Spoilers for the Season 2 finale of Severance are ahead! If you aren’t ready to go down this elevator yet, you can stream the first two seasons with an Apple TV+ subscription.
We finally found out what Lumon is doing with those numbers. We officially know where Gemma was and how she was being treated. However, we don’t really know why Lumon was trying to tamper with her emotions. So, I decided to ask Gemma actress Dichen Lachman about it, and she shared an A+ theory.
As Severance’s second season came to a close on the 2025 TV schedule, MDR's work was finally revealed, and we learned that Mark’s wife’s emotions were being tampered with to make it so she didn't feel them when faced with some of her biggest fears and/or things she loathes. However, we don’t really know why Lumon did this. So, when I asked Dichen Lachman why the company was doing this, she told us:
My theory is just based on, you know, we have the birthing cabins in Season 1, and we have all these things that Gemma loathes doing, which she ends up doing in these rooms. I think my theory is that they're trying to create something so that people don't have to experience anything unpleasant.
After learning that Mark's files in MDR are connected to the rooms Gemma went in, he finished his final file, Cold Harbor. That made it so his wife had to go into this final room, which had a lone baby crib in it.
That was arguably one of the worst things she could face, considering her history with pregnancy. So, this being her final room seemed to imply that it’s the task that will be the hardest for her to complete because her emotions could have taken over. Her being able to take the crib apart shows that Lumon’s efforts are working.
Dichen Lachman went on to connect her theory to a bigger societal idea. She explained that it seems like many people would like to “numb” the unpleasantness in their lives. That larger idea played into her theory about the severance technology and these tests Gemma went through, as she said:
I think in our society, we tend to do that, you know? Like if we can numb something that's unpleasant, we will. If we can take a pill that will make us feel great, because we don't want to deal with something, we will. And so the severance technology is just that, you know, at light speed ahead.
She then said she wouldn’t do something like that personally, because “you can’t really enjoy moments if you don’t have sad ones or painful ones.” And that is an idea I’d like to see explored in Season 3.
Personally, I think this is a great theory, and between Gemma’s final room and the birthing cabins, it tracks that Lumon is doing all this to take away pain or suffering. And obviously, since this is Severance, a goal like that comes with costly consequences.
Over on CinemaBlend’s Instagram, we posted this clip of the actress explaining her theory, and the fans were in agreement. @alexemplify specifically wrote that all of our experiences, "good and bad, our traumas and fears" shape us. Their interpretation of this theory continued with:
...This is essentially what I think Cobel meant when she said Gemma was already 'dead' if Mark had completed Cold Harbor. And to no surprise, the Cold Harbor room ended up representing the deepest, most painful experience of Gemma, the one thing that probably shaped her character the most. Brilliant screenwriting. Brilliant show!
Much like fans’ reactions to Severance’s Season 2 finale, they have deep thoughts about this theory. Lachman does too, and so do I. Now that we know Season 3 will happen, I’m thinking even harder about all this because I’m sure we’ll learn more about it whenever new episodes come out.
Overall, I think the Gemma actress’s theory is fantastic, and I hope we get to learn more about it in Season 3. Between that, Mark’s innie leaving Gemma to run with Helly, and the ongoing battle between the innies and the outies, we’re set up for a morally complex installment that I can’t wait to watch, theorize and debate.
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