Watch the first eight minutes on Apple TV+

The wait is over.

Nearly three years after “Severance” Season 1 premiered on Apple TV+, the first eight minutes of Season 2 are now available on the streaming service. Apple released the opening of Season 2, Episode 1 almost a month before the scheduled premiere on January 17, 2025.

“Severance” Season 1 ended with Mark (Adam Scott), Helly (Britt Lower) and Irving (John Turturro) experiencing their lives outside of Lumon Industries, thanks to colleague Dylan (Zach Cherry) who stayed behind to override the company’s control over their divided minds. Irving drove to the house of his Lumon love Burt (Christopher Walken), Helly discovered that her Outie is actually descended from the company’s founder, and Mark learned that his Outie’s deceased wife is former Lumon employee Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman) – and that his boss Ms. Cobel (Patricia Arquette) was also his neighbor.

Season 2 starts immediately after – at least for Mark’s Innie. His eyes blink open in the Lumon elevator, and in the first few minutes of the episode he’s running around the cut-off floor’s white sanitary corridors, noticing some new decor, but mostly not a soul. He finally returns to Macro Data Refinement, where he finds none of his friends, but three new colleagues – and a new floor manager, Miss Huang (Sarah Bock), who looks barely old enough to be part of the workforce.

After the cold opening, Mr. Milchick (Trammell Tillman) that Mark’s old MDR team was hailed as heroes for what they did five months ago (!) and that they were “the face of Severance reform.” He has no love left for Cobel, who he says is believed to have a relationship with both Mark’s Innie and Outie. Despite Milchick’s claims that Lumon has reformed, he tells Mark that none of his other colleagues agreed to return to the company.

That may be true for now—though Milchick isn’t known for his honesty—but the Season 2 trailer depicts the old MDR crew reuniting on the chipped floor, discussing what they saw outside and what to do next. Mark is on a mission to save his Outie’s ex-wife, whoever and wherever she is, and he’ll have to slip past a stronger, smarter, and more brutal company to do it.

“Severance” Season 2 will consist of 10 episodes; the premiere episode will stream globally on Apple TV+ on Friday, January 17, 2025. Subsequent episodes will roll out every Friday through March 21.