Severance Helped Adam Scott Deal With His Personal Tragedy
The actor's projection of his personal life onto his character was a way of coping with grief.
Mark is a run-of-the-mill office worker whose workdays consist only of zeros and ones. Every day he comes to his familiar futuristic office, sits down at his computer, and clicks at the numbers: it is not clear why, for what, or for whose benefit.
Mark does not ask a lot of other questions – who is waiting for him at home, where does he live and what does he do in his spare time.
The fact is that he has become a participant in an experiment called Severance, and now his work and everyday life do not overlap.
As soon as he leaves the Lumen Industries building, his memories of the past few hours disappear. The same thing happens when he arrives at the office – Mark forgets about problems in relationships, issues with relatives and household debts.
Mark agreed to participate in the program in order to cope with the grief of losing his wife in a car accident. It turned out that for actor Adam Scott who plays Mark, the series became a kind of salvation from grief, too.
In an interview with AV Club, the actor admitted that his mother died six months before the filming of Severance, and feelings of grief and sadness unsettled him.. However, filming the show helped him get over those feelings:
"I processed it through Severance and went through it and tried to confront it through the show. It ended up really helping me. […] It's almost like the show was there for me as a friend. […]
This particular stage hit me when I was by myself, so I turned to the show, and I'm really glad that I did. It ended up being a healthy way to go through it."
Adam Scott is best known for his comedic roles in Parks & Recreation and Party Down, but Severance was an excellent showcase for the actor's wide range.
The most impressive aspect of the performance is that the two Marks, one at work and the other in everyday life, are not different people, but Scott draws a fine line between them with his precise acting.
The show deservedly received seven Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
The exact release date for the second season of Severance is not yet announced. However, it is known that it will be released in 2024.
Source: AV Club