Severance season 3 is already confirmed and there are still plenty of mysteries the show needs to address when it returns. Season 2 finale “Cold Harbor” gave us a few answers about the nature – and purpose – of the enigmatic Cold Harbor project that’s been haunting Mark S’s life at Lumon Industries. It also shed some light on the sinister reasons the company has an entire department populated by baby goats.

But this Apple TV+ show has built its reputation on being multilayered and weird, so it wouldn’t be right if we weren't heading into Severance season 3 scratching our heads – and pondering some of the most unconventional love triangles ever seen on TV.

Below we’ve dived deep into the big talking points Severance season 3 needs to address. Unsurprisingly, there are numerous Severance season 2 spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution if you’re yet to watch watch the finale.

Talking points and questions ahead of Severance season 3

What is Lumon’s grand plan in Severance season 3?

This is likely to remain one of the big mysteries of Severance season 3 but the season 2 finale, “Cold Harbor”, does seem to confirm the long-standing assumption that Lumon is looking for a way to eliminate pain. In an earlier episode, “Chikhai Bardo”, Gemma is told that “Mark will benefit from the world you’re siring. Kier will take away all his pain, just as Kier has taken away yours.”

In follow-up episode “Sweet Vitriol”, meanwhile, we learn that the town of Salt’s Neck was built around its ether mill – ether, of course, was historically used as an anaesthetic. Then, in season finale “Cold Harbor”, Mr Drummond orders the sacrifice of a goat, saying: “We commit this animal to Kier, and his eternal war against pain.”

Of course, even though Lumon’s ultimate aim is becoming clearer, we still don’t know why the language they use (ORTBOs, Glasgow Blocks, Overtime Contingencies etc) and their business practices are so weird and cult-like. Also, while getting rid of pain may look like a noble ideal, the Eagan family don’t seem to care who they hurt to achieve their goal.

What is Cold Harbor?

Lumon management had already made it quite clear that Mark S needed to finish the mysterious Cold Harbor project ASAP – and in the Severance season 2 finale, the company’s “finest refiner” duly delivers by taking the task from 96% to 100%.

The event is a massive deal on the Severed Floor. Mark S arrives to see a seriously weird painting, depicting a deified version of himself surrounded by all his past and present colleagues. When Mark refines his final piece of data, Severed Floor manager Seth Milchick performs a supremely awkward skit with a crude waxwork of Lumon founder Kier Eagan, and unleashes the full might of the Choreography and Merriment department, performing an extremely persistent marching band. Mr Drummond clearly wasn’t exaggerating when he said, “Mark Scout’s completion of Cold Harbor will be remembered as one of the greatest moments in the history of this planet.”

So what actually is Cold Harbor? As we’d long suspected, the numbers Mark has been refining are connected to the experiments Dr Mauer is conducting on Gemma Scout, the presumed-dead wife of Mark’s Outie. In fact, Harmony Cobel – Mark S’s former boss on the Severed Floor and creator of the severance technology – goes as far as saying, “The numbers are your wife.”

Put another way, they’re a doorway into Gemma’s mind, and Mark has feelings of sadness, woe, frolic, malice, dread (other feelings are available) when he processes them. They’re “the building blocks of her mind”, or, to use official Lumon terminology, her tempers.

Every file Mark completes equates to a new consciousness for Gemma, aka a new Innie for each new room on the Testing Floor. Cold Harbor is the last of 25 files to be finished, and blocking out the feelings it creates provides the most extreme examination of the severance chip’s efficacy.

Indeed, this final “efficacy test” goes way beyond the trips to the dentist, in-flight turbulence and marathon thank you card-writing sessions Gemma has endured in previous rooms. In Cold Harbor, she has to dismantle a cot for the baby she and Mark had longed for – a particularly cruel test that proves the minds of Innie and Outie are well and truly separate.

Why Mark and Gemma Scout?

It’s clear that the Scouts’ connection as husband and wife is important – in the final Cold Harbor experiment, chief Lumon scientist Dr Mauer is visibly concerned that Mark establishing physical contact with his wife might break the barrier between Gemma’s Innie and Outie selves.

But why were Mark and Gemma chosen in the first place? Was there something about their relationship that made them prime candidates for such a complex sequence of experiments? Were Lumon looking to capitalise on the couple’s sadness over their inability to have a child? Or perhaps Lumon’s involvement goes back even further, and they were responsible for Mark and Gemma’s first ever meeting?

