What happens to the workers in Severance? Innie vs Outie explained

The new series of Severance is about to launch on Apple TV+, so to refresh your memory about the sci-fi series, here’s a guide to Innies and Outies at Lumon Industries.

Since launching in February 2022, Severance has become one of the most successful and talked about shows on Apple TV+, thanks to both a spellbinding story and superb performances from the likes of Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, and John Turturro.

A satire of office culture and politics, wrapped in a futuristic tale of mind manipulation, the show also features multiple head-scratching mysteries that make it must-watch TV.

Severance Season 1 posed lots of questions, meaning fans are eagerly anticipating Season 2 in the hope they’ll get some answers. So until the show returns in January, here’s what we know about what’s happening to the workers in Severance.

Innie vs Outie Severance explained

Lumon employees who choose to have the ‘Severance Procedure’ are agreeing to have both their memories and consciousness divided in two.

Their lives therefore split between two timelines: the Innie, who works at the company; and the Outie, who exists on the outside.

An Innie’s day begins when they enter the elevator down to their office. Everything they say or do then remains self-contained within those four walls, with those memories disappearing when they take the elevator back up at the day’s end.

An Outie is the person who willingly decided to have the procedure. They live and sleep in the “real world” and have no memory or knowledge of what they do at/inside Lumon.

How Does the Severance Chip really work?

Apple TV+

Just as the Flux Capacitor is the mysterious technology that makes time travel possible in the Back to the Future movies, so the Severance Chip is what makes the Severance Procedure possible here, separating memories to split a human into Innie and Outie.

The patient is awake during the painless procedure, which sees an incision made in the scalp, and a quarter-inch hole drilled into the skull, through which the chip is inserted.

The Lumon employee is then sedated, dressed, and delivered to the Waking Chamber from which they then emerge “Severed.”

Can they leave work?

An employee can leave Lumon at the end of the working day, at which point their Innie memories disappear, to be replaced by all of their Outie memories.

This can cause confusion, like when a worker becomes sick or hurt on the job. While the Innie knows how, where, and why the injury occurred, the Outie has no idea. Lumon address this issue by leaving a note on the windshield of the employee’s car, explaining said incident.

As for whether they can become “un-severed,” that’s a complicated question at present. Via the Overtime Contingency, multiple characters were briefly able to recombine their memories at the end of Season. But to reverse severance, ‘Reintegration’ needs to be performed, a procedure that made Peter Kilmer ill, before seemingly killing him.

Ms. Cobel explained

Apple TV+

Harmony Cobel begins Season 1 of Severance as the Severed Floor manager at Lumon Industries, which brings her into regular contact with the Macrodata Refinement Department.

She’s a hardcore devotee to the Severance Procedure, and the word of Lumon founder and CEO Kier Eagan.

But Harmony leads a double life, as although she hasn’t had the operation herself, while outside the office Ms. Cobel is Mrs. Selvig, Mark Scout’s next door neighbor who bakes cookies, and keeps a close eye on him.

At the end of the season, Cobel is fired by the Lumon board for withholding information, but still remains true to the cause.

Harmony Cobel and Mrs. Selvig are played by Patricia Arquette.

Milchick explained

Apple TV+

Seth Milchick is the chief supervisor and employee liaison officer on the Severed Floor at Lumon Industries.

This means he has multiple responsibilities, including overseeing chip implant surgery and the transition of new hires, running team-building exercises, and hosting fun activities like Melon Bar, Egg Bar, and the Music/Dance Experience.

Milchick also performs Break Room interrogations, administers The Compunction Statement, punishes more serious infractions, and serves as the primary work contact for Outies.

Seth Milchick is played by Tramell Tillman.

For more from the Severance streamer, check out these great Apple TV+ shows to watch. You can also read our full Season 1 recap, and find which new TV series are coming to streaming this month, the best shows of the year so far, and the most binge-worthy series to watch right now.