Severance season 2 ending explained: Star breaks down Gemma's fate

Throughout the season, revelations have come to light about what exactly Lumon is doing to Gemma and why, as well as conversations about the treatment of Innies, and whether love can transcend severance.

So, as we digest everything that just happened and start the long wait for season 3, which has now been confirmed, here's your full breakdown of that finale episode - complete with input from Gemma herself, actress Dichen Lachman, who spoke exclusively to RadioTimes.com.

Severance season 2 ending explained: What happened to Gemma?

At the end of Severance season 2, Innie Mark helps Gemma to escape from Lumon - but, when she steps outside the door, he locks her out.

When he sees Helly (Britt Lower) waiting for him at the other end of the corridor, he makes his decision and walks back towards her. The pair then run back into the depths of Lumon together to face the terrors that await them.

Breaking down that heartbreaking moment from Gemma's perspective, Lachman exclusively told RadioTimes.com: "I think she realises that it's not him behind those doors, possibly.

"I just realised it's possible that she doesn't know if he is severed or not, because when he rescues her, it's all just, like, crazy... it's such a short period of time they have, it's not like he can explain the whole thing to her. I'm going to have to ask Dan [Erickson, creator] about this!

"I think she's just trying to get through to him... I just remember needing to get to that place. She's so devastated. Like, 'Why isn't he coming out the door?' It's very sad."

But how did we get here?

The episode picks up in the birthing cabin, with Mark's Innie seeing Devon (Jen Tullock) for the first time since the end of season 1.

Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette) asks Mark if he's finished Cold Harbor and Cobel is relieved when he says no, revealing that Gemma's still alive and they have a chance to save her. Cobel mentions the dark corridor to the testing floor and Mark admits that he and the rest of MDR know where it is.

In fact, inside Lumon, Helly is trying to memorise how to get there, but she's interrupted by Jame Eagan (Michael Siberry), who claims he no longer loves his daughter, saying he no longer sees Kier in her - but he does in Innie Helly.

Cobel lays out the plan to Mark - that when Cold Harbor is complete, he will need to get down to the testing floor. She says that, when Mark reaches the testing floor, Mark's Outie will take over as his chip is only attuned to the severed floor, so he'll find Gemma and take her up to the severed floor. Mark's Innie will then take over again and he'll guide Gemma to the exit.

Devon says that proving Lumon kidnapped Gemma will be the key to Lumon's downfall - but Mark questions what will happen to him and the other Innies if Lumon ceases to exist. Cobel says it doesn't have to end his life and Gemma pulls out a camcorder with a video from Outie Mark.

Cobel tells him to watch it, record his response, and then step outside, and we see Innie and Outie Mark conversing for the first time.

While the conversation starts civil, it quickly gets heated. Outie Mark doesn't understand why Innie Mark won't help him rescue Gemma and why he doesn't like the idea of reintegration.

Meanwhile, Innie Mark thinks Outie Mark doesn't understand that he has a life at Lumon - and he's not prepared to give it up. The conversation ends with Innie Mark saying he can't trust Outie Mark.

Innie Mark threatens his Outie, ordering to be returned to the severed floor - which he is.

The lift opens to a disturbing painting depicting Mark completing Cold Harbor. Helly arrives on the severed floor and the pair share a hug. They find a life-size figure of Kier Eagan (Marc Geller) waiting for them in MDR and a note addressed to Mark from Milchick (Tramell Tillman) saying that Kier wanted to "witness" the completion of Cold Harbor.

On the testing floor, Cecily (Sandra Bernhard) prepares Gemma for her final room, Cold Harbor, and Mark and Helly debate what to do and whether Cobel and Outie Mark are telling the truth.

Helly encourages Mark to go along with the plan, so as he has a chance of living. Helly joins Mark at his desk as he completes the Cold Harbor file and surreptitiously hands him Irving's directions to the dark corridor.

In true Lumon fashion, the weirdness begins when Cold Harbor is complete, with the figure of Kier springing into action for a bizarre double act performance with Milchick, before a full marching band, comprised of "Choreography and Merriment" workers, descends on MDR.

Helly distracts Milchick, locking him in the toilets, and Dylan barricades him in with the vending machine as Mark makes a run for the dark corridor.

Gemma goes through the Cold Harbor door to find a crib in an otherwise empty room. Fans will remember that Outie Gemma and Mark's fertility struggles were a point of heartbreak for them - with this room presumably meant to test whether Gemma's new Innie would be triggered by one of the most distressing times of her life.

Jame orders her to take apart the crib, just as Outie Mark did in their life together. Dr Mauer assures Jame that she feels nothing and the severance barrier is holding.

Speaking to RadioTimes.com about the testing rooms, Lachman recalled: "It was almost two years ago that I heard about the rooms with the airplane and the turbulence, and then the dentist.

"But as soon as they start talking about that, I was like, 'OK, yeah, maybe [Lumon] are trying to build a commercial device so that people don't have to go through things that are unpleasant...'

"So in terms of Gemma and why they picked her, it feels like, based on watching as a fan, that they've been monitoring her for some time, and they're very connected.

"And it feels like there's something with the blood - that there's something to do with that. I mean, they're in the fertility clinic. Maybe this whole place is run by Lumon - they have their finger in every pie.

"So, why pick her? I'm not sure. As a fan reading it, I'm like, maybe something did happen in the car, like she did have a car accident, maybe. [Mark] says 'I identified her body'.

