Lumon employees in the work-life balance thriller Severance are clocking back in. As Adam Scott‘s Mark returns to work, a grinning Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) greets him with balloons that appear to have Mark’s face printed on them, according to an Apple TV + teaser.
“Welcome back,” Milchick says in the clip. “Been a minute.”
In a social media post, Apple TV+ wrote, “Your innie has already seen this image,” in reference to the employees trapped in the never-ending work cycles at Lumon Industries. Since the sci-thriller premiered in February 2022, starring Scott, Patricia Arquette, and Britt Lower, Severance fans have impatiently awaited its return.
The series follows the lives of people who volunteer for the “severance” procedure, a surgical process that splits their work and personal lives, i.e. “innie” Mark exists in a mind-numbing cycle of monotonous work tasks, whereas “outie” Mark remains oblivious to what his work self does for eight hours a day. In recent years, the Dan Erickson-created and Ben Stiller-directed series underwent a slew of its own workplace drama. Script issues, rising production costs, and friction between showrunners, Dan Erickson and Mark Friedman, led to unexpected delays, according to Puck News. Stiller responded to these claims in an August 2023 social media post.
“No one’s going to the break room,” Stiller wrote on X. “We’re on the same really slow schedule we’ve always been on. Same target air date we’ve always had. Love our fans and each other and we all are just working to make the show as good as possible.”
The nearly two-minute clip also features snippets from new shows, including Presumed Innocent starring Jake Gyllenhaal (out June 12) and Lady in the Lake starring Natalie Portman (out July 19). Outside of Severance, hit shows such as Silo, Slow Horses, Pachinko, and Shrinkin, are also returning to the streamer. The Apple TV+ teaser also features footage from new films Fly Me to the Moon, starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum; The Instigators, starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck; and, Wolfs starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt.