Genius Severance Fan Theory May Have Just Solved the Show’s Biggest Mystery

The first season of the sci-fi drama from writer Dan Erickson and director Ben Stiller, Severance, was released in early 2022 and immediately rose to fame. It's all about the mix of social satire, a futuristic world, and magnificent production.

The writers thought through many little details, and the season finale answered some questions, but added new intrigues. As a result, fans began to look for clues and interesting hints in the plot and visuals that other viewers might not have noticed.

Fans May Have Just Answered the Show's Most Important Questions

On January 17, the first episode of Season 2 of Severance was released, reigniting the fire of fan speculation. And it seems that one compelling theory answers almost all of the major questions at once.

Reddit user fillgates points out the final seconds of the first episode of Season 2. We see an image on a computer – it shows Ms. Casey's (aka Gemma) face, surrounded by mysterious numbers and health indicators.

In the lower left corner, you can see what looks like cells – according to the fan, these are axons. Put simply, axons are the wires through which neurons transmit information to each other.

Such an image of axons indicates that the tissue from which they were taken is dead. But how can a part of Gemma that is obviously alive, or at least a part of her called Ms. Casey, be dead?

Gemma Died in a Car Accident, but Her Brain Was Frozen

According to the theory, Gemma really did die in a car accident, as Mark believes, but Lumon was able to save her body and cryogenically freeze her brain. Lumon employees thaw Gemma's brain piece by piece, measure her neural activity, and send the data to the Macrodata Refinement Division.

The MDR workers see this data as jumping numbers. Why is all this necessary? To resurrect the founder of Lumon – Kier Eagan, of course.

The MDR Workers Distribute Data to Resurrect Kier Eagan

Perhaps Gemma is far from being the first test subject. Such experiments are meant to show whether it is possible to completely recreate human consciousness thanks to the Four Tempers of Woe, Dread, Frolic and Malice.

And Lumon's employees are severed so that their personal experiences do not interfere with the impartial distribution of data.

If the experiment is deemed a complete success, the same will most likely be done to Kier's mind.