TV show that cost $20,000,000 per episode proves its worth every penny
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Previous Page Next PageSeverance season 2 might have made a huge dent in Apple TV Plus’s pockets – but the payback has been immense.
The second outing of the dystopian workplace drama cost $200,000,000 (£159.9million) to make or $20m (£15m) per episode, according to Bloomberg.
But it was money well spent as the streamer has reported Severance has become its most-watched show in history overtaking the life-affirming sitcom Ted Lasso.
Half of Severance’s second season is still yet to land on Apple TV Plus but it has already overtaken ratings for all three seasons of the Jason Sudeikis football show.
Deadline reports that Severance has scored 589 million minutes viewed in the US over all existing episodes, with 28% of that figure on the opening episode of season two.
That number is also expected to increase steeply as the rest of the season progresses.
Severance is officially Apple TV Plus’s most successful drama (Picture: Apple TV+)Severance follows Mark (Adam Scott) a grieving widow who decides to join Lumon – a controversial company that consensually performs surgical operations on their employees to divide the memories in-work (innie) and out-work (outie) selves – to forget the pain of his wife’s death.
However, his innie, along with co-workers Helly (Britt Lower), Dylan (Zach Cherry) and Irving (John Turturro), become increasingly disgruntled by Lumon and its shadowy operations and concoct devious schemes to uncover the actual nature of their mysterious work.
When Severance returned in January after three years, fans said the agonising wait – exacerbated by a huge cliffhanger at the end of season one was ‘worth it.’
X user @ChicagoBulldawg exclaimed: ‘How do I explain to someone who hasn’t watched this that a minute straight scene of mark running through the severed floor is literal peak television.’
@lippasbae agreed: ‘You know when Adam Scott running outta elevator in the opening sequence with epic cinematography and the coolest camera work is bound to be a PEAK TELEVISION. what an insane opening of season 2.’
The show cost $200m to make – but is worth every penny (Picture: Apple TV)Severance season two had a similar response from critics – scoring 97% on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Christopher Walken, who plays retired employee Burt, previously revealed to Metro his theory about the success of the show.
He said: ‘I don’t know. It’s mysterious, it’s entertaining. You’re always interested in what happens next. It’s got the ingredients of what people like to watch.’
As for what’s to come in the remaining episodes of season two, Britt previously told AV Club: ‘There’s a rollercoaster ahead that I feel like no one is ready for. I think what’s cool now is that you can and should go back and rewatch the first four episodes to pick up on new things before you dive into five.
‘One of the big questions of the series is who has autonomy over their bodies. Is it the outie, the innie, or both? And questions of free will and consent are cracked open here very delicately.’
The dystopian drama is also a huge critical hit (Picture: AP)Fans will be relieved that Severance’s director – Hollywood legend Ben Stiller – has already teased a third outing.
He told Collider: ‘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.”
‘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.’
Severance is available to stream on Apple TV Plus.
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