Severance stars Patricia Arquette and Tramell Tillman tease a bit more tension between Cobel and Milchick in season 2 - and we're so ready for it.
"Well, he's usurped me basically . It's like he has taken my position and I feel very injured and hostile about that. You know, I thought that, that he cared. I thought he valued me, but you know what? I'd given to him this opportunity and tutelage and instead he very quickly eclipsed me. So I think there's a real injury emotionally for Harmony towards Milchick," Arquette tells GamesRadar+.
Arquette plays the mysterious Harmony Cobel, who, in season 1, serves as the manager of the severed floor and is maybe a little bit too indoctrinated into the world of Lumon and the cult of Kier Egan. Mr. Milchick, played by Tillman, is the severed floor's supervisor - and is responsible for that amazing waffle party dance scene. Though the two are both devoted to Lumon, they frequently clash in what you could perceive as a power struggle - but in season 2, Milchick wins that struggle - and we might just learn that there's something deeper and darker under the surface.
"It's wild because we see that Milchick is now in a different position and he's now in a place of leadership that he's never been in before and he's gotta call the shots," Tillman explains. "And now that Cobell is not in the picture, you know, he doesn't have that direct mentor, that direct guidance that he was once receiving. And so there's the question of if he can handle all of this, you know, and what's the cost of leadership and what does he learn about himself and what does he learn about the company in the process. "
You might remember that Cobel went a bit rogue at the end of season 1, and drove off in her car to only god knows where. Her outie, who assumes a fake identity as Mark's seemingly innocent neighbor Ms. Selvig, seemingly leaves Lumon behind. It's also worth noting that, despite having innie and outie personas, Cobel and Milchick are not severed.
"I think there's a lot more revelation about Cobel and her innie component and her outie component and how they clash and, and kind of what primed her for this job to begin with in her early life," Arquette says. "I think because the stakes are higher, it makes the motivation so much stronger. You get a sense that we're all working towards a specific task without giving too much away. There's something that we're striving for, there's a goal, right? So in not meeting that goal would bring about dire consequences. I don't know what those consequences are, , but we, we like any, any other corporate structure, we have to meet goal, we have to meet the deadline."
"So there's this race for Milchick to keep the train on the track in order for us to make goal," adds Tillman.
"I mean when you move up in a corporation or something like that, in a responsibility, there's no one to hide behind anymore. Like he could blame me in the first season for things going wrong or bad calls that I made," continues Arquette. "There's a lot more exposure when you move into that next position and this corporation is always moving the goalposts and you do what they say and then suddenly it's like, oh wait, you're in trouble because now you should have done it some other way."
Arquette says "they're always changing procedure in a way that you can never really keep up with and Harmony has a part of herself that's always breaking the rules anyway. As much as she is like a rule follower, she also thinks she's smarter than the whole corporation."
Severance season 2 hits Apple TV Plus on January 17. The first season is streaming now for free. For more, check out our Severance season 2 review, or check out our set visit report and interview with Ben Stiller.
