‘Severance’ season two finale explained: What was Mark and Gemma’s fate?

The curtain has come down on the second season of Severance, but what was the fate of Mark and Gemma? Read on for the full breakdown.

• READ MORE: ‘Severance’ season two review: mind-bending workplace sci-fi is the smartest thing on TV

The Apple TV+ psychological thriller series is set within the fictional Lumon Corporation and follows employee Mark Scout (Adam Scott), who agrees to a “severance” procedure where his work and personal life memories are split. The process leaves subjects, or “innies”, with no recollection of their “outie” lives while working at Lumon and vice versa.

Created by Dan Erickson and executive produced by Ben Stiller, it boasts a cast that also includes John Turturro, Christopher Walken, Gwendoline Christie and Patricia Arquette.

After the success of the first season in 2022, including 14 Emmy nominations, the show returned on January 17 for season two. The 10th and final episode of the second run arrived on Friday (March 21).

The second season has been warmly received by fans and critics, with many hailing episode seven in particular as a “masterpiece”. It has also led several notable names to be revealed as fans, including former President Barack Obama, who was offered a role in the show by Stiller but turned it down due to scheduling issues.

In NME’s five-star review of season two, critic James Mottram wrote: “As things get all the more intriguing by the minute, Severance is a show best watched on high alert,” adding: “Enjoy the ride and let this unique show tease and titillate your brain until you finally submit”.

Severance season two finale explained: What was Mark and Gemma’s fate?

In the 10th and final episode of season two, Mark (Adam Scott) comes to realise through video recordings from his outie that the mysterious Cold Harbor project that he is working on has created innie versions of outie Mark’s wife Gemma (Dichen Lachman). Upon the completion of Cold Harbor, it appears Gemma will be killed.

Outie Mark hatches a plan to rescue Gemma, but innie Mark storms off, realising that the plan requires himself and Helly (Britt Lower) to be sacrificed.

After an unlikely chain of events involving a marching band, a baby goat and the accidental killing of Mr. Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), Mark arrives at the testing floor. It is there that Gemma is being tasked with taking down a cot, in a brutal test to see if it will trigger an emotional reaction related to her outie, as the cot had been built by Mark for their baby on the outside.

Gemma is proving to be successful in the task when Mark breaks in and rescues her. On the brink of escaping together, Helly shows up and Mark, now reverted back to his innie, makes the agonising decision to stay behind with her, realising that leaving Lumon would mean that innie Mark no longer exists. It leaves a devastated Gemma to escape alone, banging desperately on the door to the severed floor, while innie Mark and Helly run off, pursued by emergency alarms.

Apple TV+ have yet to officially confirm that there will be a third season of Severance. However, given the growing success of the show, it appears very unlikely that there will not be more to come, with major questions now hanging over the fate of innie Mark and Helly. Gemma, meanwhile, is free, but without her partner. Is she now safe from Lumon?

Ben Stiller has suggested that work has already begun on season three, so fans will have to wait to see how these and many other lingering questions are answered by the show.

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