Adam Scott’s dystopian thriller drama Severance is all too relatable for anybody who’s navigated the complex corporate life. The show features Adam Scott as Mark, an employee working at a biotechnology company called Lumon Industries. Here, the employees have to go through a procedure called severance, which cuts their professional and personal lives into two distant halves. As the story of Mark moves further, he begins to unravel the sinister plans of the company.
This mind-bending show was inspired by the life of the show’s creator, Dan Erikson himself, and his desire to break free from the monotony of a 9-to-5 job. Moreover, this exacerbates the nightmare that most professionals in the workforce can identify with.
Adam Scott’s Severance resonates with all corporate employees
After a major cliffhanger in the final episode of season 1, fans are eagerly waiting for season 2 to see the story progression of Adam Scott‘s Mark. This eagerness is understandable given that it sticks with almost every corporate employee who goes through the same monotonous life. While the show’s concept was liked by many, it was the creator himself who pitched in the idea based on his own struggling office days.
In an interview with Esquire in 2022, Dan Erikson detailed how his office life shaped the show’s premise. He recalled that he faced a stark difference when he came to Los Angeles after finishing his graduate school in New York.
The difference was that in New York, he was surrounded by a very nurturing and creative environment. However, in Los Angeles, he was doing a temporary job, which made him feel like he wasn’t important. He added:
I wasn’t important in any way, just working temporary office jobs. I would think a lot about the person I wanted to be and the career I wanted to have.
Erikson further added that the toughness of the period was further intensified as he was also dealing with a five-year breakup. So, his office life became both a constant source of resentment for not being further in life as well as a good means of escape.
Further adding that when going through a complicated situation, a person just needs to switch off their brain for eight hours and input data into the computer.
Adam Scott feels a personal connection with his Severance character Mark
The show Severance might mean different things for different people. But for Adam Scott, it had a rather emotional element that cemented a deep connection between him and his character, Mark. In the show, Mark undergoes the process of severance to get over the grief caused by the death of his wife.
Scott was facing the same emotional turmoil, given that his mother had passed away during the pandemic. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he added:
My mother had died early on in the pandemic, and I had been here at home with my wife and my kids, [which] kind of cushioned the blow.
Scott continued by saying that he was able to control his feelings at home. However, he realized he had a lot of grieving and processing to do as soon as he traveled to New York alone. Therefore, the show was more to him than just a regular work; it was a representation of his actual life.
It served as a channel through which he could explore and comprehend his sentiments both on and off-set.
You can stream Adam Scott’s Severance season 1 on Apple TV+. Season 2 is scheduled for a release on January 17th, 2025.
