From Set to Symbolism: The Visual World of Severance and Its Final Frame on Film
Following the release of its highly anticipated second season, Severance has become Apple TV+'s most watched show. The psychological workplace thriller has garnered an impressive number of fans, which has only appeared to grow during its three year break between seasons. As TV shows like Severance increasingly draw comparisons to films for their production value, we took a deeper look at the craftsmanship behind the world of Lumon Industries and explored how one key filmic technique made the final moments of season two so impactful.
WORDS by Evie Friar
PHOTOGRAPHY Courtesy of Apple TV+
The first season of Severance ended with one of the most exciting cliffhangers we have seen on TV in recent years. For anyone needing a refresher, Severance follows Mark S and his colleagues – Helly R, Dylan, and Irving – who all work in the Macrodata Refinement department at the enigmatic corporation, Lumon Industries. These employees, along with many others at Lumon, have undergone a procedure known as 'severance' which surgically splits their memories between their work life and their personal life. As a result, they have developed two distinct versions of themselves: their 'innies' at Lumon and their 'outies' outside of work. Each version of them has no knowledge of the other but we, as an audience, are able to see both sides of their world – most notably, Mark S's outie quietly grieving the loss of his late wife.
As season one progresses, the innies learn more about the corporation they work for and begin to become increasingly uncomfortable with the situation their outies have put them in. Helly R even attempts to resign and commit suicide in order to escape an eternity at work, before accepting her fate and finding solace in her new-found relationship with Mark S. In the final episode, after learning about something called the 'Overtime Contingency', Mark S, Helly R, Dylan and Irving work together to activate the contingency which enables their innies to see the outside world. While briefly awake outside of the Lumon building, Mark S learns that his late wife is alive and potentially working at Lumon, Helly R is revealed to be the daughter of the current Lumon CEO, and Dylan – who is activating the contingency – is tackled by their supervisor, Mr Milchick, just as the episode ends.
Season one built incredibly solid foundations for the highly anticipated second instalment, creating a world that was carefully considered and shown through a refined filmic style that mirrored the tone of its retro-corporate setting. We saw that the world of Lumon Industries is vast, cold and bright. Its hallways are an endless maze of white walls and its attempts at corporate rewards feel desperately soulless yet oddly nostalgic. As many of us saw in the behind-the-scenes features that follow each episode, this is all purposefully designed and incredibly thought through by the creative team. During a recent talk at Config 2025 – an industry conference hosted by the design platform Figma – Jeremy Hindle, the award-winning production designer of Severance, said, 'This is a world that you shouldn't know. It's familiar but you shouldn't really know it.' His words perfectly capture the essence of the show's unsettling atmosphere. They've worked hard to make it somewhere that humans should not be comfortable existing in, with small touches of familiarity that make you believe that someone at Lumon is adding lackluster elements for the benefit of their employees.
Take, for example, the ceiling height of the MD department's office. Hindle admits he initially wanted it lower but settled at a tight 7'9" that was still able to enhance the feeling of claustrophobia. In the same room, however, each employee's desk houses "personal" items; Mark S has a glass cube with his face in it earned by completing his first dataset, Dylan has a mug full of Chinese finger traps. It's these visual devices that further drive home the idea that Lumon controls their employees through the use of small perks. Everything they do is just enough to keep the innies feeling important and cared for, but it would also be meaningless if their lives were bigger than those four walls.
The Lumon branding is another key area of the production design. Graphic designer, Tansy Michaud, supposedly drew hundreds of iterations of the Lumon logo over a course of two months before they settled on the final design. The finished logo is reminiscent of 1970s branding, characterised by clean lines, vector based graphics and angular fonts. All of their paperwork looks like it was made on an old computer with very few print colour options available. It was one particular image, in fact, that confirmed the decision for Hindle that all of the computers needed to be old, which then led him to lean into the retro aesthetic. The idea was that if the innies were ever explaining their jobs to someone outside of Lumon; describing what machines they interact with on a daily basis, it would all sound absurd.
Mirroring the work of his production designer, Ben Stiller also made some distinct retro-inspired choices for the final frames of season two. In the grand finale, we find Mark at a crossroads with a big decision to make. He has just freed his outie's wife from her Lumon prison and is just as able to step out of the building to begin their happily-ever-after. But Helly R has just appeared behind him, looking expectantly at him as he decides whose life to prioritise; his innie life with Helly or his outie's life at home, knowing he might cease to exist if he does. With alarms ringing and red lights dyeing the hallways a colour we haven't seen before at Lumon, he takes Helly's hand as they run down the hallways towards a great unknown. As the two continue to run, the picture stops on a grainy freeze frame that slowly zooms in on the couple. Explaining the technique in an interview with IndieWire, Stiller claims that, although they shoot digitally, they 'transferred that last shot to film and then re-transferred it' to get the grainy effect of an optical printer zooming in on a celluloid movie frame.
He states that freeze frames were often seen in films in the 70s and they would signal the end of a movie, whilst also giving the impression that the story isn't over. 'You marinate in that moment', he claims, indicating that audiences are free to imagine what will happen next. The red was also an intentional move, signalling a change in tone for season three and a 'new reality' for these characters.
The use of film at the end of this season also has significant metaphorical meaning for the innies. Previous uses of film in the show have depicted earlier moments of Mark's outie's life with his wife, establishing it as a technique used for fond, romantic memories. Therefore, it gives this moment with Mark and Helly equal sentimental weight, implying that the lives and experiences of the innies are just as valid as those on the outside. Similarly, this moment can be defined as their Mark S's first real act of agency within the walls of Lumon. Much like film developing from a negative into a complete image, Mark S has undergone a transformation – once a loyal Lumon worker and arguably a hollow version of himself, he’s now experienced too much and felt too deeply, to surrender his life without a fight. It's these decisions and carefully considered approaches to production that make Severance one of the best shows on streaming services right now. While no official release date has been set for season three, we are sure to expect further visual treats on our next visit to the severed floor.
