Severance Season 1 Almost Didn’t Include An Iconic Milchick Scene Before Tramell Tillman Made It TV Gold

Created by Dan Erickson with Ben Stiller primarily directing, the very successful and popular black-comedy science fiction psychological thriller series Severance stars Adam Scott, Tramell Tillman, Zach Chery, and more. The story follows an employee of a fictional corporation, Lumon Industries, who agrees to a severance program that separates his work memories from his non-work memories.

Upon release, the series received critical acclaim for its story, direction, cinematography, and performances of the actors. It has been known that the creator conceived the story for Severance while he was working in an office and was dealing with depression as he wished to skip the eight hours of monotonous work. Tramell Tillman talks about one of the iconic sequences from Season 1 that viewers will remember for a long time.

Severance actor Tramell Tillman opens up about the iconic dance sequence in Season 1

Actor Tramell Tillman plays Seth Milchick, the deputy manager on the severed floor at Lumon Industries. The actor appeared during an interview with Den of Geek, where he was asked about the iconic dance sequence showcased in the seventh episode of Season 1. The sequence in the episode titled Defiant Jazz is known to be the show’s most unsettling moment.

The actor shared with the host that the sequence was improvised and explained,

The music/dance experience in season 1 was an incredible surprise. Originally that scene was not going to be in the show, like they had not written that part, and if you look at the script when they did decide to add it, it said, ‘Music/Dance Experience.’. That was it.

He explained that it was his job as an actor and his cast members to figure out how they do what was asked of them. Tillman mentioned that their choreographer, Terra Rodriguez, had an instrumental role, as she said,

You know what, you flow how you want to flow. But let’s go to each of the innies and just play with them and just ratchet it up.

Explaining the filming of the sequence, cinematographer Jessica Lee Gangné shared with IndieWire that every shot in that sequence was carefully calculated. She explained that they had set up multiple cameras where they had to be super precise and have defined ends. They filmed the scene with a 24 mm lens, which she said was because they wanted to make that scene feel like a music video.

The scene builds tension through music, which leads to an explosive climax-altering course for the rest of the season. Director Ben Stiller shared with Conan O’Brien that he did not know that Tramell Tillman would dance like he did and called it his ‘breakout moment.’

Tillman said they had no idea that the scene would turn out the way it did, and now it’s everywhere, and everyone’s talking about it. In his conversation with THR, he shared that a lot of people were scared to talk to him, but he’d go and break the ice only for them to realize that he is not the character he portrays on-screen.

Director Ben Stiller teases the third season of Severance

Executive producer and director Ben Stiller shared an exciting update on the third season of Severance. In speaking to THR, Stiller confirmed that the writers are currently working on the show, despite Apple not yet renewing it.

The reports have suggested that Stiller hopes to keep a long time gap between season 2 and season 3, probably a three-year hiatus. The creator of the show, Dan Erickson, however, in his conversation with Games Radar, acknowledged the success and popularity the show has received. He said,

It took a long time, then there came a point, a certain way into production, where I finally started to feel, ‘I actually think this is better. I don’t think this is any more a matter of, like, can we make something acceptable? I think we’ve actually got something that’s even more exciting than what we had before.

The creator also added that he didn’t think that the show would outgrow its cult following, noting that it was overwhelming for him. Filming for season 2 was intense because Erickson believed that he wanted to match up to the standards of season 1.

New episodes of Season 2 of Severance is streaming on Apple TV+.