Severance features a super dark Easter egg you may have missed

Severance TV show
(Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

Since premiering on Apple TV Plus back in February, people have been raving about Severance, and its perfect blend of black comedy, thought-provoking thrills, and mystery-drenched horrors.   

Created by Dan Erickson, the show follows a team of office workers at a sinister company called Lumon Industries, who have all elected to undergo a surgical procedure known as 'severance'. In order to keep the data refinement work they do a secret, the procedure splits people's consciousnesses between work and their personal lives – but as the employees learn more about their sinister superiors, they set out to discover who they are and what they actually do.

As many have been catching up or rewatching, presumably trying to work out what the heck is going on, one fan, Krystina Nellis, highlighted a super dark Easter egg that perfectly sums up the Innie experience.

"Nerdy, extremely appropriate thing I just noticed about set design on #Severance... the keyboards have no (visible) escape key," they wrote on Twitter, alongside a shot of John Turturro's character Irving's desk set-up.

"If you want to get really nerdy about it, you can programme any key to be the escape, or anything, on any mechanical keyboard like this," they continued. "Do I think Lumon Industries are letting employees run QMK or VIA to do this? Personally I doubt it, but dare to dream."

Innies like Irving, Helly R (Britt Lower), Dylan (Zach Cherry), and Mark Scout (Adam Scott), can't remember anything about their real self when they're at Lumon, and are essentially trapped at work. Given the show's production value, it's highly likely that the missing key is a nod to that fact.

Apple TV Plus announced that Severance will be back for a second season in early April, ahead of its season 1 finale.

"It's really exciting to see the response from people who are loving the show — and the level of fan engagement," Ben Stiller, who produced the show and directed six of its nine episodes, said in a statement at the time. "It has been a long road bringing Severance to television. I first read Dan's pilot over five years ago. It has always been a multi-season story and I'm really happy we get to continue it. I'm grateful to our partners at Apple TV Plus who have been behind it the whole way. Praise Kier!"

Severance season 1 is currently available to stream on Apple TV Plus. If you’re all up to date, then check out our Severance ending explained piece. And if you're itching for your next genre fix, then why not check out our roundup of the best sci-fi movies, and draw up a new to-watch list. 

Amy West

I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things TV and film across our Total Film and SFX sections. Elsewhere, my words have been published by the likes of Digital Spy, SciFiNow, PinkNews, FANDOM, Radio Times, and Total Film magazine.