The Severance goats may not have laid the Lumon eggs like Helly (Britt Lower) jokingly suggested in Season 1 of the Apple TV+ series, but according to Adam Scott, they definitely ate the shoelaces…
Three years after Mark (Scott) took Helly on a mental health walk and stumbled upon a mysterious baby goat department, the dynamic MDR duo returned to the goat room in Season 2, Episode 3. Instead of finding the missing Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman), they uncovered Mammalian’s Nurturable, a room full of goats, grass, and two dozen Lumon employees working under a department head, Lorne, played by Gwendoline Christie.
While the scene ultimately left viewers with more questions than answers, it was still super satisfying to reunite with the Severed Floor goats who’ve piqued our curiosity for three full years. We may not know what the goats are for, or what this team does, but we do know that the compelling scene was “challenging” to film, because in Scott’s hilarious words, “goats don’t care that they’re on television.”
“It was really fun and challenging work, because there are a lot of goats in that scene. And goats don’t care that they’re on television. All they’re interested in is eating your shoelaces and your pants. That’s all they want,” Scott told Decider over Zoom.
“They’re not interested in you unless you have something to feed them, and if you don’t have something to feed them, they want to eat your pants and your shoelaces,” the Severance star continued. “So when we’re working with the goats, it’s fun to interact with them and everything. But when we’re shooting a serious scene with Britt and Gwendoline, like a person scene, where we have to be talking to each other and you have to shoo goats away from eating your shoes every 10 to 15 seconds, it’s challenging — but fun. Other than that, they’re great costars.”
On The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott, Christie shared her most memorable goat experience as well, saying, “A goat came up to the desk and was butting its head against my knees under the desk while we’re shooting, and I am quite good at not laughing, and I laughed. I laughed, and I laughed, and I probably made some ‘woo!’ noises.”
Stiller confirmed, “It was chaos.” But Christie assured him, “I was there for it. It was amazing. I loved every second of it.”
“The goats were one of my absolute favorite favorite moments of the first series, because when I was watching it and then when I heard the goat cry and I thought, ‘Are they putting goats in it? They are not. They are not putting goats in it. They are not,’” she said. “And it was such a sublime moment with Wyatt feeding the goat. It was just sensational. I think I sort of did some cursing and some pacing, and then when you said that I was in charge of the goats, it was a hallelujah moment.”
In the scene Season 2, Episode 3 scene, Christie’s character initially denies knowledge of Ms. Casey and threatens to report Mark and Helly’s search to Milchick, but after Mark stresses the importance of standing up for fellow innies and the threat to Ms. Casey’s life, she reveals that Ms. Casey used to hold Wellness sessions for them. She also summons her team and asks Mark and Helly to show everyone their bellies to disprove the rumor that they have pouches, which Burt shared in Season 1.
While we’re happy we got a better look at the goat department, Severance still has some serious explaining to do. So here’s hoping we haven’t seen the last of the goats this season. Even if they eat all of Adam Scott’s shoelaces and make Gwendoline Christie break in the process, we need more.
New episodes of Severance Season 2 premiere Fridays on Apple TV+.
