When Severance Season 2 hits the 2025 TV schedule, will probably be just some months shy of three years since I used to be left shouting on the TV (very like Mark Scout’s Innie) after one of many greatest cliffhangers in TV historical past. Lastly the sci-fi drama is returning to give us some solutions about what occurred to the macrodata refiners following their little area journey outdoors of the Lumon severed flooring (and for godsakes, why there are the infant goats!), however can the sophomore season presumably reside as much as the primary? Critics have screened the 10-episode season, so let’s see what they need to say.
We will blame Ben Stiller and Dan Erickson’s want for perfection for why Severance Season 2 took so lengthy, however with the huge solid additions and intriguing sneak peeks we’ve gotten, I’ll fortunately sever myself from the previous three years of ache in favor of latest episodes. Let’s get to the evaluations, which I’ll preserve spoiler-free, as a result of it’s not too late to get your Apple TV+ subscription and binge Season 1! Jeremy Mathai of SlashFilm charges the second season an 8 out of 10, calling the sequence “darker, extra bold, and as confounding as ever.” Mathai writes:
Season 2 really outshines itself by means of its expanded sense of scope and scale. A whopping 14 Emmy nominations and overwhelming essential acclaim will purchase any present an extended leash, however Severance wastes no time displaying off its greater funds and talent to take even greater swings. It is robust to beat a season that already packed in unforgettable imagery like child goats hidden within the deepest recesses of an workplace constructing, a waffle social gathering culminating in an erotic dance by performers behind creepy masks, or the sinister torture chamber generally known as the Break Room. Consider it or not, this season raises the bar even increased with out ever shedding sight of what made the present so particular to start with.
Nicole Gallucci of Decider says her expectations had swelled to harmful heights through the three-year wait for brand spanking new Severance episodes, however there’s no sophomore hunch in sight, as Season 2 slaps tougher than Web page 197 (iykyk). The subsequent chapter of the Lumon workers’ story brilliantly builds on a near-perfect first season, Gallucci writes, persevering with:
The ten-episode season drastically raises the stakes, checks loyalties, and creatively expands Severance’s story, surpassing viewers’ wildest goals — and crucially, their nightmares. To cite our dearly beloved Dylan this season, ‘That is so many fucking dimensions of fucked.’ From exploring new flooring of the constructing to touring off-campus to uncover extra of the biotech firm’s murky historical past, Season 2 dives deeper into Lumon’s chilling lore, widening the scope and depth of its nefarious operations.
Carly Lane of Collider offers the second season an ideal 10 out of 10, saying that already Severance makes a robust case to be among the finest exhibits of 2025. Questions are answered as rapidly as new mysteries are launched, and also you’ll be left dissecting a few standalone episodes for weeks. Lane writes:
Season 2 ought to silence any lingering considerations viewers may need by means of its beautiful path, excellent performances, and sinuous, compelling mysteries. This evolving, mind-bending continuation, as crafted by Erickson and fellow writers Mohamad El Masri, Wei-Ning Yu, Anna Ouyand Moench, Erin Wagoner, Mark Friedman, and Adam Countee, cements Severance as an absolute triumph of tv, proving past a shadow of any doubt that the perfect tales are all the time value ready for.
Alison Herman of Selection echoes the sentiment that Season 2 was value ready three years for, because the universe expands to provide us extra of the Outies’ experiences (after following solely Adam Scott’s Mark outdoors of Lumon in Season 1). Herman additionally confirms that the goats. are. again. The critic says:
So long as Severance can ship these bits of elegant strangeness, it’s straightforward to droop one’s disbelief, in addition to one’s thirst for concrete data. Regardless of the vacation spot Severance is aiming for, the journey dramatizes the arbitrary guidelines and compartmentalized nature of contemporary work higher than anything on air. Moreover, probably the most urgent matter is addressed: after watching Season 2, I lastly get what the deal is with the goats.
Angie Han of THR notes that Season 2 of the upcoming Apple TV+ sequence is darker, bringing much less humor than the primary season and leaning into the drama of a merciless company that hits uncomfortably near house. Han says:
The scattered focus generally is a little bit of a drag to sit down by means of — not sufficient to encourage an invested viewer to stop, however sufficient to encourage groans of frustration when a cliffhanger takes an additional week or two to resolve, or grumbles of skepticism about whether or not the sequence may ever absolutely make clear its largest mysteries. (I nonetheless can’t inform which approach it’ll go.) It additionally comes on the expense of a number of the character dynamics that made the primary season so successful, notably among the many members of MDR.
It’s been too lengthy that we’ve needed to anticipate some type of clarification for what occurred to Mark’s spouse, what “mysterious and necessary” work Lumon’s Microdada Refinement division even does and so many different questions. The wait will formally finish on Friday, January 17, when Severance Season 2 hits Apple TV+.