Severance season 2 has finally arrived, and there are many reasons to celebrate. First and foremost, the Emmy-nominated show is back with new episodes on Apple TV+ after close to three years away. And of course, we're also getting answers to some of the show's biggest questions... while also asking even more questions about the various mysteries at Lumon.
Speaking of mysteries at Lumon Industries, the Severance season 2 premiere kept quite a massive secret from fans. The episode featured a cameo from an A-list movie star, but you might have missed his appearance. Did you happen to notice Keanu Reeves in the season 2 premiere? No? Well, neither did I! But The Matrix and John Wick star voiced the animated Lumon building.
In the episode, Milchick shows Mark, Helly, Dylan, and Irving an animated video featuring claymation versions of themselves explaining the Macrodat Uprising and the "reforms" Lumon will be making to the severance program for severed employees. The video is narrated by the Lumon building, who has a face not unlike other cartoon inanimate objects who are given human characteristics.
Severance creator Dan Erickson spoke in an interview with Collider about the decision to cast Reeves as the voice of the Lumon building, noting that they had tossed around a few ideas about who could fill in for the cameo role but ultimately landed on the "warm presence" of Keanu Reeves:
“All I can say is that we talked about a couple of different people for that role. We always wanted it to be somebody that people have certain associations with, but also, it had to be a very warm presence. The Lumon building is very friendly in the context of this video, and there’s a friendliness to that particular voice and a heart to that particular voice.”
The Lumon building's voice in the video does have such a friendliness that's somewhat disconcerting, but it also puts you at ease and makes you at least want to believe what he's saying. But if you aren't super-familiar with Keanu Reeves to the point where you could pick his voice out in a scene like this, there was no chance you knew it was him. I'm definitely guilty of that!
While we probably won't be seeing, er, hearing much more of Keanu Reeves in Severance season 2, we will be seeing much more of another new character that everyone's talking about. Sarah Bock stars in season 2 as the new severed floor supervisor Miss Huang, whose hiring has everyone confused because she's, well, very young.
It doesn't matter how young Miss Huang is because as their superior, she can and will lay down the law. Miss Huang's addition to Lumon hasn't been explained and neither has her backstory, but we do know a bit about the actress who plays her. Bock is an 18-year-old actress, who has been working since she was five. She was even the voice of Baby Shark!
When she's not acting in projects like Severance, she's attending Northwestern University and studying drama. Oddly enough, Bock's costar Britt Lower also graduated from Northwestern University. Bock doesn't have very many acting credits to her name just yet, but based on her chilling performance in Severance, we'll surely be seeing much more of her.
Catch both Keanu Reeves and Sarah Bock in the Severance season 2 premiere, now streaming on Apple TV+. New episodes of the series are released on Fridays.