Adam Scott speaks at the Severance panel at the 2022 Comic-Con. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Variety … [+] via Getty Images)
Variety via Getty Images
Severance is one of the most keenly anticipated shows of the year. The Ben Stiller directed dystopian thriller premiered back in 2022 to rave reviews and the upcoming second season has fans and critics salivating. Thankfully, an event happened in New York that slated some of this thirst.
Ahead of the second season’s Jan. 17 launch on Apple TV Plus, the Severance cast and team put on a pop-up display at New York’s Grand Central Station—and it sent the internet into a joyful meltdown.
It wasn’t simply a fun event though. The gleeful online reaction to the Severance pop-up reveals something about our relationship to art today, as well as shining a light on the interaction between the internet and real life.
Firstly, let’s explore what went on with the event.
What is ‘Severance?’ And What Happened With The Pop-Up In New York City?
Severance is a science fiction series starring actors including—but not limited to—Adam Scott, Zach Cherry, and Britt Lower. The show follows the lives of a group people who work at Lumon Industries as part of the “severance” program.
The characters in question agree to have a chip implanted that separates their work and non-work memories, effectively turning them into two people, neither with knowledge of the other.
The Severance pop-up in New York’s Grand Central Station echoed this story.
Actors from the series appeared in character, encased in a glass cube, and went about their normal work day at Lumon Industries.
What Was The Online Reaction To The ‘Severance’ Pop-Up?
The internet was joyous about seeing Severance characters appear in the real world, with posts about this event racking up millions of views.
These came in a variety of formats, with some people sharing pictures captured directly at the event:
While others posted enviously about those who could attend:
Some users created memes from the pop-up, such as this one linking Severance to Babygirl:
Finally, other posts spent time analyzing what the Severance pop-up means in relation to the series itself:
Why Was The Internet So Excited About The ‘Severance’ Pop-Up?
There are a few things at play here. The first, and most obvious, reason behind the overly positive reaction is that Severance is a popular and well-liked show.
At the time of writing, Rotten Tomatoes has the first season holding a 97% critic score and an 88% user rating. Simply put, a pop-up like this gets people excited about the upcoming season.
Alongside this—and as the tweet directly above mentioned—there’s also the metaphorical impact of the event: characters appearing in a glass box to promote a show about privacy. It’s an arresting image.
But there are other elements that help explain the internet’s positive reaction to the Severance stunt.
Part of the internet’s enjoyment about it may be down to changing viewing habits and the evolution of community.
One of the interesting side effects of streaming is that more people now watch television by themselves. Research from Ipsos revealed that “members of Gen Z tend to view entertainment on their phones, alone.”
In fact, 63% of the 16-24 bracket and 64% of people aged between 25 and 39 are more likely to watch television on their smartphone than anywhere else.
There are multiple reasons behind this. The rise of streaming services and video-first social media platforms encourage people to watch precisely what they want, when they want. Combined with the proliferation of smartphones (97.5% of people between the ages of 18 and 49 in the U.S. own one), this drives people towards consuming more entertainment alone.
Where once viewership was a communal experience, it’s now a far more internal one.
This could be a lonely state of affairs for many (indeed, the number of people suffering from daily loneliness in the U.S. rose 3% from 2023 to 2024), but there are ways around this isolation—and the internet is integral to that.
Social media platforms allow people to experience a sense of community over the shows they like. Individuals can post and interact with others, forming online bonds.
Yet the Severance pop-up in New York takes this to another level.
Here, a show that may have been watched alone bursts into the real world, blurring the line between reality and fiction.
It also plays with the idea of a personal and communal experience. If many people are watching Severance on their own terms, at whatever time they choose, this pop-up operates as something more akin to an old-school broadcast program.
As the event happened at roughly the same time for everyone (depending on when they see the social posts, of course), it creates a simultaneous shared experience. Fans of the show feel they’re part of something bigger, involved in a moment that crosses boundaries of reality, blending the online and offline, and giving them a unique experience.
Ultimately, the Severance pop-up may just be a promotional event, but it can offer something far deeper: a connection point. This can unite a disparate fanbase around a single shared moment and, in doing so, made a lot of people online very happy.
All that’s left to say is this: bring on season two of Severance.