Whatever Lumon’s reasons for betting the company’s future on the Scouts, there’s little question they were responsible for faking Gemma’s death, and seeding the idea that the grieving Mark might want to take a job on the Severed Floor. Harmony Cobel was clearly well aware of the couple’s importance, having taken the unauthorised step of moving in next door to Mark.

What’s the deal with Jame Eagan and Helly R?

Jame Eagan, current CEO of Lumon Industries (and a descendant of company founder Kier), is clearly eccentric. As well as swallowing the company handbook wholesale, he has a somewhat dysfunctional relationship with his daughter (and heir apparent) Helena – or Helly R when she’s on the Severed Floor.

In Severance season 2 episode 10 he tells Helly R he was “cross” with her after the speech her Innie gave at the Lumon party. He then reveals that he does not love his daughter. “I used to see Kier in her but he left her as she grew,” he says. “I sired others in the shadows. But he wasn’t in them either. Until I saw him again. In you.” (This reference to “others” is backed up when Harmony, Mark and his sister Devon arrive at the Damona Birthing Retreat, and Harmony tells a security guard that Devon is “one of Jame’s” – women giving birth to his children there is clearly a common occurrence.)

Helly R isn’t impressed with his parenting style and tells him, “You and your family created hell and you’re going to burn in it” – a response he believes to prove his point about Helly R having Kier in her.

The exchange adds an extra layer to the mystery of why Helena agreed to get severed in the first place. Officially, it’s a PR exercise to promote the controversial procedure, but if that was really the case, surely Helena – one of Lumon’s leading lights – could have delegated the job to someone else?

It appears, however, that the decision was taken way above her pay grade. We already knew that the mysterious “Board” – speaking through Mr Drummond and PR executive Natalie Kalen – had decided to send her back after her near-death experience on the ORTBO because Mark S would not work without Helly R. But it now seems feasible that Jame ordered his daughter’s severing in order to find that elusive inner Kier.

Who created the severance procedure?

Popular wisdom has always had it that Lumon Industries CEO Jame Eagan created the technology that allows a mind to be severed. In Severance season 2, however, we learn that this isn’t true.

On travelling back to her home town of Salt’s Neck (a town built and subsequently run down by Lumon), Harmony Cobel locates the plans she originated for the severance procedure: “My designs! Circuit blueprint, base code, Overtime Contingency, Glasgow Block, all of it!”

But Lumon clearly doesn’t want her to get the credit she deserves. Her Aunt Sissy, something of a Lumon zealot, reminds Harmony that “Jame Eagan was the inventor”. She then attempts to burn the plans to prevent them getting out, while sinister Lumon operatives lurk outside. Harmony’s childhood acquaintance Hampton helps her to get out of town with the all-important documents.

“I was told Kier’s knowledge is for all,” Harmony says of her silence. “That if I sought credit I would be banished.”

What will full integration mean for Mark Scout and Mark S?

Reintegration didn’t end well for Mark’s former best friend Petey, so amalgamating the Innie and Outie parts of Mark’s mind is clearly high risk – even though Asal Reghabi (the surgeon who installed Mark’s severance chip) claims to have improved the procedure since Petey’s death.

Even if it’s a success, what will that mean for Mark Scout and Mark S in Severance season 3?

When they have a conversation via video at the Damona Birthing Retreat, Innie Mark is sceptical about Outie Mark’s assurances that their consciousnesses will be able to share his body – and suspects it might be all-too-easy for the Outies to “kill” their alter-egos. Mark S is also understandably concerned about what it means for his future with Helly R, especially as Helena Eagan is highly unlikely to go through the reintegration procedure herself. “There’ll be no honeymoon ending for you and Helly R,” threatens Harmony.

What will happen to Gemma, the Marks and Helly R in Severance season 3?

This is where things get really tangled and weird. After some back-and-forth between Innie and Outie via video camera recordings, the two Marks finally rescue Gemma, who is now her normal self and free of the Severed Floor. The complication, however, is that Mark S would rather stay with Helly R than escape with his Outie’s wife. The season finale subsequently ends with the two Innies running down a Severed Floor corridor to the sound of “The Windmills of your Mind” from the original Thomas Crown Affair movie.