"There's so much mystery around how she even got there in the first place and so many different possibilities. So if we get a chance to, I'm excited to see whether they go with it."

Helly gives a speech to Choreography and Merriment, telling them about the loss of Irving (John Turturro) and pointing out that any of them could be next, asserting, "They give us half a life and think we won't fight for it," and appealing for help.

Mark makes it to the testing floor and is confronted by Cecily, who he chases away with the gun.

Mark is finally reunited with Gemma in the Cold Harbor room - but she doesn't recognise him. He urges Gemma to leave with him, as Dr Mauer (Robby Benson) orders her to stay where she is.

Gemma takes Mark's hand and the pair make a run for it as Jame Eagan looks on in horror. When she's out of the room, Gemma reverts to her Outie and she and Mark are finally truly reunited.

As Mark and Gemma make it to the elevator, they narrowly evade Dr Mauer, who screams after them: "You'll kill them all!" But who is he talking about? Gemma's Innies? Lachman thinks so.

"I interpreted it that way, because he does have an affection for all her Innies for different reasons," the actress told RadioTimes.com. "I think he has this fixation on all of them [and], in his weird way, he really cares for all of those Innies. It's so bizarre."

In the elevator, Gemma and Mark share a kiss - but then revert to their Innies. With no time to lose, Innie Mark grabs Ms Casey's hand and the pair run for the exit stairwell.

Mark gets Gemma out the door, where she reverts to her Outie once again, but he stays inside the Lumon building, locking her out.

Mark turns around to see Helly behind him, at the other end of the corridor, and Gemma desperately pounding on the door and calling his name, begging him to go with her.

What happened to Mark and Helly?

With a small smile, Mark makes his decision and walks towards Helly, taking her hand as they run back into the depths of Lumon together.

It proves what Innie Mark has been saying all along - that he is unwilling to give up the life that's been given to him at Lumon, no matter how insignificant or painful others may deem that life.

It's intriguing to see Innie Mark take ownership of his life in this way - and fans are wondering what the future will hold for him and Helly. Will they stay at Lumon forever?

What is Cold Harbor?

Cold Harbor is the final file that Mark has had to refine and represents a final Innie, or consciousness, for Gemma.

Cobel explains to Mark that the numbers he's refining at work are a doorway into Gemma's mind. When asked what he feels every day when he looks at the numbers, Cobel points out it's woe, frolic, malice and dread, revealing that the clusters are tempers, the building blocks of Gemma's mind.

She reveals that every file Mark has completed is a new consciousness for Gemma - a new Innie. Mark reveals he's completed 24 files so far, with one to go - meaning the aim is for Gemma to have 25 Innies.

Executive producer Ben Stiller further explained to Deadline: "The Cold Harbor experiment, we don’t quite know what the purpose of it is, but we do get the sense that [Gemma]’s been severed into, like, a number of different consciousnesses.

"It’s something that’s very important to Lumon, and what that is, I think we don’t quite know yet. I do think it sets up, obviously, the stakes of what they’re doing down there."

Erickson added: "We left some of it up to interpretation on purpose.

"We didn’t want to sort of walk people through exactly what was being tested and why. In part, because such a big part of this, of this show, has become the conversations that take place after the fact, and so we trusted that people would think about it and would talk about it, and would have different ideas about it, and that would just make it that much richer."

What happened to Mr Drummond?

Mark accidentally shoots and kills Mr Drummond when he switches from his Innie to his Outie.

On the testing floor, Gwendoline Christie's Lorne returns with one of her goats. Mr Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) orders her to kill the goat (named Emile, we later find out) as an offering.

As he's trying to get into the testing floor, Mark is intercepted by Drummond and the pair get embroiled in a brutal fight. Lorne steps in to help Mark and almost kills Drummond before Mark stops her.

Mark takes Drummond hostage, with a gun trained on him, clearly never meaning to actually hurt him - but in the moment Mark changes from his Innie to his Outie when taking the elevator down to the testing floor, his finger accidentally tightens on the trigger and he shoots and kills Mr Drummond.

What happened to Dylan?

To his surprise, Dylan arrives back on the severed floor after quitting and reads a response from his Outie to his resignation request, urging him to stay at Lumon.

Thankfully, when he heads back to MDR, he finds Helly in need of help - and aids her in locking Mr Milchick in the toilets.

As for what will happen next with Dylan and Gretchen, only time will tell.

What happened to Mr Milchick?

After being locked in the toilets for a large portion of the episode, Milchick makes his escape.

However, he's greeted by a furious army of C&M Innies flanking Dylan, who tells him: "F**k you, Mr Milchick" - and the future isn't looking good for him.

Now, the wait begins for season 3. As for what she'd like to see from a potential season 3, Lachman told RadioTimes.com: "If that happened, I'd just be so curious to know what it's like for [Gemma's] experience to have so many different Innies.

"What does that mean? How does that play out in the world, and do they have an overtime contingency for her? I don't know. Are there different switches that they can control in her if she's in the outside world? It seems absolutely, like, awful if that was the case - to turn on Ms Casey in the outside world!"

Lachman has assured us she doesn't know anything about season 3, so these are just theories - but the show has now been renewed for season 3, so hopefully some answers are on the horizon!

Severance season 2 is available to stream on Apple TV+ now.

Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.