innies as outies, for their workplace and their personal lives respectively.

The story revolves around the protagonist Mark Scout, played by Adam Scott, a man who, as an outie, is grieving the demise of his wife. Mark has opted for the surgery after losing his wife. Also at the core of the plot is Britt Lower's Helly, a severed employee at Lumon who is vocal about the oppressions of the system and is seeking an escape. Veteran actor John Turturro stars as Irving Bailiff.

Early response of fans as well as Rotten Tomatoes critics for Severence Season 2 has been positive. Here is a refresher on Season 1 of the show, before you start off with the second season.

What happens in Severance season 1, full recap

Severance Season 1 depicts Helly's struggle upon arriving at Lumon Industries and how she soon becomes disillusioned. She wishes to escape the oppressive structure of Lumon and finds a way for that. She tries to communicate with her outie self by writing on her body. She files a resignation that her outie self turns down. There is a constant conflict between Helly's innie and outie selves as a result of which she attempts to take her life.

On the other hand, the first season showed us how Mark's outie self is grieving over the loss of his wife thinking she is dead, but his innie continues working with her at Lumon. Mark's outie is mostly depressed and spends time in a dark room while Innie is filled with energy.

Mark is approached by Petey who reveals to him the process of reintegration, the reverse of severance. The process has helped Petey recognize Mark outside work, too. Petey eventually suffers the side effects of the process and passes away.

The company runs a cult, with the Eagan family at the top. Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette), a manager at Lumon, appears as a devoted follower of the cult. Cobel's outie is Mark's neighbor, and she tries to surveil Mark and enter Petey's funeral ceremony to extract the severance implant from his head.

Turturro's Irving uncovers the possibility that Lumon is manipulating people through the surgical procedure. Irving also has a romantic angle in the plot with Burt, which comes to an end abruptly when the latter retires.

What happens in the season finale of Severance?

Adam Scott in Severance (Image via YouTube/@Apple TV+)

In the finale of Season 1, the macro-data refinement (MDR) team at Lumon organizes a "wakeup protocol," temporarily allowing the innies to have some control over the outies.

This is when Mark realises that he is working with his wife at Lumon. Helly learns that she is an Eagan, and the Lumon's CEO's daughter. Irving tries to find Burt outside work but realises that he is happily retired with a partner. Dylan, meanwhile, resists Lumon's control and tries to keep the protocol active for a longer time by holding the switches in place.