The teaser trailer for Season 2 of Severance shows the world's worst return-to-office policy in action

After a lengthy hiatus due in part to last year's Hollywood strikes, Apple TV+'s hit sci-fi/thriller series arrives Severance pay returns for season two on January 17th. The streaming service has released a teaser trailer that doesn't give much away, but offers just enough intrigue and confusion to keep fans on their toes.

(Mild spoilers for the first season follow.)

Severance payAs you may recall, it focuses on a group of people who want to completely separate their work and non-work memories. Four workers at Lumon Industries (whose office selves are known as “Innies”) end up executing an escape plan of sorts. They find a way to blur the lines between the two memories, with three of them learning some earth-shattering revelations about their “outie” lives in the season one finale.

Apple says that “in season two, Mark and his friends learn the terrible consequences of being careless about the severance pay barrier, leading them further down a path of misery.” The teaser shows a panicking Mark S . (Adam Scott) at Lumon Industries, running through the building's oppressive corridors. Similar to The Movie, it includes some surprising images as well as sound clips from the first season, including a disturbing watermelon version of Irving's (John Turturro) head.

Mark stops as he reaches an office area and meets three new colleagues in place of his regular cohorts. Moments later, supervisor Milchick (Tramell Tillman) arrives to welcome the formerly fired worker back while carrying a bunch of balloons with Mark's face on them. You could think of it as the most frightening return-to-work policy implemented anywhere in the world.

The teaser is a good first real look at the new season. While the excellent Season 1 finale gave the Innies and the audience some much-needed and truly shocking answers, the clip raises some important new questions. It's likely we'll have to endure a fair bit of suspense in the ten-episode second season before we get more clarity about what's going on in this bizarre workplace.