The second series of the popular TV show Severance reportedly had a hefty price tag, but it appears that Apple TV+ has seen a return on its investment.
The workplace drama made a comeback in January with its second series, following the debut of the first series in 2022. With Adam Scott in the lead role, Severance has been a big hit with television enthusiasts.
Bloomberg reports that the second season came with a $200,000,000 (£159.9m) production cost, equating to roughly $20m (£15M) per episode. However, it seems to have been money well spent for Apple TV, as the platform has announced that Severance is its most-viewed show ever, surpassing the popular sitcom Ted Lasso.
The latter half of the second season of Severance is yet to be aired, but the show has already surpassed the viewership figures for all three seasons of Ted Lasso.
In the US, Severance has racked up 589 million minutes across all existing episodes, with 28% of this figure coming from the first episode of the second season, according to Deadline, reports the Mirror.
The much-loved TV series centres around the life of grieving widower Mark (Adam Scott), who becomes an employee at Lumon, a controversial company that carries out consensual surgical procedures on its staff to separate their work-related (innie) and non-work-related (outie) memories. He joins in an attempt to forget the pain of his wife’s passing.
However, Mark’s innie, along with his colleagues Helly (Britt Lower), Dylan (Zach Cherry) and Irving (John Turturro), start to grow frustrated with Lumon and its operations, leading them to try and uncover the true nature of their work.
Ben Stiller, the talented director behind Severance, has hinted at the possibility of a third season to the joy of the show’s avid followers.
Speaking with Collider, he said: “You have a responsibility to the audience that you’re going somewhere with it. That’s always been a part of it for us, really understanding where it’s heading to, and Apple’s been really supportive of that and been sensitive to what the story is and not saying, ‘Okay, this is something that has to keep going as long as it’s successful.'”.
He also added: “It should go as long as the story goes, and that’s something we have an idea of, and we’re working towards as we’re starting up our season three work.”
For those eager to catch the latest happenings on Severance, new episodes are rolled out every week on Apple TV Plus, with the upcoming installment scheduled for release on Friday, 28 February.
Severance is available to stream on Apple TV Plus