Actors Zach Cherry and Merritt Wever gave us one of the most interesting romances this TV season in Apple+’s Severance. Cherry’s Dylan served as a Lumon employee since the first season, but across season two, we became much more familiar with his “outie,” or non-Lumon persona. We find out that Dylan is married to Wever’s Gretchen, and Lumon cruelly leverages this relationship to keep Dylan focused and happy while at work.
Their scenes across season two, whether they’re with “innie” or “outie” Dylan, gave the series another tightly emotional boost. Their relationship spawned many in-depth conversations about marriage, fidelity, and the complexities inherent in long-time relationships. Here, in an interview with The Contending, Zach Cherry and Merritt Wever sit down to discuss Dylan and Gretchen’s season two character arc. They dive into the heartbreaking proposal scene, which seems to have affected them in addition to breaking the audience’s hearts.
Finally, do Zach Cherry or Merritt Wever know what’s in store for season three?
Find out below!
The Contending: Merritt, what was it like stepping into the world of Severance?
Merritt Wever: We are doing that where we do a few of these in a row that makes me feel like such a fraud because I just answered the question and now I feel like I’m answering it the same way so it makes it feel like I’m cheating off my own homework. I think my experience as an actor and my experience as a character kind of mirrored each other. The character is coming into this world of Lumon and she has no idea what it’s like and is not privy to what her husband’s innie day-to-day experience is. So everything is all new and weird, and as an actor I was coming on to a show that had already been in progress and everyone’s spent time with their characters and with each other. So there was an aspect of getting on a moving train. But it didn’t feel inappropriate given that the character doesn’t exactly have her two feet solidly beneath her.
The Contending: When we get to see you both in your outie versions, you’ve obviously been together for a while and comfortable with each other but there’s a lot of baggage that’s hanging over the relationship. Were you given any backstories for your characters, or did you create your own? How did you decide on your approach to it?
Zach Cherry: I wasn’t given a ton. I remember when we came back for season two, and they told me about the planned arc for the season. I think there were a few different specifics we talked about. But when we got the scripts there were these little glimpses or morsels of what the relationship is like, especially in contrast to what the relationship between Gretchen and innie Dylan is like. That was very illustrative to me of where their outie relationship is at. So I didn’t feel like I needed those specifics locked down. We were able to feel it based on what we were doing.
Merritt Wever: Yeah, I similarly felt there was more than enough on the page to mine. Then we just started doing it, and I think if we had started doing it and it hadn’t been working or had been confusing or we were on two very different pages, we probably would have had to stop and talk about it in depth. But that didn’t end up being the case and that is always a lovely thing.
The Contending: When Gretchen is meeting innie Dylan for the first time, the scene is played in a way where you know the person but you don’t know the person on several levels for both of you. Even we as the audience at first know if this is real because we know that Lumon has lied several times before where we, as the audience, aren’t even certain Gretchen is his wife. How did you guys try to approach that scene with all that subtext?
Zach Cherry: For me, based on what I knew about innie Dylan, it felt like his first ever date. So it was with someone he had not met but he knows it’s his wife so there is this level of comfort or at least maybe an expectation of comfort. But there is still a lot of nervousness, awkwardness, and excitement around this first date experience. That’s what I focused on in that scene.
Merritt Wever: I remember having to make sure that I kept the scene moving because every single second there is something else coming at her that could stop her in her tracks, that could leave her dumb struck or awestruck. So I had to make sure that I didn’t slow down the scene too much and take every single one of those what the fucks to heart too much.
The Contending: One thing I love about that scene is where you’re both describing outie Dylan. Innie Dylan just calls him a loser and Gretchen counters and says no, he’s just lost. Later that’s brought back up when Gretchen is talking to outie Dylan after she has kissed innie Dylan. I thought it was a great way to get a big insight into outie Dylan at that moment. I was curious how you guys perceived him at that moment?
