Ben Stiller Teases ‘Severance’ Spinoffs and, Respectfully, No Thanks

Spinoffs aren’t only reserved for Dick Wolf shows and other various crime procedurals. There was a time when spinoffs were a dime a dozen. A sitcom character could get a big laugh, and suddenly you’re following them to another state to see what it would be like if they ran a hotel. Main characters could find themselves with their own adventures as well. It still happens today, even if not as frequently. That being said, some shows don’t feel made for a spinoff, and Severance is one of them.

To get one thing out of the way: I love Severance. Not only do I love the show, but I trust the people who make it. There are things about it that make me feel like they may not have it entirely figured out yet, but that’s okay! Television is a work in progress. Vince Gilligan thought Jesse Pinkman would be dead by the end of season one of Breaking Bad! However, Breaking Bad wasn’t shrouded in mystery. It wasn’t setting up things in such an abstract way that people were convinced Gale Boetticher was a Goat.

That’s the kind of show Severance is. It’s a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, and shoved in a cubicle. That’s part of what makes it fun. It also helps that it is swimming in engrossing human drama, looks incredible, and has a host of incredible actors delivering career performances. There is so much going on in the show that (seemingly) important plot details weren’t even addressed in the most recent season finale (where is Irving, dammit?!). So, when I hear that Ben Stiller wants to open up more threads, I… don’t get as excited as I would hope.

But, there are some ideas for a Severance spinoff stored in the Lumon offices, and while they may still be in the early stage, Stiller is talking about them. “There are two specific ideas — that I won’t tell you — that we’ve talked about internally as possible spinoff ideas,” the Zoolander star said when asked about the possibility of a spinoff in an interview with Variety. When asked how far along they are, he mentioned that “They are nascent.” Again, I trust Stiller and the crew behind the show, but I would kindly say no thanks.

There is much that I want to know about the world inhabited by the Outties of the Lumon workers. However, I would rather learn about it from the show. The spinoffs wouldn’t have to be focused on world-building, but it would seem like the most likely route. I also don’t think there are any of the characters I’d want to see with their own show, nor would I want to see a show about the company’s history. Maybe there is some idea being floated around that would be unique to spinoffs, but I doubt it.

Before you say it, I’m also aware that I can just not watch a spinoff. I love The Boys, but don’t watch Gen V, and am still alive and breathing. But with so many questions created in Severance, it’s hard to imagine a spinoff that doesn’t feel integral to some degree and frankly, I’d rather focus on the tangled web we already have, and who the hell knows when it will even come back (Stiller was pretty coy when asked as much in the same interview).

While I wouldn’t want a television spinoff, I’m not averse to a Severance video game, mainly because I have no idea what that could be, even though Stiller and star Adam Scott seem to. Ole Ben thinks it would “be great to have a Severance video game.” With Scott chiming in and saying, “I think it lends itself to one.” Sure! Gimme a complex, AAA game where I get to explore the halls of Lumon. That being said, there are already versions of the show’s MacroData Refinement out there, and after playing one for a few minutes, I understood why someone may need to create another version of themselves to do it for them all day.