The wait is finally over for fans of the sci-fi thriller Severance, as season 2 has premiered on Apple TV Plus after a two-year hiatus. The show's creators, Ben Stiller, Adam Scott, and Dan Erickson, have mastered the art of crafting a great cliffhanger, leaving viewers on the edge of their seats. In an interview with The Verge, they shared their approach to balancing the need to keep audiences engaged with the risk of frustrating them.

A good cliffhanger is a delicate balance, according to Stiller. "You try to think about what the stakes are that we've established, and hopefully you've earned it by the end," he explained. The team's approach is to design the show to build up to those big moments, hoping that they will connect with the audience as planned. Scott, who plays Mark on the show and is also a producer, echoed this sentiment, saying, "It's a roll of the dice whether or not something is going to work."

One of the biggest challenges the team faced was not knowing how audiences would react to the show's unique premise. Severance follows a group of office workers who have their brains surgically altered to separate their work and home lives, creating two selves: "outies" and "innies." The show's weird and wild elements, including an office goat pen and a terrifying dance party, made it uncertain whether audiences would respond positively.

Stiller recalled the uncertainty surrounding the season 1 finale, saying, "We made the whole season in a bubble where nobody saw anything until it was all done, and we didn't know if anybody would even respond to the show." However, the cliffhanger ending of season 1, episode 8, and the subsequent episode 9 finale, managed to both answer questions and introduce new ones, keeping viewers engaged and curious.

Erickson explained that the season 1 finale's success was due to its ability to provide a sense of satisfaction and mystery. The episode's shocking revelation, which saw Mark discover that his wife was alive and living a severed life at Lumon, answered one question while opening up new ones. "With Mark, that final moment of 'she's alive,' in a way it answers one question; the question was always is he going to find out about Ms. Casey, and is he going to be able to send a message to the outside world that she's down there," Erickson said.

Season 2 of Severance picks up right where the previous season left off, providing answers to some of the questions raised by the cliffhanger finale. However, as expected, new questions and mysteries arise, keeping viewers on the edge of their seats. The creators' ability to craft a compelling narrative that balances answers and questions has been key to the show's success.

As the show continues to explore the strange and unsettling world of Lumon Industries, fans can expect more twists and turns. With the creators' expertise in crafting cliffhangers, it's likely that Severance will continue to keep audiences engaged and curious about what's to come.