5 big questions Severance season 2 needs to answer – and the best theories about the Apple TV Plus hit so far

Don't leave us hanging, Apple

Features By Lucy Buglass published 7 October 2024

When Severance season 2 returns on January 17, 2025, it'll have been close to three years since I last saw the cliffhanger finale episode of one of the best Apple TV Plus shows. That's a long wait but fans have been busy, with many taking to social media to speculate what a new season might bring.

It has been a very long time since a TV series has had me as gripped as much as Severance, which is a real testament to the quality of Apple TV Plus Originals. So much so that we named it one of our best streaming services, a title it seriously deserves.

With the January release of Severance just months away, here are some of the leading unanswered questions and fan theories I've found online about the mystery Apple TV Plus series so far, including what Lumon Industries is really up to.

Full spoilers follow for Severance.

What is the purpose of Macrodata Refinement?

Lumon on the whole intrigues me, as I'm sure it does everyone who dives headfirst into Severance. We know very little about the company, ironically, just as little as the "outies" do. But since we spend a lot of time with Macrodata Refinement, often abbreviated to MDR, it is them I would love to see more from. What are they actually doing in there?

While there are plenty of theories floating about, I found a very compelling one on Reddit that suggests that they're actually trying to build an AI version of Kier Eagan to resurrect him. Here's a segment of this very detailed theory that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since I read it:

"Kier believed all people to be derived from the Four Tempers. His data would therefore be derived of the Four Tempers. Therefore, refiners must bin (separate) the numbers (code) underlying the Kier AI into the Four Tempers... Employees are severed so they do not inject their own personalities selves into Eagan."

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