“Bon Voyage, Buddy”: ‘Severance’ Star Breaks Down That Heartbreaking Goodbye – Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood ReporterSubscribe for full access to The Hollywood ReporterThe penultimate episode of season two featured a painful parting. Is this the end for the beloved character? The actor who plays him says not yet.
By
Josh Wigler
Contributor
[This story contains major spoilers from Severance season two, episode nine, “The After Hours.”]
“I want to remember it.”
“Probably better if we don’t.”
Two of the most heartbreaking, and yet, heartwarming sentences ever uttered across two seasons of Severance — and it’s no shock who’s saying them. That would be John Turturro and Christopher Walken, delivering a masterclass in forlorn and forbidden romance as Irving and Burt, once lovers inside of Lumon Industries, and now…
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Now, it’s gone. If only for now.
In “The After Hours,” the penultimate hour of Severance season two, Burt and Irving say goodbye to each other one more time, if not for the final time, as former Lumon “goon” Burt puts current Lumon rebel Irving on the last train out of town, destination unknown. If Irving stays, it won’t be good; he’s snooped too far into the belly of the Lumon beast, his head demanded as a result. Escape is the only way to keep him safe, and so Burt, who believes he’s condemned to hell with only his innie’s salvation still possible, takes it on to save his lover from an entirely different life.
It’s a painful goodbye, filled with callbacks to their early romance in season one, and not just painful for Burt and Irving. It’s painful for the audience as well, as we’re forced to ask the question: Is that it for Irving? Having already been fired from the MDR department and now being ushered out of town entirely, is it a series wrap on Turturro?
According to the man himself, not likely. There’s still so much we don’t know about Irving, and yet, so much that Turturro himself knows about his character, a wellspring of backstory he’s eager to share with the world. While we might not see Irving again this season with only one episode remaining, the future’s wide open for MDR’s elder statesman to return in grand fashion. Below, the award-winning actor speaks with The Hollywood Reporter about all that went into building Irving in the first place, his surprising directions in season two and what he hopes to bring to the world of Severance next.
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How much of Outie Irving’s story do you already know?
[Creator Dan Erickson] had written all of this backstory for me before I ever did the show, because I wanted to know. So I did a lot of research and I actually introduced Dan to someone I was talking to as part of that, so I knew certain aspects where the guy was coming from like why he was severed, even though none of that is explained [onscreen]. And for me, that was helpful.
I’m not used to being on a show. I’m used to doing a miniseries, a kind of arc. I guess they have some backstory [in ongoing series television], but still, you’re writing it and then there are other writers involved, and how people are reacting to it while watching it and all of those things. So you don’t know who’s going to leave, who’s going to come back and, are they going to come back as their inside or outside selves? The whole thing is a mind warp! You have to figure out what bleeds into what. You’re not playing two different people, you’re playing two different states. Dan has a really interesting brain.
It’s fascinating because we learned a lot about Outie Irving this season, but mostly through action, barely through information. There’s so much happening with him that even now, we have no idea.
Yes, Irving knows a lot that you don’t know. There’s a big reason why he’s making all those paintings, you know? All that he’s searching for. Everyone gets severed on this show for different reasons. Grief, maybe they’re lost, maybe they’re the daughter of the owner. Maybe it’s also searching for someone, too.
How much of what you knew about Irving’s story has changed over the years?
I think it was last year, Dan was saying, “I’m not sure about this [piece of Irving’s history anymore],” and I said, “Well, let’s wait a second, because that ship has left.” (Laughs) For me, that’s not going to change, in terms of how I’m playing it. It doesn’t mean we can’t have tremendous variety in here, but you need to have a spine for the character you’re creating. You need a rack to hang your hat on.
On a show like Severance, I can imagine it being freeing to not know much about your character’s life outside of the severed floor, while at the same time, maybe feeling like you need that information in order to play a younger, almost more innocent version of the same character.
Yeah. I don’t think they’re too different. Their language isn’t reduced much [from outie to innie], their habits, their approaches, they bring along down with them. They don’t remember certain things and that’s the concept, which you have to navigate here.
It’s pretty complex!
Yeah, but relatable! I’ve had jobs like Dan did too, where you were like, “I got to get out of here. I can’t.” And I would have all these fantasies. That’s what I would do when I was in those kind of positions and do whatever I had to do, but knowing, “this is not where I’m going to be. I’m not going to be behind a bar listening to someone or in an office or even in a construction site.” I think unless you’re really, really, really skilled, and all your attention is in that… I don’t know.
I really think the show’s resonating with younger viewers and I’ve been intrigued by that. I think part of being younger is you are still forming your life, your personality, and as you get older, even if you want it to change, you have less opportunity to say, “I don’t want to be in this anymore. I want to be something else.” And so they’re seeing this split because you have all these choices. If you’re lucky, you have choices. There is a separation when you do go to work from your personal life, and you can see it when you go to sports games, people letting out their fandom, and sometimes, their vitriol. I guess it’s almost like video games, too. Where you get to participate.
Yeah, this is a very participatory show, with tons of conversations online about what’s actually happening at Lumon. So much of it is about trying to intuit the story, not just decoding information.
I like that, intuition. I’d love to do an episode where I have [all of the fans] around me. I’d ask them, “So, what should I do?”
Don’t put that out there! People are going to get too excited.
Look, they can’t actually write it! (Laugh.) But as far as acting choices? Totally.
Irving and Burt’s relationship has been a highlight of the whole show, and this episode was particularly intense. It wasn’t clear if Burt was going to harm Irving or help him, until the last minute. And then we get this beautiful goodbye with so many physical callbacks to their earlier innie interactions, even dialogue.
I can’t speak for Chris, but I don’t think he wanted to lose what we had built [in season one]. Burt has his own reasons for why he wound up getting severed, and how he wound up working for Lumon. But here… I don’t know, some things are meant to be. With Chris and I, the sum of our parts are greater than whatever it is. That’s just how it is with us. One plus one doesn’t equal two with us. That’s how it is when you have a certain kind of chemistry. It’s innate. You can’t force it. It’s there, or it’s not. You have your friends who crack you up, right? You can go anywhere in the world with them, and they crack you right open. With Chris and I, it’s like we’re in second grade. We just have a ball sometimes. Sometimes maybe our choices aren’t so appropriate. But sometimes, that leads us somewhere. I learned that from Chris.
We were talking about intuition; how much are you two able to intuit on set, versus picking up from what’s literally in the script?
It’s always a dance between Chris and I, then usually [director Ben Stiller] comes in and lets us explore even more. There’s this moment [in the farewell scene] where I fix his hair or touch his cheek, something like that. I can’t remember if that was in the script, or if that was just something we did. Sometimes, one gesture can be as strong as an entire written scene. Somebody does something and by doing that, they show you exactly who they are. If you can find that from some sort of unconscious place… that gets to be very revealing.
Burt says, “Bon voyage, buddy.” There’s a world where this whole scene is a final farewell for these characters. Would you feel satisfied if this was the end for Irving?
No. And I don’t think it is. If someone wanted the story to be complete? It could be! But I think there’s so much more here.
Is there a piece of your backstory you’re really hoping to bring on screen?
Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And it would have to be in a very active way.
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Severance releases its season two finale next week, streaming Friday on Apple TV+. Read THR‘s season coverage and interviews.Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every dayInside the business of TV with breaking news, expert analysis and showrunner interviewsSubscribe for full access to The Hollywood ReporterSend us a tip using our anonymous form.
