Dan Erickson and Ben Stiller's sci-fi corporate thriller Severance is set in a world where thanks to a medical procedure people can separate their consciousness into two, an "outie" for regular life and an "innie" exclusively for work. The series focuses on four innie employees inside the mysterious MDR department of Lumon Industries, who begin to unravel a vast conspiracy inside their workplace, the only world they have known.Season 1's gripping finale saw three of the main innies venture out to the world outside their offices, released into their outies' personal lives to try to communicate what goes on inside Lumon Industries and find out more about who they are on the outside. Each with their own mission, the series was left on many cliffhangers to be explored in the upcoming season, and many fans are making their own predictions as to what's next for Lumon's employees.
The below contains spoilers for Severance
10 Petey's daughter June becomes a key character
In Episode 4 "The You You Are" Mark's (Adam Scott) outie attends the funeral of his former coworker Petey (Yul Vazquez) who went through reintegration, eventually dying from the complications. There Mark meets Petey's daughter June (Cassidy Layton) who he later sees fronting a punk rock band with an anti-Lumon message, which he even sings along to.
While little was known about Petey's character and the specifics of why he underwent reintegration, his presence in Outie Mark's life jump-started his interest in what Lumon really does and led him to Reghabi (Karen Aldridge). As June is an anti-Lumon advocate and Mark's best shot at finding more about Petey she might play a bigger role in the upcoming season.
9 Cobel continues her experiment
Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette) is not only the boss of the MDR department she is also moonlighting as Mark's neighbor, Mrs. Selvig, something the company doesn't know about. She has a particular interest in Mark, involving herself in his private life and monitoring him closely.
When Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman) is revealed to be Mark's wife dead Gemma, Cobel's surveillance and manipulation of their wellness sessions indicate she might be testing to see if they remember each other. Despite her firing, it seems that won't stop her unhealthy fascination with the two, and without any constraints from Lumon who knows what she might do next.
8 More Lumon departments are introduced
So far viewers have seen two major departments inside the severed floor of Lumon Industries, "Macro-Data Refinement" and "Optics and Design" who become eventual allies. Other than the room filled with one man and several goats, most of what goes on the severed floor is still a mystery to the audience.
With the characters trying to find out more about their workplace, their exploration might lead to other previously unseen departments. Inside a corporation as big as Lumon Industries there's a wide variety of possibilities for other employees, with Reddit user Howre-Ya-Now speculating "a self-defense/military department will be revealed."
7 The other Outies become central players
Viewers have been able to see the perspective of both of Mark's severed selves, letting the audience know him as a complete person. Meanwhile, Helly R. (Britt Lower) and Irving B. (John Turturro) only have their other life shown during the overtime contingency, with Dylan G.'s (Zach Cherry) only known thing about his outie is that he has a son.
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Now that the audience has seen what life is like for those characters outside it's likely the series will continue showing the outies's lives to pick up where they left off. Irving was last seen knocking on Burt's (Christopher Walken) door, who he has a world-changing romantic connection with, opening the possibility for their outies to form a friendship. As for Helly's outie Helena it's possible they will show more about the Eagan family through her eyes, and more secrets about Lumon will be unraveled.
6 Lumon Industries gets investigated
Thanks to Helly's speech at the Lumon gala event, plenty of notable figures in the series were able to hear for themselves about the harrowing experience of a severed employee. Although it was cut short and Lumon will likely try to cover up the situation, the damage is done and there will be some investigative inquiry into what Helly R. had to say.
Even if Mark's innie didn't have as big of a stage, he was still able to tell his sister Devon (Jen Tullock) about his experience and encouraged her to report it to the press, deducing the police could be in Lumon's pockets. Outie Mark and Devon's storylines in the upcoming season could be about an investigation into the company, seeking out other skeptics for information.
5 Petey's underground resistance will reappear
After Petey contacts Mark and stays with him, talking about their experiences audiences find out there are people that are secretly working against Lumon in the name of the innies. Through his phone, Mark ends up secretly meeting Dr. Reghabi, who reveals she is a former surgeon, having implanted Mark's chip two years prior and successfully reintegrating Petey.
Reghabi's appearance in this season is short but important as the security card she gives Mark allows the innies to activate the overtime contingency. While they haven't shown the full extent of this underground resistance, it's likely there's a lot more people with the same goals, and they'll be an important part of Mark's story as an impressive cast has been announced for next season.
4 More Lumon technology is introduced
So far the most integral aspect of the sci-fi in the series are the severance chips that drive the narrative, but it's entirely possible there are more devices that Lumon has up its sleeve. Although most of the tech seen in the offices have a retro feel, it's clear they have access to incredible technology, such as the code-detecting elevators.
As the story evolves so can the technology that is seen in the series, showing other ways that Lumon can control the world the characters live in. With such a highly advanced device already in use, the true extent of what Lumon tech can achieve may be yet to be seen.
3 Deeper background into the Eagan dynasty
Company founder Kier Eagan is revered by Lumon employees to a kind of religious extent, memorizing his words and contemplating paintings depicting moments from his life. Because of this, the Eagan family seems more like a mythology to viewers than real people, only being seen as revered statues until the season finale.
With the reveal that Helly R. is an ancestor of Kier, it's likely that viewers will have an inside look into this family and the extent of their influence in the world. Another more real perspective might be revealed outside whatever Lumon tells its employees now that the twister and fascinating Eagans are characters in flesh and blood.
2 Cloning is a possibility
Even if genre-wise Severance serves up more psychological narratives, it is a sci-fi series after all, serving up some eerie technology in the cold clean halls of the severed floor. Although some may say it is farfetched, many fans think that there's been plenty of foreshadowing to indicate that cloning could be coming up in the series.
Reddit user DeathAndCatsAndTea claims that cloning has been an underlying theme throughout season 1 theorizing that the goats Mark and Helly discover are actually successful cloning tests. As to how clones fit into the narrative, there's a theory that's what Helly's CEO father alluded to when mentioning a "revolving", and another that Ms. Casey isn't Gemma herself, but actually her clone.
1 Lumon was directly involved in Gemma's car accident
Viewers are led to believe that Mark's wife Gemma died in a car accident involving a tree that even his outie is able to remember subconsciously. But when Gemma's appearance is actually seen, she is identical to Ms. Casey, implying she isn't dead but severed instead.
While there are no concrete details of the crash, for Lumon to have access to Gemma's body it would have been necessary to be at the scene. A likely explanation is that Lumon orchestrated the crash itself, and it's possible there are more deaths they have faked to get their hands on more bodies.