UPDATE: Ben Stiller, on Twitter, just denied all the Severance season 2 delay rumors you'll see below, stating "No one’s going to the break room. 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."
This came in response to a new story claiming a 'toxic' work relationship has complicated season 2 — and that this same situation was there for season 1 as well.
Stiller's Tweet syncs up with a source familiar with the matter that told Tom’s Guide that despite the alleged drama, Severance season 2 is still on schedule. The source added that the colleagues mentioned below are still working together, and the budget has not changed at all.
The possibility of delays comes from industry insider Matthew Belloni at Puck News (a paywalled newsletter). Belloni wrote that executive producer/director Ben Stiller needs to "pull off a salvage job" on the sophomore season of Apple TV Plus' fantastic Severance.
Without noting how many sources informed him of the matter, Beloni notes that the issues at hand include "scrapped scripts and the dreaded showrunners who don’t speak to each other." Those would be creator/writer Dan Erickson and writer/producer Mark Friedman, who "ended up hating each other" for the first season.
Then, because Stiller couldn't find replacements for season 2, they brought Friedman back again. Unsurprisingly, this led to more chaos, as "scripts were a problem." Meanwhile, Apple wants Severance seasons 3 and 4 to be a thing.
Fortunately, a solution has been brought in. House of Cards creator Beau Willimon, who also worked on the excellent Andor, has been hired to save the day. Not only is he working on Severance season 3, but he's spent "a few months" helping fix some of season 2's issues, working on its latter half.
All of this, Belloni says, has led to episodes costing in "the $20 million range," and the show now "being delayed significantly in the process." Of course, any possible delays are not clear or official yet: Apple never announced a release date for the new season. Apple announced production beginning in October 2022.
Analysis: Is Severance is having a Ted Lasso problem?
If this all sounds familiar, it should. Big Ted Lasso season 3 delays were also a thing, as that currently-airing season was supposed to come out in summer 2022, and only finally arrived in March 2023. Those delays were attributed to rewrites, seemingly spontaneous script-changes and tons of shifting character arcs.
So, if you think that Ted Lasso's final season is a mess (I personally have things I love and hate about Ted Lasso season 3), there was good reason.
And, now, all of this has me seriously worried about if Severance season 2 will show signs of this internal struggle. Mystery-box shows that have big secrets to unpack often struggle in their second run, which is happening right now with Yellowjackets season 2.
