Severance Season 2: Is Helly Really Helena Now?

Severance Season 2 has premiered on Apple TV+ and after just one episode there are already some major theories about what new twists and reveals are being set up for the seasonal arc. Out of the handful of major theories about Severance Season 2 already out there, there’s one that seems to be gaining popularity with a lot of fans: that one member of Lumon’s Macrodata Refinement Division is not longer who they say they are, and could even be villain of the series now.

Videos by ComicBook.com

(SPOILERS) If you watched the Severance Season 2 premiere then you already likely have your own doubts about “Helly R.” (Britt Lower) and her return to MDR. In the Severance Season 1 finale, it was revealed that “Helly” is really Helena Eagan, the daughter of Lumon’s CEO Jame Eagan (Michael Siberry), and the granddaughter of the cult-like company’s founder, Kier Eagan. Helena’s entire character arc involved her ensuring the severance process’s continued existence by undergoing the process herself and chronicling her journey as “Helly” as proof of concept that the process is safe, beneficial, and not at all harmful to the “innies,” who can only live out their conscious lives at work. However, Helly turned the tables several times in Season 1 – including nearly killing herself and Helena in a suicide attempt. In the finale, Helly made the discovery of her true identity as “Helena,” and tried yell the message about the terrible standards of severed life during a Lumon gala event.

Is That Really “Helly” in the Severance Season 2 Premiere?

The leading theory now is that Helena has pulled da bait-and-switch on her MDR co-workers, posing as Helly in order to infiltrate the group and examine them, to see if they’ve truly been diswayed from mutiny against the company – or perhaps to see what kind of schemes they come up with to bring Lumon down. The MDR team is now a (seemingly) unique anamoly in Lumon’s severed process; Helena and her associates have major vested interests in researching what sparked the rebellious thoughts and impulses within MDR, and ensuring that kind of ‘glitch’ never happens again. In that sense, Helena posing as Helly and using the rest of the MDR team as test subjects makes perfect sense.

Fans have spotted a few clues to support this theory in the Season 2 premiere. The first is Helly conspicuously being the one to point out MDR’s office workspace changes, questioning why the cameras are gone, right after Mark S. (Adam Scott) worries that it may not be a safe space for discussing their experiences on the outside during the mutiny. Some viewers think this was done intentionally to lure the other MDR team members into a false sense of security, so that they start to talk openly, making it easier to observe and study them. Other signs of Helena being in the Season 2 premiere that fans spotted included her awkward physical reaction to Mark hugging her (and general non-interest in bringing up their kiss) after they achieved greater intimacy in Season 1; or Helena seeming to fumble with turning on her work computer when other MDR members remembered how to immediately.

The theory is not airtight, however.

One big debate is about the monologue when “Helly” finally confesses her outside experience to the rest of MDR and outright lies about it, never mentioning her true identity and rattling off a half-assed lie about waking up in her apartment and going outside to talk to a gardner. Irving clocked that a gardner working at night, in winter, didn’t make sense; fans have ben debating who is telling that lie, and why. Some believe it’s more evidence of Helena being the one present, and being caught off-guard by having to narrate Helly’s experiences, only to conjur the most inultingly mundane life portrait she could. Helena has an established hubris of not considering “innies” to be people with feelings and lives, so not being prepared with a story for what “Helly” went through actually tracks for that character.

On the other hand, “Helly” has some emotional stakes riding on this conversation as well: finding out she’s the biggest opponent of Mark, MDR, and all severed employees suffering in silence. Breaking that to the group is no small matter, and Helly would have as much reason to lie as Helly would.

Are Helena & Helly Working Together or Against Each Other?

At the very least there’s no debating that there is something suspicious going on with Helly/Helena in Severance Season 2’s premiere. After the Season 1 finale, it’s also fair to look at both halves of Helly/Helena and see that if the former is the upstart rebel, it makes certain thematic sense that the latter is the biggest authoritarian figure in the show. The question for her character (and the entire season) is, once again, what happened in between the gaps that we do get to see? And do we have to only examine Helly’s character arc from a binary standpoint? Aren’t their third options available?

Reintegration – One dangling thread of Severance Season 1 is reintegration, the process of re-merging severed personalities. Helly’s predecessor in MDR, Petey, worked with former severance process creator Dr. Regabhi (Karen Aldrige) to make reintegration possible – but Petey didn’t follow medical protocol after procedure and ultimately died from the brain trauma. Helena Eagan had to have some kind of endgame plan for purging “Helly” from her brain once her trial run was done, and returning to her normal life – maybe reintegration ended up being the method, and Helly and Helena are just one merged person now. That would be intriguing, as Helly would become a kind of Jekyll/Hyde character and also a different sort of metaphor or one’s internal conflicts. The question of which side of her wins out in the end would fuel a lot of good story.

Subjigation – Another possibility some fans are latching onto is that Helly is currently being held hostage by Helena, which could be a major turning point for the season if Mark and co. can “wake her up” again and free her from Helena’s control. Helly’s first appearance in Season 2 had some fans read her facial expression and body language as giving ‘prisoner desperately trying to escape custody.’ Those fans go on to read the rest of Helly’s ‘off behavior’ in the episode as a sign that Helena kept Helly on lockdown and possibly tortured until some kind of leverage was gained. Therefore, it is Helly who returns to MDR – but it’s a double-agent version of Helly, working for Helena.

However it plays out, you can see that Severance Season 2 is already cooking (despite a three-year delay between seasons), and the fans are loving having their brains and eyes challenged all over again.

Severance is streaming on Apple TV+.