Ben Stiller Unpacks the Final Shot of 'Severance' Season 2

Perhaps the hottest show on Apple TV is Severance, a workplace drama where you split your personality in two, with your day life not remembering your work life. The second season has been so surreal as we delved deeper into Lumon and the people who worked there. The season just ended, and Ben Stiller sat down with Indiewire to talk about it and how the final frame of the season came to be. Let's go over some of his best quotes. We have to start with Stiller talking about the final shot of the season. He said of the freeze frame, "For me, that image was just in my head from the beginning — when we said, OK, we’re going to go this far and this is where we’re going to take it. You don’t see freeze-frames at the end of movies that often these days, but it used to be done a lot more. It’s just kind of this moment in time where you’re like, “Oh, wow, this is the end of the movie, but it’s going to keep going. We just don’t know where it’s going to go.” You marinate in this moment. It reminded me of movies that I watched growing up. This slow zoom-in on the freeze-frame reminded me of ’70s movies a little bit."Some of these decisions are made because of the way the film is shot. Stiller said, "We actually— we shoot this show digitally, but we transferred that last shot to film and then re-transferred it because we wanted to have the grain to zoom in on. So it felt like a movie that would’ve been shot on film where they would’ve had an optical printer that would’ve zoomed in on it. And it goes to red, which we haven’t really gone to before. I think it’s kind of signaling, “Hey, we’re going into a different tone here now. We are going into a different reality for these people.”"Perhaps one of the most difficult things about making a second season of a hit shoe is living up to the first season's expectations. That pressure transfers onto everyone involved. Stiller confronted that head-on. He said, "As I heard people react to the finale of the first season — it seemed like people really responded to it — you definitely start to think about that. [Laughs] What are we going to do for the next finale? And the only thing that was in our head, really, was just like, “Well, let’s just not do the same thing.” I don’t want to do the same thing, but I do want to have something that’s hopefully memorable and stays with you and feels visceral. But it’s not a cliffhanger like that. I feel like that [Season 1] finale is so specific to the season because all the threads are coming together. I think the reason why that finale works for people is that it’s tying up all these loose ends from the season, and I feel like this finale, hopefully, is more of a standalone episode in its own way. It’s just its own thing, a little bit more, hopefully."This kind of dedication and thought is what we want out of our TV directors and creators. I think this speaks to the depth and care put into the show. Hopefully, we don't have to wait as long for a third season because I am on the edge of my seat waiting. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Mar 22, 2025 - 01:07

Ben Stiller Unpacks the Final Shot of 'Severance' Season 2

Perhaps the hottest show on Apple TV is Severance, a workplace drama where you split your personality in two, with your day life not remembering your work life.

The second season has been so surreal as we delved deeper into Lumon and the people who worked there.

The season just ended, and Ben Stiller sat down with Indiewire to talk about it and how the final frame of the season came to be.

Let's go over some of his best quotes.

We have to start with Stiller talking about the final shot of the season. He said of the freeze frame, "For me, that image was just in my head from the beginning — when we said, OK, we’re going to go this far and this is where we’re going to take it. You don’t see freeze-frames at the end of movies that often these days, but it used to be done a lot more. It’s just kind of this moment in time where you’re like, “Oh, wow, this is the end of the movie, but it’s going to keep going. We just don’t know where it’s going to go.” You marinate in this moment. It reminded me of movies that I watched growing up. This slow zoom-in on the freeze-frame reminded me of ’70s movies a little bit."

Some of these decisions are made because of the way the film is shot.

Stiller said, "We actually— we shoot this show digitally, but we transferred that last shot to film and then re-transferred it because we wanted to have the grain to zoom in on. So it felt like a movie that would’ve been shot on film where they would’ve had an optical printer that would’ve zoomed in on it. And it goes to red, which we haven’t really gone to before. I think it’s kind of signaling, “Hey, we’re going into a different tone here now. We are going into a different reality for these people.”"

Perhaps one of the most difficult things about making a second season of a hit shoe is living up to the first season's expectations.

That pressure transfers onto everyone involved.

Stiller confronted that head-on.

He said, "As I heard people react to the finale of the first season — it seemed like people really responded to it — you definitely start to think about that. [Laughs] What are we going to do for the next finale? And the only thing that was in our head, really, was just like, “Well, let’s just not do the same thing.” I don’t want to do the same thing, but I do want to have something that’s hopefully memorable and stays with you and feels visceral. But it’s not a cliffhanger like that. I feel like that [Season 1] finale is so specific to the season because all the threads are coming together. I think the reason why that finale works for people is that it’s tying up all these loose ends from the season, and I feel like this finale, hopefully, is more of a standalone episode in its own way. It’s just its own thing, a little bit more, hopefully."

This kind of dedication and thought is what we want out of our TV directors and creators. I think this speaks to the depth and care put into the show. Hopefully, we don't have to wait as long for a third season because I am on the edge of my seat waiting.

Let me know what you think in the comments.