Explore the online world of Apple TV’s ‘Severance’ | TechCrunch

Apple has been steadily working to expand the world of the Apple TV+ series “Severance,” through online materials, e-books, podcasts, and other content – and so have its fans. Taking advantage of its platform power, the Cupertino tech giant has been able to easily distribute supplemental material that adds to the show’s storytelling abilities, offering viewers more clues about the mysterious employer at the heart of the series, Lumon Industries, and other characters. 

And for fans of the production itself, a companion podcast with creator Ben Stiller and star Adam Scott delves into the nuts and bolts of how scenes were filmed and other behind-the-scenes content. 

Currently the most popular Apple TV+ series ever, “Severance” has gained attention and awards for its cinematic techniques, direction, production design, and more, but is also resonating with viewers because it reflects a certain discontent with American society.

With its borderline absurdist takes on topics like the perils of capitalism, the lengths people will go to achieve work-life balance, corporate oppression, classism, and the evils of technology, “Severance” is reaching a broader group than those who normally watch sci-fi. 

The marketing around the “puzzle box-style” TV series, where online content becomes a part of the show itself, is something that brings to mind the work that was done in previous years around the cult classic, “Lost,” where website tie-ins offered further clues about the show’s mysteries, like the Dharma Initiative.  

Unlike “Lost,” however, “Severance’s” creators have promised that they know where the series is going and how it will end – which makes it more fun to go down the rabbit hole chasing online clues. 

Below are some of the supplemental materials that expand “Severance’s” universe and offer hints at what’s to come. 

Official Companions

• “Severance: The Lexington Letter,” published by Apple Books. This companion story and tell-all is told from the perspective of a severed Lumon Industries employee Margaret “Peg” Kincaid, who discovers some of the dark truths about her employer.

• Included in this download is also the Macrodate Refiner’s Orientation Booklet for newly-severed employees, which features a Lumon version of Microsoft’s Clippy — except he’s an anthropomorphized severance chip, not a paperclip.

• “The You You Are,” published by Apple Books. In the series, this book is penned by “Severance” character Dr. Ricken Lazlo Hale, PhD, and ends up playing a role in the severed employees’ awakening. The companion book, which is available as both an e-book and a narrated audiobook, offers the first 8 chapters of Ricken’s oeuvre devoted to self-discovery and bizarre anecdotes. 

• The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott. Produced by Audacy, the creator’s official podcast recaps and reveals behind-the-scenes details alongside actor interviews. 
• Lumon Industires’ LinkedIn profile. Researching your next job on LinkedIn and you might come across the Lumon Industries business profile, which introduces fans to founder Kier Eagan’s concepts, including his 9 core principles of Vision, Verve, Wit, Cheer, Humility, Benevolence, Nimbleness, Probity, and Wiles. The page often posts try-hard odes to corporate fulfillment and self-improvement alongside its attempts to recruit new workers to join Lumon, headquartered in the fictional town of Kier. The sinister undertones of its content aren’t all that different from some of the corporate speak that surrounds it on LinkedIn, oddly.