When we last left our core four MDR baddies in Severance, things weren't looking great. Cobel had teamed up with Devon and Mark to try and save Gemma after realizing the extent to which the Eagans took advantage of her.
Mark had just rescued Gemma from the experimental floor at Lumon, only for his innie to leave her at the last minute and run back into the bowels of the severed floor with Helly. Irving had just been put on a train out of town by Burt, which presumably saved his life. Dylan was left to hold off Milchick after that whole marching band debacle... I don't know that either of them will be coming back on Monday.
Ben Stiller and Adam Scott both promise that the new season's scripts are well underway, but are unwilling to divulge even the smallest detail regarding which characters will be returning. They refused to comment when asked if John Turturro would be returning. With the relative silence from cast and crew since the season 2 finale, most of us remain in the dark about where the plot moves from its temporary reprieve.
Since that finale in March, fans have stayed hungry for any updates about our beloved innies. There are very few, if any, official garments or other swag related to Lumon or its machinations, but the community was quick to fill the gaping hole where merchandise should be, substituting their own designs on websites like Etsy and Redbubble. We make our own fun over here.
That doesn't mean that Stiller hasn't considered the possibility of bespoke merchandise related to Lumon, the MDR team, and their allies. In fact, in his interview with Variety, Stiller toyed with a video game adaptation, as well as two "nascent" spinoff ideas, which were not discussed at length.
I would love to be a fly on the wall for those discussions, if only to know how long they plan to drag out the franchising opportunities of their breakout show. I genuinely hope, as a huge fan, that Severance doesn't reach its saturation point too early, or we may be looking at the 2020s edition of Lost's similar trajectory: too big to fail, until it isn't anymore.
Well, showrunners? What is the new season going to be about? What does it all mean? Are we 100% on that goat resolution Dan Erickson? I won't lie, I loved the finale, but I also had my problems with it. Obviously, any show will need to leave loose ends at a season's close in order to compel another season of viewing.
It is important from a craft perspective that we don't know who will be back for season 3, that we don't know what happens to Dylan or his wife after their final interaction or the final confrontation with Milchick. All the same, it felt unsatisfying, especially with no definitive timeline for its return. They give us crumbs, and they're laughing.