Whoa. Excellent.
Keanu Reeves caught “Severance” fans by surprise with a brief and quirky cameo in the first episode of the show’s second season that was so quick you might have just missed it.
If you haven’t watched Season 1 of the Apple TV+ series, you may want to put down the red pill and finish the show’s first nine episodes before proceeding.
Spoilers ahead for Season 2, Episode 1 of “Severance.”
Reeves’ cameo arrives halfway through the Season 2 premiere of “Severance,” titled “Hello Ms. Cobel.”
Following the “Macrodat uprising” at the end of Season 1, the workers of Macrodata Refinement are forced by higher ups to watch a cartoonish stop-motion video dubbed “Lumon is Listening” in an attempt to persuade them that the company cares about them and takes their concerns seriously.
The video portrays the uprising which saw characters Mark, Helly, Irvin and Dylan escape Lumon and make it to the outside world.
One of the characters in the corporate clip: the Lumon building itself, voiced by none other than Reeves.
Though easy to miss at first, upon second listen, the voice is unmistakably that of the “Matrix” actor.
“Severance” creator Dan Erickson recently revealed why he cast Reeves in the role.
“All I can say is that we talked about a couple of different people for that role,” Erickson told Collider.
“We always wanted it to be somebody that people have certain associations with, but also, it had to be a very warm presence. The Lumon building is very friendly in the context of this video, and there’s a friendliness to that particular voice and a heart to that particular voice.”
Erickson did not reveal what other actors were considered for the role.
As far as the “certain associations” viewers might have with Reeves, it’s impossible not to consider his work in “The Matrix” movies, portraying Neo (a k a Thomas A. Anderson), as well as his more heartwarming roles (“Something’s Gotta Give” for instance).
Reeves’s “Severance” cameo comes on the heels of his voice-acting debut as Shadow in “Sonic the Hedgehog 3.”
New episodes of Severance Season 2 drop each Friday on Apple TV+ at 12 AM PT.
