Apple TV Plus' 2022 hitSeverancethrew many twists and turns at the audience during its epic first season. It turns out that the twists the show had shocked even its cast members when the show was releasing its episodes week by week, which included Jen Tullock, who played Mark Scout’s sister, Devon Hale.
According to Tullock herself, she had no idea about the twists that were going on in theApple TV Plusshow ahead of time. This was because her character didn’t spend any time with those who worked at Lumon Industries besides her brother.
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Tullock admitted in a cast interview withBuzzFeedthat she felt no need to know what was going on with the innies since Devon did not interact with any of them until she met Mark’s innie during the season finale. “My character is on the outside world the entire time, so I thought I didn’t need to be privy to what was happening on the inside if she wasn’t. So, I kind of intentionally kept myself away from the buttons on some of the storylines towards the end of the season,” Tullock said. That led to her surprised reactions when she watched the show with some company. “I watched it with friends for the first time, and there were a couple of twists where I was like, ‘OH!’ because I didn’t know.”
It makes sense too, seeing how most of the twists inSeveranceregarded the innies' lives and not the outies and what they were going through. The twists included finding out Dylan’s outie had a family, Helly’s outie was the daughter of Lumon’s CEO, and Irving’s paint fantasies happened because his outie had a habit of painting. Hence, Tullock didn’t need to know much about what had really been going on besides that Mark’s presumed deceased wife was apparently alive the whole time, although she’ll probablyhave more questions inSeveranceseason 2.
More importantly, choosing to be oblivious was a smart move on Tullock’s part because it helps make the character appear more believable. There’s nothing worse than seeing that a certain character, who should not have any idea of what’s happened beforehand, inexplicably appears to be in on everything that’s been going on. It can make it harder for the actor to pull off the character if they know the story’s twists before acting them out. Keeping herself in the dark while the show was filming helped Tullock pull off her performance as Devon and made the outies' lives truly feel different from the innies.
Certain shows have benefited from situations like these. Bryan Cranston admitted that he had no idea that Walter White had poisoned Brock Cantillo until reading the script forBreaking Bad’s finale in season 4, which meant that Walt’s speech to Jesse Pinkman pleading his innocence while turning out to be master manipulator was inspired by Cranston truly believing that Walt didn’t do it. Who knows if Cranston could have been just as convincing had he known beforehand that Walt, in fact, committed such an unforgivable deed? The real question is, now that the innies have gotten their first taste of life outside of work, how much more in the know will Devon be?
