When Severance first landed on Apple TV+ back in 2022, the amount of success it brought in was surprising. The show and it’s deeply unsettling premise of employees surgically splitting their work and personal memories in two. hit a cultural nerve and completely changed how people see corporate life.
Now, with season 3 officially in production, there’s a big conversation happening around one key change behind the camera: Ben Stiller stepping away from the director’s chair, and Adam Scott has thoughts.
Speaking to Variety ahead of receiving the Canal+ Icon Award at Canneseries this week, Scott addressed the elephant in the room pretty directly. He spoke about Stiller’s influence on the new season, even after his exit as he statex,
“Ben is still very involved in the show. It’s going to be great. You know, it’s been over two years since we finished shooting Season 2. We’re all anxious to get back. We miss each other.”
He also added a little more about what we can expect from the new season as he stated,
“Oh, yes. I’m an executive producer on the show, so I’m involved in all of it. We talk with the writers and Dan [Erickson] all the time. I know everything about what’s going on. [As an actor] I like having as much information as possible. It’s going to be great. There are so many surprises. I can’t wait to shoot it.”
As for why Stiller is stepping back, he is stepping away from directing to helm a new World War II survival movie, though he remains an executive producer on Severance. Stiller has been equally reassuring on his end. He wrote on X that he has been working full time on season 3 for the past eight months and insisted he isn’t going anywhere, adding that he loves directing the show and looks forward to returning to it at some point, calling season 3 “the best yet.”
What we know about Severance season 3
Beyond the director change, Severance season 3 is shaping up to be a genuinely different beast in structural terms. Korean-American filmmaker Kogonada, known for Columbus, After Yang, and A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, will direct most if not all of the episodes, bringing serious indie film credibility to the role. He previously served as producing director on Apple’s Pachinko, so he’s not new to the Apple ecosystem.
Behind the scenes, Eli Jorne and Mary Laws are joining as co-showrunners alongside Dan Erickson, replacing Chris Black and Mark Friedman who ran the first two seasons.
Severance is available to stream on Apple TV.
Edited by Nibir Konwar