"Such a pain in the a**" - Adam Scott opens up about the challenge of acting opposite himself in a rewritten scene in Severance season 2

Severance season 2 premiered its 10 episodes between January 16, 2025, and March 20, 2025, on Apple TV+. The dystopian series features Adam Scott as the protagonist, Mark Scout, who splits his consciousness into his work-self (innie) and personal-self (outie) through Lumon's severance procedure to deal with the grief of his wife Gemma's death.

However, in the second season, innie and outie Mark realize that Gemma is alive and held captive inside Lumon. The two counterparts, who coexist but never overlap, finally converse in the series finale, Cold Harbor.

On April 5, 2025, Adam Scott spoke to TV Insider on the red carpet at Apple TV+'s FYC event at the Lumon offices in Holmdel, New Jersey. While talking about the experience of acting opposite himself in the scene above, the 52-year-old actor joked that he found himself "insufferable" before saying:

"I have to say it was by far the most insufferable actor I've ever worked with… Just such a pain in the a**, and I now know what all my fellow castmates have been putting up with for so long."

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What did Ben Stiller say about shooting the tricky scene from Severance season 2 finale?

The scene occurs in the first few minutes of the Severance season 2 finale after Mark, Devon, and Cobel arrive at the Damona Birthing Center. Inside one of its cabins, Mark's innie gets activated (like Lumon's severed floor), but stepping outside the cabin's perimeter reverts him to his outie.

Hence, the room allows Mark's innie and outie to speak to each other for the first time. Using a camcorder, innie Mark records a message inside the room while the outie responds outside.

The episode's director, Ben Stiller, mentioned at the same event that the entire scene lasts 18-19 minutes and plays out like a tennis match of a conversation. He also highlighted the challenges of executing the scene in such a way that left no room for confusion by saying:

"The goal was to not get confused. That was my goal in shooting it. I wanted to be able to follow it. It was confusing…We were rewriting that scene up until the time we shot it too."

He continued:

"Ultimately, it was just (about) trying to tell the story in the clearest way and not have the audience really think about what the filmmaking was there (and) just being involved in what Adam was doing."

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A brief recap of Severance season 2 finale

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

The Severance season 2 finale sets up Mark's rescue mission for Gemma, trapped inside Lumon's testing floor. After his attempts to reintegrate his innie and outie memories fail, Mark's sister Devon convinces him to speak to his innie directly at the Damona Birthing Center. However, the conversation does not go as well as he hoped.

Outie Mark tries to convince his innie to save Gemma, but the latter realizes that it will jeopardize his existence. He rightfully argues that all the innies, including himself and Helly R., will cease to exist once Gemma is rescued and Lumon is exposed for its sinister activities. Despite the outie's reassurance that he will complete the reintegration process to keep him alive, innie Mark does not give in.

However, the next day, Mark returns to Lumon and completes the Cold Harbor file, with Lumon planning to kill Gemma soon after. Hence, innie Mark races against time to rescue Gemma from the testing floor, despite his reservations, with instructions left behind by Irving. Gemma and Mark finally reunite after three years outside the Cold Harbor room. But as they zip through the hallways to escape, they switch between their innies and outies several times.

On the severed floor, innie Mark escorts Gemma out of the exit stairwell and decides to stay behind with his true love, Helly R. The series ends with the two running through Lumon's hallways with complete abandon as Mel Tormé's Windmills of Your Mind plays in the background.

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Viewers can catch up on all episodes of Severance season 2 on Apple TV+.