The question is, how will this extremely unconventional love triangle be resolved? Mark S and Helly R can’t leave the Severed Floor because they’ll both cease to be themselves, while Mark is sure to face repercussions for the death of Mr Drummond – yes, it was an accident, but seeing as Outie Mark was holding the Lumon luminary at gunpoint when the two personas switched, that defence may not stand up in a court of law.

Besides, with Cold Harbor now complete, Mark S could easily be considered expendable – a fact made brutally clear by Mr Drummond’s earlier attempts to kill him.

Their one hope in Severance season 3 may be communicating with Helena Eagan. Although she has no love for her Innie, she’s also disillusioned with the family firm.

Gemma, meanwhile, will presumably be making a beeline for Mark’s sister, Devon, who’s now fully up to speed with the murky goings-on on the Severed Floor.

Will Dylan G stay on the Severed Floor in Severance season 3?

It’s still unclear why – when Lumon prides itself on keeping its severed employees’ work and home lives separate – the company introduced Dylan G to Gretchen, his Outie’s wife. Did they have the foresight to predict that it would cause emotional turmoil for Innie and Outie alike?

Following the Innie’s decision to submit a resignation request, he gets a truly unexpected response from his Outie. “As it may yield an embarrassing emotional response in you, and as I’m duly swamped,” says Severed Floor boss Seth Milchick, “I shall leave you to read it in solitude.”

Outie Dylan acknowledges that he understands why his Innie self would have fallen for his “perfect” wife, and admits that “I’ve never been an impressive person, so when Gretch told me that you’re this self-assured badass… I dunno, it stung.”

The message is powerful enough to inspire Dylan G to return to the fight, and help Helly R trap Mr Milchick in a bathroom. Having seemed primed to clock out just a week earlier, Dylan G now appears ready to battle for his continued existence in Severance season 3.

What will happen to Burt in Severance season 3 after facilitating Irving’s escape?

Burt’s Outie was clearly up to something while he was trailing Irving early in season 2, and he alluded to a dark past when he invited Irving for a ham dinner with his husband, Fields. Even so, we wouldn't necessarily have predicted that Burt would be “hired” by Lumon to make his Innie’s former lover disappear.

We now know, of course, that he was once a “Lumon goon” – though “we never used words like that” – and that he chose to be severed because he liked the idea of being innocent again. He also claims that, “I never hurt anyone. I drove people places. I didn’t ask what happened to them once they got there.”

In Irving’s case that means taking a trip to a train station and – against company orders – buying him a ticket to the end of the line. Burt also implies that he’ll face serious reprisals for his actions. We’ll presumably find out what those are in Severance season 3.

Have we seen the last of Irving?

Burt gives him instructions to never come back to Kier but Irving surely has a further role to play in Severance season 3.

Irving’s Outie seems to know more about the Severed Floor than the others. Could he have once been a test subject on the Testing Floor like Gemma Scout? Could memories of the experience be leaking into his subconscious, prompting his Outie to paint pictures of the elevator (and glowing red triangle) at the end of that ominous dark corridor – inspiring the map that ultimately leads Mark S to finding his wife on the Testing Floor.

Also, who’s on the other end of the payphone when he passes on messages like, “Innie got the message” and “I think they knew what my Innie was up to”? Is Irving involved with the Whole Mind Collective fighting to end severance? Indeed, the “severed employee list” Mr Drummond finds in his house – and possibly leads to his being targeted by Burt – suggests Irving’s involved in some kind of investigation into Lumon’s activities.

Who is Harmony Cobel?

Harmony Cobel was Seth Milchick’s predecessor as Severed Floor supervisor. She was suspended in season 1 for a number of breaches of Lumon policy: she allowed the Macrodata Refinement team to stage an uprising, interacted with Mark S’s Outie as next door neighbour Ms Selvig, and failed to report Helly R’s suicide attempt to the board.

Even so, she could have been welcomed back into the Lumon family after the Overtime Contingency incident (during which Innies Mark S, Helly R and Irving B experienced the outside world) if she’d accepted Helena Eagan’s offer of a place on the new Severance Advisory Council.

