Severance: What is the Lexington letter? Everything you need to know about the e-book

Modified Feb 27, 2025 06:10 GMT

An image of Mark and Helly from Severance season 2 (Image via X/@Apple TV)

The award-winning series Severance debuted its first season on February 18, 2022, on Apple TV+. Created by Dan Erickson, the dystopian thriller series returned with its second season on January 17, 2025. It is produced by Aoife McArdle, Amanda Overton, and Gerry Robert Byrne, while Mark Friedman, John Cameron, Ben Stiller, and others serve as the show's executive producers.

The show's first season featured nine episodes and ran from February 18, 2022, to April 8, 2022. During this time, the creators released the e-book, Severance: The Lexington Letter, as a way to delve deeper into the mysteries of Lumon Industries. The letter tells the story of a former Lumon employee, who makes some startling revelations about the company's sinister operations.

Rotten Tomatoes described the show's synopsis as follows:

"Mark leads a team of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives; when a mysterious colleague appears outside of work, it begins a journey to discover the truth about their jobs."

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What is Severance: The Lexington Letter about?

Apple Books released Severance: The Lexington Letter on March 18, 2022. The fictional e-book is written by Dan Erickson and Ben Stiller and serves as a companion piece to the series. It offers a rare insight into the world of Lumon through a character known as Peg Kincaid, who is not a part of the Apple TV+ series.

The Lexington Letter starts with The Topeka Star's reporter, Daria Thorn, writing an email to her editor, Jim M. She mentions receiving a letter from a former Lumon employee, Margaret 'Peg' Kincaid, about her ordeal at the company and wants to know if she should pursue the story.

In the letter, Peg reveals that she has undergone the severance procedure and found a way to communicate with her innie, Peggy K. Their exchange about their respective lives led to some shocking discoveries that made her fearful for her safety.

She mentions her innie completing the mysterious Lexington file at work. According to her, two minutes after the file is completed, the horrific Dorner Therapeutics truck explosion takes place. Considering that Dorner is Lumon's competitor, she finds it way too convenient to be a coincidence and is worried if Lumon is behind the explosion and engaging in corporate espionage.

The letter gets more terrifying as Peg mentions that Peggy was fired, essentially ending her existence, after she was caught communicating with her outie. Peg received the last note from her innie saying, "Thank you for my life." Horrified, she resigned from the company and moved to Topeka, but Lumon allegedly kept a close eye on her over the next few days.

Daria checks with her editor about taking up this story, calling the allegations "pretty astonishing." However, the editor discourages her by saying that they do not want to get sued by Lumon for libel and be driven out of business like the National Tribune.

He later informs Daria that Peg passed away in a car accident days after contacting her. He signs the email as Jim Milchick, leading to the chilling realization that he is related to Lumon's Seth Milchick and may be part of the overall cover-up.

The Lexington Letter e-book contains 43 pages and includes an employee handbook. It is available to download for free on Apple Books.

Also read: Severance season 1 recap: All to remember before season 2 arrives