Spoilers ahead for Severance Season 2. Stream the series with your Apple TV subscription to keep the mysterious and important cliffhanger ending from being ruined for you.
Nearly a year has passed since Mark S. made that heartbreaking choice in the Severance Season 2 finale, leaving Gemma shouting from the stairwell and running away with Helly R. in an act of defiance against their Outies. The show and its cast have gotten some love this awards season, including Britt Lower for her dual Innie/Outie roles. While we wait for Severance Season 3, let’s look back at the fun story of how Lower was cast and how a sweet potato was involved.
Several of Severance’s stars are responsible for playing both sides of their characters’ severed personalities, but Britt Lower may have been in the most challenging position, switching from Lumon boss Helena Eagan to free-spirited Helly and even Helena pretending to be Helly. Back in 2020, though, Lower wasn't sure she'd get the part. She said she knew it was a long shot, but that the pilot script was the “best one [she’d] ever read,” so she submitted an audition tape anyway. Her expectations weren’t high, as Lower told THR:
I was at that point where there had been, like, three or four jobs that year that had just gone a different direction. I had developed that kind of resilience that you build from rejection, and you’re just like, ‘OK, cool, it wasn’t meant to be.’
Even when her audition earned her a callback and chemistry read with Adam Scott, Britt Lower said she tried not to get too attached to Helly, despite feeling a strong kinship with her. So when she got the call that the role was hers, the actress was so surprised she fell to her knees and cried. She said:
It was a hardwood floor, so my knees hurt.
Britt Lower said the call came from her agent, lawyer and manager while she was in the middle of roasting a sweet potato, and that such a gathering can mean either really good or really bad news. Thankfully for her, it was the former, and as she reacted to what would be the life-changing job with tears and laughter, she was asked what she was going to do to celebrate. Lower responded:
I’m going to eat a sweet potato.
Maybe in the spirit of her character’s Eagan lineage, she could have thrown a nice hardboiled egg in there, but I do love that she didn’t let a good sweet potato go to waste.
Five years and two seasons of Severance later, the acclaim Britt Lower has earned from the role includes an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe nomination, amongst other recognition. I can’t imagine plot-wise where Season 3 might take us or when that might happen — it definitely won’t be ready in time for the 2026 TV schedule — but I am so invested in Mark and Helly’s story, and I can’t wait to see what Lower has in store for the character.
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