‘Severance’ Bulks Up Cast as Season 2 Begins Filming

The scope of Lumon Industries is expanding.

Apple TV+‘s critically hailed series Severance has begun production on its second season and is almost doubling the size of its regular cast. Eight actors are joining the ensemble, while Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry, Dichen Lachman, Jen Tullock, Tramell Tillman, Michael Chernus and Christopher Walken are all set to return.

The newcomers to the cast are Bob Balaban (The French Dispatch), Robby Benson (Beauty and the Beast), Stefano Carannante, Gwendoline Christie (The Sandman, Game of Thrones), John Noble (Fringe), Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (The Tourist), Alia Shawkat (Search Party, The Old Man) and Emmy winner Merritt Wever (Nurse Jackie, Unbelievable).

“We are thrilled and delighted to be back on set for the exciting second chapter of Severance,” director and executive producer Ben Stiller said in a statement. “Though we don’t know how long we’ve been gone or who we are outside, we are told people enjoy the show and we couldn’t be happier. Praise Kier!”

Details on the roles the new castmembers will play are being kept quiet at the moment. The show’s first season ended with a cliffhanger that saw Scott, Lower and Turturro’s characters realize what was happening at their employer just before the closing credits.

“We tried to make something that gave us some satisfaction, some modicum of joy, but also opens the door for a lot of different new avenues that we’re gonna go,” series creator and executive producer Dan Erickson said at an event celebrating the show’s first season. “It’s fun to think about how the events of this episode change the world and change the game for all the characters and how they’re now going to have to contend with that.”

Severance earned 14 Emmy nominations for its first season, including for best drama series; acting nods for Arquette, Scott, Turturro and Walken; a writing nomination for Erickson; and a directing nom for Stiller. It won two awards, for Theodore Shapiro’s score and main title design.

Fifth Season (formerly Endeavor Content) produces Severance. Erickson and Stiller executive produce with Nicky Weinstock, Jackie Cohn, Scott and Richie Schwartz of Stiller’s Red Hour Films. Arquette will be a producer on season two.

Balaban is repped by Paradigm; Carannante by Bright Artists Management; Christie by WME, Untitled Entertainment, Independent Talent Group in London, The Lede Company and Jackoway Austen; Noble by Seven Summits, Artists & Reps and Management 11; Ólafsson by Principal Entertainment and Conway van Gelder Grant; Shawkat by UTA, MGMT Entertainment and Viewpoint; and Wever by Viking Entertainment and Innovative Artists.