Why the Severance Season 2 Stunt Is a Genius Piece of Marketing

When Apple TV + he threw a cubicle with glass walls in New York’s Grand Central Terminal on January 14, it seemed like a standard promotional stunt, in this case for Season 2 of his successful sci-fi workplace drama Severance.

Then three of the stars of the show appeared – in character. Instead of posing for selfies or signing autographs, they went into their glass-walled office at Lumon Industries and performed all the mundane tasks of a typical workday.

They sat at their computer terminals, sorting cryptic numbers that “felt wrong” into various digital stacks. Mark Scout (Adam Scott) tidies up his space with a carpet sweeper. Helly Riggs (Britt Lower) stood over his shoulder to solve a complicated problem. Dylan George (Zach Cherry) was both strangely focused and funny, as usual.

Lumon’s management staff – Ms. Cobel (Patricia Arquette) and Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) — also made cameos at the pop-up.

But what they were actually doing was filming another trailer for Severance – and it’s meta deep.

Think of the box.#Separation Season 2 – Premieres Friday on Apple TV+ pic.twitter.com/5hdSFMy7hv

– Apple TV (@AppleTV) January 16, 2025

Like the show, this activation was both familiar yet very strange — and it cleverly ties into the premise of the show’s second season.

For those just joining us, Severance posits a world where a company called Lumon offers workers the opportunity to remove their personal lives from their work lives. The characters’ jobs spent most of Season 1 explaining how to escape Lumon and finding out what his personal life was like. Spoiler alert: they succeeded, with very mixed results.

In the first trailer for season 2, it is revealed that his escape turned his non-workers into celebrities. While this is a surprise to the characters, it explains why the notoriously blasé New York City commuters cheered them on and took pictures. The phrase “bringing a story to life” has become literal.

Find out what happens next when Severance Season 2 premieres on January 17.