It’s a great feeling when viewers find a show that creates such an intriguing world that they can’t stop thinking about it when it’s over. It’s even better when you can find a community of like-minded fans to destroy all possible mysteries and theories. Dan Erickson’s “Breakup” on Apple TV+ is just such a show, and Reddit is full of opinions about this crazy exciting finale of the first season and the general events at Lumon Industries. Erickson, as well as Tramell Tillman, who plays supervisor Seth Milczyk, had to stop themselves from going down the rabbit hole of Reddit, but for completely different reasons.
Dan Erickson, executive producer Ben Stiller and several actors from Severance (which was rated by IMDb users as one of the best new shows of the year) spoke on the panel during Comic-Con in San Diego on July 21, and when moderator Patton Oswalt admitted that he became addicted to reading fan theories about the series on Reddit Erickson was sympathetic, telling the crowd (according to EW):
I was warned not to go to Reddit at all about this show. And I lasted about six minutes. And then for a while I just did it every day. Because it’s addictive. It’s very interesting to see people’s theories, and sometimes they have ideas that are better than what I even thought about.
Redditors should feel comfortable to pat themselves on the back for this comment. It’s a real compliment for the creator of the series to admit that some fan ideas are more interesting than the ones he came up with. Although someone wonders if any of these posts influenced the further development of the plot or forced Dan Erickson to adjust the direction of the plot, it was for this reason that he said he had to leave. He continued:
But in the end, I kind of had to give it up, because as we worked more on writing the second season, it had endless possibilities, and at some point you have to dedicate yourself to what you’re doing. And at this point, I think it would be counterproductive to keep in mind all these other voices, no matter how great they are, and other ideas about where this might lead. Because there are an infinite number of ways we can go. So I really enjoyed it, but in recent weeks I’ve had to step back.
The writing of the first season of Severance was so good that there are so many mysteries that (hopefully) the answers will be given in the second season. Although there are fascinating discussions on Reddit — yes, I also lost a lot of time there — I trust Dan Erickson’s vision and the direction in which the writers plan to develop our beloved MDR employees.
Meanwhile, Tramell Tillman had a completely different experience when he visited the forum, as he realized that fans were more interested in discussing his, um, physical qualities. Tillman told the audience at Comic-Con:
I have messages that I should go to Reddit and read it. And then I saw posts on Reddit that really praised my anatomy. One specific area. So, I quit Reddit.
I see many viewers are buying into Defiant Jazz! At least the comments were complimentary?
Filming for the second season of Severance hasn’t started yet, but at least we know it’s happening. In the meantime, you can review Season 1 with an Apple TV+ subscription and be sure to watch other shows if you liked Severance, as well as some of the other best AppleTV shows available for streaming.