Instead she insists she’ll only return if she can have her old job back and be at the helm when Mark S completes Cold Harbor. When a sceptical Helena offers her the opportunity to discuss her terms with the Board, however, Harmony – presumably spooked by the security guard at Helena’s side – drives away to her hometown, Salt’s Neck.

We later learn that she grew up in the ultimate Lumon company town with her late mother, Charlotte, and Aunt Celestine (known as Sissy). While Charlotte evidently became sceptical about Lumon before she passed away, Sissy is a total believer in the Eagan philosophy – a sign on her wall reveals she once received a commendation as a “Quarterly Striver”.

There’s no love lost between Harmony and Sissy, and Harmony resents the fact that she never got to say goodbye to her mother because she was at school. Sissy, for her part, is openly hostile, having already sold Harmony’s childhood possessions.

She does admit, however, that Lumon’s Mr Drummond paid her a visit, presumably looking for those aforementioned severance plans. She also reminds Harmony that “Mr Eagan saw Kier in you” and mentions the mysterious “Wintertide Fellowship”, pointing out that “no apprentice was more industrious than you”.

Will Seth Milchick finally lose faith with Lumon in Severance season 3?

The Severed Floor supervisor gives the impression of being the ultimate company man, and – in the season 2 finale – fully embraces the celebrations to mark “the exalted victory of Cold Harbor”.

And yet there are signs he’s becoming increasingly disillusioned at the way he’s treated by his employers. Following Milchick’s disappointing appraisal (the one where his use of long words was criticised), Mr Drummond took every opportunity to belittle him, and the automated Kier continues the trend at the aforementioned Cold Harbor celebrations.

But, as he did when he told Drummond to “devour feculence”, he pushes back against the mediocre waxwork facsimile of the company founder, pointing out that the robot is five inches taller than Kier actually was. Passing a non-redacted version of Outie Dylan’s note to Dylan G could also be an act of wilful defiance against company policy – though it could just as easily be an example of an overworked, under-pressure manager having too much to do.

With an annual bonus looking increasingly unlikely, could Milchick become an unexpected ally for the Innies in Severance season 3?

Does Miss Huang have a bigger role to play in Severance season 3?

Miss Huang (first name confirmed as Eustice) has completed her Wintertide Fellowship, and will now move out of her parental home to live at the Gunnell Eagan Empathy Center in Svalbard. Once there she’ll “steward global reforms”. She was expecting to finish the quarter, so someone clearly wants her out of the way on the Severed Floor.

We really don’t know much about her, so it would be strange if the end of her Fellowship also marks the end of her story. Besides, it would feel cruel if the act of smashing up her beloved ring toss game (a company-mandated sacrifice) didn’t earn her another shot at Lumon in Severance season 3.

Who were the doppelgangers on the ORTBO?

The duplicate versions of Mark S, Helly R, Dylan G and Irving B who turn up on the ORTBO (Outdoor Retreat and Team-Building Occurrence) are undeniably disconcerting, but who or what are they? Are they simply lookalikes (like the proprietor of Great Doors who interviews Outie Dylan for a job), or purpose-built clones?

The doppelgangers could even be androids – after all, ORTBO is an anagram of robot.

Why are Lumon so interested in Ricken’s book?

Thanks to light-fingered Harmony, a pre-release copy of The You You Are: A Spiritual Biography of You (the latest self-help book written by Devon’s husband, Ricken) has found its way onto the Severed Floor. But what have Lumon management seen in the teachings of Mark’s eccentric brother-in-law that prompts them to commission an Innie-friendly version of the tome? Expect to learn more in Severance season 3...

Why does the Severed Floor need a very large room full of goats?

The season 2 finale provided an answer to a question that’s been bothering Severance fans for years – and it’s not very nice. It turns out that Lumon’s ”Mammalians Nuturable” department exists to raise goats that can be sacrificed in the name of Kier.

Head of department Lorne selects Emile, a goat with more verve and wiles than any other in its flock. The beast’s destiny? “To be entombed with a cherished woman, whose spirit it must guide to Kier’s door.” Luckily, Mark S interrupts Mr Drummond before he can slaughter the animal, which means the Innies can probably regard Mammalians Nuturable as potential allies heading into Severance season 3.

It’s still not clear, though, why goats have been selected ahead of other farmyard animals. And who is/was the “cherished woman” destined to be entombed?

All episodes of Severance seasons 1 and 2 are now available on Apple TV+.