We were joined on the Popternative show by Sydney Cole Alexander to discuss Season 2 of Apple TV+‘s sci-fi thriller Severance which premiered on January 17.
Season 2 of the acclaimed workplace thriller from director and executive producer Ben Stiller, and creator Dan Erickson, reunites the ensemble cast which also includes Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman, Zach Cherry, Jen Tullock, Michael Chernus, Dichen Lachman, John Turturro, Christopher Walken, and Patricia Arquette. New cast members include Sarah Bock, Gwendoline Christie, Bob Balaban, Merritt Wever, and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson
The series follows Mark Scout (Adam Scott) who leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure, which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. This daring experiment in “work-life balance” is called into question as Mark finds himself at the center of an unraveling mystery.
In season 2, Mark and his friends learn the dire consequences of trifling with the severance barrier, leading them further down a path of woe. Sydney returns as Natalie Kalen, the PR representative for Lumon Industries.
Due to a combination of factors, fans have waited nearly three years for the new season. Between the first and second season, Sydney had ample time to prepare for the new season: “I had a lot of free time on my hands because we were in the middle of a pandemic. I really started thinking about [Natalie’s] back-story. I watched every documentary I possibly could on cults and really dove into that and really wanted to think about her psychology. I worked with my therapist on the character as well to kind of undertone how this person can treat so many people a certain way but then have this merged idealized relationship with the company.”
Sydney also dives into Natalie’s character arc this season: “For a person like Natalie, when she is so attached to something, it’s almost what’s gluing her together, and if she loses that there is a threat of a collapse inside of her psyche and she has to protect that at all costs.”
Watch the full conversation with Sydney Cole Alexander below.
A new episode of Season 2 of Severance will drop every Friday through March 21.
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