Apple TV's Severance Was Even Weirder Until Ben Stiller Proposed Some Changes

If you've seen the Apple TV show "Severance," you know that there's plenty of strangeness taking place inside and outside the walls of Lumon Industries. Considering the entire premise of the show hinges around people literally splitting their consciousness in two just to go to work, it shouldn't be too surprising that the show can be baffling and bizarre at times. However, before director and executive producer Ben Stiller took a look at the script, the show had even more peculiar elements that didn't make it to the final production.

In an interview from 2022, series creator and writer Dan Erickson revealed that some of the original ideas for "Severance" were just a bit too far out there for Stiller's tastes. During the interview, Erickson mentions a couple of things that never made it on to the show, such as Mark S. (Adam Scott) making a certain discovery at Lumon. It may not reveal why it's always winter on the show, but it's still interesting to see what direction "Severance" could have taken.

Keep in mind that we're not revealing any spoilers, as much of what Erickson discusses ended up on the cutting room floor — but we're warning you anyway, just in case this is too much information for anyone who hasn't started the show. If you are all caught up, there's a good chance you, like us, have several burning questions that Season 3 hopefully answers. Let's take a look at what got the axe from the series.

During a Q&A with "Severance" creator Dan Erickson for Backstory Magazine, host Jeff Goldsmith asks him what some of Stiller's notes were concerning the script prior to it being greenlit with Apple TV. "It was mostly about grounding it," Erickson responds. "He felt that the concept itself was sort of weird enough that you didn't have to throw a bunch of other, you know, Terry Gilliam-esque bells and whistles at it." The Gilliam reference is appropriate, given that the "Monty Python" alumnus has directed plenty of offbeat movies, including the 1985 dystopian film "Brazil."

"Severance" is already weird enough –- including the Greek mythology material that potentially helps explain a specific Season 2 episode – so it's easy to assume there were no creative limits. Yet, Erickson reveals a couple of different ideas that didn't make it to production. "There was a pair of disembodied legs that ran by at one point," Erickson says. "In this version, there was another floor that Mark, like, made his way up to. And it was sort of destroyed, like there had been a battle, or something." He further elaborates that Mark would have found the entire floor burned, and that someone trapped in a cubicle would have been begging for help.

Erickson admits that once Stiller got his hands on the script, the "Zoolander" star would begin asking why more peculiar elements were happening, dialing back some of the more outlandish moments to make a larger impact. "He wouldn't let me have things be weird for the sake of weird," Erickson says. However, given what we see on the show, it's wild to think it's actually toning things down. Currently, Season 3 of "Severance" is expected to begin filming in spring 2026.