Severance Fans Finally Got A Season 3 Update, But It's The Star Who Shared It That Has Me Theorizing

TV cliffhangers don’t usually shape the way I feel about life for the next year and a half, but Mark’s choice in Severance’s Season 2 finale — see also: everything else in the ep — has been ratting around inside my non-chipped brain ever since I initially streamed it via Apple TV subscription. Seriously, the wait for Severance Season 3 has been a nightmare already, so I couldn’t be more excited that there’s a relatively positive update to cling onto.

Perhaps even more interesting than the news itself, however, is the Severance star who shared it: John Turturro, whose character Irving notably exited the season prior to the finale in part due to his outside-of-Lumon communication with Christopher Walken’s Burt Goodman. Speaking with Collider, Turturro was asked if the previously rumored production window for Season 3 was still set for April, to which he shared:

This is one of those rare cases where an actor shares an update that’s actually worse than what was originally thought, and yet it still balances out to be a net positive. I halfway assumed that a spring start would be too early, but hoped that filming wouldn’t need to wait that much longer afterward. As such, July feels like it’s right in the pocket, though it means filming likely won’t end until early 2027, and episodes likely won’t be ready for premiere until six months after that.

Still, while it may seem like I’d be saying the above with a negative tone, I’m trying really hard to keep my smile turned up and my chipperness at a maximum, even though Turturro claims he’s been kept out of the loop on plot details during the hiatus. When asked, he responded with:

That makes all of us, John! Head writer Dan Erikson shared the update in January that he was in the thick of scripting out the third season, which followed the disappointing previous update that Ben Stiller is stepping away from director duties on Severance in order to focus more on other projects. But as far as any kind of story details, it's been a vacuum.

That said, the Emmy-winning actor did voice the idea that he's built up his own kind of backstory for Irv in his head, and he believes the character's life outside of Lumon is completely different and isn't what fans might expect. Granted, he also pointed out that his ideas aren't based on anything official from the creative team, so they may not pan out. But let's engage in some theories about ol' Irv's future.

My Rapid-Fire Irv Theories For Severance Season 3

Given comments Turturro made in the past about Severance's long and stressful production, I wouldn't have been too surprised if Irving didn't return after getting on that train with his loyal pup. It would have required a lot of second-hand exposition from other characters, but given all the other possible changes happening with other characters, losing Irv didn't feel like the most outrageous outcome.

But now that we know for sure he'll be back, let's put on our speculation caps with matching ascots and throw out some predictions for how Irv will return to the story.

• Mr. Milchick will call Irving back in to try and talk sense into Mark and Helly. - I can totally see this one happening, since Trammell Tillman's character has resorted to requesting help from outies in the past.
• Burt will have second thoughts about sending Irving away, and will drive to bring him back to Kier. - This seems less likely, given the somewhat dark implications teased for Walken's character, but there's no denying the kinetic connection between the two men, despite one having a spouse in the outside world.
• Iriving will spend the early part of Season 3 investigating Lumon in the outside world. - A fairly likely scenario, especially if no one in Kier actually knows how to get in touch with Irving. Given all of the research material he had locked up in his trunk at home, it seems like Irving has sunk some time into this effort already, but hasn't quite cracked it yet.
• Irving and Eustice Huang will cross paths and team up in the quest to take Lumon down. - Can't say I feel overly confident about this one, mainly because I have no idea how long it takes to get to the Gunnel Eagan Empathy Center, or how long she would need to be there. Plus, other than her antagonism with Mr. Milchick, Sarah Bock's Ms. Huang seemed to be pretty tapped into the Kier way of thinking, without much sympathy for innies.
• Irving will revisit whatever trauma that inspired him get severed. Possibly a doubled-edged sword of an answer, since part of me fully believes that a scandalous prior work relationship with Burt is what led to Innie Irv. So I'm not entirely sure how he could research that without going right back to Burt's house after the train ride. Maybe Irving will find a way to talk to Burt's hubby Fields and get his information that way, rather than directly.

I could spend at least the next hour coming up with more ideas for where Irving's story is going, and that's not even looking in the direction of all the other characters, much less digging into any theories on that front. I'm ready to spend the rest of the afternoon envisioning various outcomes for Mark, Helly and Gemma, but alas, there are other things to do. Such as create a massive paper-chain leading up to the Season 3 premiere.

Both seasons of Severance are currently available to stream on Apple TV.