Adam Scott Couldn’t Stop Thinking About the ‘Severance’ Script for 5 Years Before It Premiered
When Leona Lewis sang, “Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this,” she must have been talking about Adam Scott.
Scott is an accomplished actor with a decorated career. But even he couldn’t wait to get his current role on Apple TV+. The actor recently revealed he couldn’t stop thinking about the Severance script for five years before it premiered.
‘Severance’ was in the works for a long time
Severance is a thriller show that follows the employees of a technology company as they uncover the secrets of the corporation they work for. The employees at Lumon Industries undergo a procedure that separates their non-work memories from their work memories. One of the severed employees gradually begins to uncover a sinister conspiracy and tries to understand who he is.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, creator Dan Erickson said he came up with the idea after wishing for his day at work to end so he could return home. He said, “That was a scary thing to catch yourself wishing for — like, I want less time on this precious Earth.”
Erickson said that he and co-creator Ben Stiller tried their best to centralize the show around this question: “What is this weird impulse in us that might cause us to want to disassociate parts of ourselves in our lives.”
Stiller echoed Erickson’s point saying, “That idea is really what the show is about. The first line of the show is, ‘Who are you?’. It’s about what makes up our memories, our experiences, who we are when we’re disconnected from those, and how much of those make up who we are.”
Stiller first got the script in 2017 and invited Scott to star in the leading role. In 2019, Apple TV+ ordered the series for one season under Stiller’s direction. In 2020, other cast members, including Christopher Walken, Britt Lower, and Patricia Arquette, joined the project.
Adam Scott couldn’t stop thinking about the show five years before it premiered
When asked about their reactions the first time they saw the material, Scott said Stiller told him about the project in January 2017. He said, “I couldn’t get it out of my head for the next couple of years.”
The comedian told the publication that Severance was “exactly the kind of thing” he wanted to work on. “It hit all of my pleasure centers,” he said. Lower, who stars as Helly, said her character Helly’s bravery and rebelliousness intrigued her.
Zach Cherry told the outlet he was excited to play Dylan because he could relate to how the character plugs into his assigned tasks. Cherry said he usually spends hours trying to find one thing because he gets committed.
Trammel Tillman joked that he joined the show because he was looking for a job. However, he complimented the show’s dynamic and mystery, saying, “Diving into finding out ‘What is this?’ and ‘Who are we?’ in all of this was really exciting.”
Arquette said she didn’t know why the creators would want her to play her character. She said, “They gave me answers, and it just made me more confused.” She, however, said it was OK to hide behind the unknown because finding answers can be terrifying.
‘Severance’ creators used several films and shows as inspirations for their set
Erickson said they pulled inspiration from several movies that deal with the nature of reality, including The Matrix and The Truman Show. They also sourced inspiration from Being John Malkovich, The Office, and Brazil.
Additionally, he said they analyzed real-life cults and tried to find “the weird, blurry line” between what separates a cult from a church and a corporation.”