Zach Cherry: I think, for innie Dylan in season one, he spends a lot of time hypothesizing about who we might be on the outside and he has a lot of confidence, so he imagines that he is this great man. Then, he learns the details about his outside life and then just perceives it as though outie he’s a loser. I think his outie probably does feel like a loser given the specifics of his life. But I do think it’s interesting when you see it from someone close to him who gives the perspective that he’s not a loser, he just has these other things going on right now. But I did think it was interesting that innie Dylan felt the same way that outie Dylan felt about himself.
Merritt Wever: I don’t think that Gretchen sees her husband as a loser at all. I think it’s in episode 209 in the kitchen where she tells outie Dylan what has happened. I don’t think she is telling him to hurt him, or to blow up her marriage. I think she’s trying to save the marriage, because she is not someone who can keep a secret. That scene in the kitchen with outie Dylan ends with her begging him to stay and he walks out the door. Then their next scene together in the visitation room ends with innie Dylan literally on one knee begging her to stay and she is walking out the door. So these scenes are painful parallels of each other.
The Contending: The proposal scene is incredibly heartbreaking with Gretchen even crying. Just what was that like to make?
Merritt Wever: The sentence that came to mind is “no mud, no lotus.” You go to work, you do all of your homework, you do all of your practicing, so that maybe in the moment when the camera is rolling you can find a quick second, a quick line, a quick take, where you get to be free. Most of the time when you go to work you do not get those moments. You hopefully get a good enough day, but I remember that something happened when we were shooting that scene that was unexpected to me that I didn’t know was going to happen, and it was an experience that felt honest and true, and I remember being really grateful for that take. Because that’s the reason you put up with or withstand all the rest of the days where you do not get that. Sometimes you can go through a whole job looking for that moment and never get it, so I am really grateful when something spontaneous happens.
Zack Cherry: That’s really interesting. I never heard it put that way before, “ no mud, no lotus.” I’m going to do some research about that. [Laughs] But that totally speaks to my experience too. I actually felt that way quite frequently when we were shooting our scenes together where I would show up. I had done my preparation and I thought I knew what the scene was going to feel like. Then we would start shooting and I would feel like this is something different than what I expected. I remember in that scene specifically the thing I didn’t expect to feel was how embarrassed innie Dylan feels after he does the proposal. Because he is so naive that in his mind this is a totally fine idea, and then when he sees her reaction he is basically like, oops, we were not on the same page. I think that’s a very common experience for someone in their first time in love, but that was not something I was prepared to experience as I was reading the scene. But then when we were shooting it that was something that came up organically. So I similarly felt that little bit of magic that you’re searching for.
The Contending: That was beautifully said from both of you, so now to go to something totally ridiculous. Zack, you had one of the scenes from this season that I think we’ll all remember when you are interviewing for your job at the door factory. Anything you can tell us about shooting that scene would be welcomed.
Zack Cherry: That was a lot of fun, and it was genuinely one of the more surreal experiences I have ever had. Adrian (Martinez), who they cast as my opposite in that scene, he and I look a little bit alike in regular life to the point where when we were both chatting we have both been complimented on each other’s work before. I was excited when I heard they cast him, thinking that that’s so funny. But on the day when they had him made up to look even more like me it was generally kind of trippy, to act across from someone who was this bizarre doppelganger. I am sure it’s a surreal scene on purpose, and it was also a surreal experience to shoot it.
The Contending: Where the season ends innie Dylan has been rejected but got that letter from his outie that gives him a desire to keep going. But now he’s in the middle of a rebellion that will potentially cut Gretchen off from her husband if they are stuck in the severed floor. Also now with the things Gretchen knows about him being severed. Do you have any thoughts about where that places your characters or is that something you’re not thinking about?
Zach Cherry: I personally don’t even try to think about that. At the end of season one, Dylan’s storyline with Gretchen was not on my radar at all. I do not know if Dan (Erickson) and Ben (Stiller) and the writers had been talking about something like that at the time, but I wasn’t thinking about it. So when we came back for season two and I was told about it, I was so excited, and it was unexpected. So I just sit back and wait for whatever next unexpected thing they tell me we’re going to be doing.
Merritt Wever: Yeah, I’m glad it’s not my job.
Severance streams exclusively on AppleTV.
