Any doubts that the Apple TV+ workplace thriller Severance will be creepy were laid to rest Monday when word got out that Christopher Walken has joined the cast. He’s added an eerie tone to many roles in the past.
He’s just one of multiple big names already involved in the upcoming Apple series. Patricia Arquette is also set to star, while Ben Stiller will direct.
Christopher Walken will fit perfectly in Severance
Severance is described in a leaked description of the show as “a workplace drama that introduces Lumen Industries, a company that’s looking to take work-life balance to a new level with a ‘severance procedure,’ which separates work and out-of-work memories.”
While Apple has yet to officially announce Walken’s move, it’s being widely reported, including by Deadline and Variety. Walken will play Burt, the department head of optics and design.
The 77-year-old actor’s career dates back to the 1950s, and he’s played more than 100 roles. Over the years, he won an Academy award and Golden Globe for 1978’s The Deer Hunter. Walken was nominated for an Emmy in 1991.
But Walken won’t be playing the lead in Severance. That role apparently went to Adam Scott, who’ll play “an employee with a dark past trying to put himself back together,” according to the leaked show description. It’s not yet known what role Patricia Arquette will play.
The series was created by Dan Erickson, who is also writing it. Production is reportedly starting soon, though it’s not known when the series will debut.
Apple TV+ producing plenty o’ thrillers
Apple’s streaming video service is aggressively growing its library of shows and movies. Many of these have the word “thriller” in the description, not just Severance. The espionage thriller Tehran recently finished up, and the neo-noir thriller Losing Alice is set to debut before the end of the year.
Long term, Apple TV+ is paying for a spy romance movie starring Idris Elba. And Emmy Award winner Elisabeth Moss will star in an adaptation of Shining Girls, a metaphysical thriller.
Earlier this year, Apple TV+ gave a straight-to-series order to Echo 3, a new action-thriller from Mark Boal (who picked up multiple Oscars for writing The Hurt Locker). There’s also Suspicion, a thriller starring Uma Thurman. And the streaming service acquired the movie rights to an adaptation of graphic novel Snow Blind, starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Again, it’s a thriller.
