‘Severance’ Favorite Zach Cherry Explains How His Innie Is the ‘No Baggage’ Version of His Outtie
Harrison Richlin
Editor’s Note: The following post contains spoilers for “Severance” Season 2, Episode 3, “Who Is Alive?”
As Season 2 of “Severance” continues to build out its web of corporate lore, one of the character’s getting more screen time and added depth is everyone’s favorite Refiner of the Quarter, Dylan G. Played by Zach Cherry, Dylan’s innie was introduced in the first season as a cocky, but highly efficient worker. However, in the most recent slate of episodes, Dylan’s outie was revealed to be a decidedly less sure-of-himself figure who has struggled to maintain work over the years. In a recent interview with Variety, Cherry explained how he sees Dylan as a “double role,” but they are still “the same person.”
“A primary way I think about the difference between the two is that Innie Dylan is this extremely confident guy, and he has no reason not to be,” he said. “He has very limited life experience, and he’s very good at what he does in that context. There’s no baggage, whereas the outie is a version of that same guy but has all of this other stuff that has gotten in the way of his confidence.”
However, in Season 2, Episode 3, “Who Is Alive?,” after Innie Dylan is given the perk of meeting his outie’s wife (played by the incomparable Merritt Wever), he too starts forming doubts and judgments of himself. All of the fantasies he’d established about his real life that boosted his self-assurance start to fall away as he grapples with who he truly may be. While it’s a complicated circumstance in context, Cherry believes a lot of people will recognize this feeling of negative transference.
“There are versions of this that can happen in real life. This is a silly example, but maybe you think of yourself as a really good cook, and then you have your friends over for a dinner party and they’re not that into it,” said Cherry. “Then you go, ‘This story I’ve been telling myself about myself is not true.’ That can impact how you feel about yourself and what you want to do going forward.”
In meeting his wife and discovering this new information about himself, Dylan must not only contend with processing these details, but also keeping it a secret from the rest of the group. Cherry shared that this was likely Lumon’s intent all along, but can’t be sure.
“For Dylan, his family is the ultimate carrot. That’s something he’s really invested in, so Lumon knows they can use that,” he told Variety. “Maybe it’s just to keep him focused, or maybe it’s to drive a wedge between him and the other refiners. Who knows? It is interesting to see how it changes the dynamics of the MDR crew, because now he has a secret that he’s not supposed to tell them about.”
Season 2 of “Severance” is now streaming on Apple TV+ with new episodes releasing on Fridays.
