Where exactly does the breakup happen?

Mild spoilers for “Severance” Season 2 follow.

The world of “separation” It is very similar to our own in many ways. The general level of technology (conducting classes excluded, of course) is comparable, life looks the same for the majority of people, and although there is some distinct style in terms of costumes and decor, the series is designed to reflect the modern era in most ways. That relativity extends to the city in which the show takes place, but where exactly is it supposed to be? The answer is a little complicated.

Details in “Severance” Season 1 Identify the city as Kerr, named after the founder of Lumon Industries. Specifically, clips from news sites and post name the city as Kier, PE, the second part being an abbreviation for the state. Of course, anyone who lives in the United States will tell you that there is no real state in America that uses the abbreviation PE. Like the city, the state is completely fictitious. However, there are some clues in the show and around the production that point to where it is meant to be located.

In “Severance” Season 2, Episode 1, new MDR employee Gwendolyn Y. (Alia Shawkat) asks Mark (Adam Scott) if he knows where the office is, and remembers that the three of them put “Wyoming” in their input scan. This refers to the series of questions asked of new employees, which include “In which state or territory were you born?” and “the name of any country or territory.” In Season 1, when Helly (Britt Lower) takes the questionnaire, she can’t say where she was born, but she names Delaware when asked to name which state. This is likely the question answered by Gwendolyn “Wyoming,” meaning it doesn’t really indicate anything new about the show’s location.

All of the new MDR employees briefly introduced at the beginning of “Severance” Season 2 are being shut down from other branches, at least one of which has been shut down by Mark W. (Bob Balaban). This means that Gwendolyn has scanned the entries in another branch, further emphasizing the importance of the “Wyoming” answer.

Although what we see in the city is certainly cold enough to be Wyoming, it is more likely that it is supposed to be located somewhere in the American Northeast. The entire game of Town, with corporate-sponsored housing and a large proportion of Lumon’s working population, evokes an earlier era of industrial America. In Season 1, we’re told that Mark’s first completed file at MDR, which is brought to life with little embellishment on his desk, was called “Allentown,” like the Pennsylvania town made famous by a working-class icon thanks to Billy Joel’s 1982 anthem. In Season 2, there is an MDR named “Cold Harbor”, which could either be a reference to the Battle of Cold Harbor, which occurred during the American Civil War just six years before LeMon was founded, or possibly the founding of Cold Spring Harbor Town in New York State which It was also the name of Billy Joel’s debut album. Of course, it’s not clear whether the file names have any deeper meaning at all.

Much of “Severance” was filmed in New York’s Hudson Valley, specifically in the city of Kingston. Mark also says that he used to be a professor at a university in a town called Gans, which is very similar to Gans, a real community in Western Pennsylvania.

Since “Severance” takes place in a town named after the founder of Lumon Industries, it makes sense that it is the original headquarters, or at least the primary one. This idea is supported by the EAGAN family spending a lot of time there in Season 1, and on a comment by Mark W. in Season 2, Episode 1 about the permanent suite at the Kerr branch being larger than the one in his old office. However, in the same episode, Kier’s office is referred to as Branch 501.

The city of Kerr itself adds an interesting wrinkle to the whole mystery. Since the company was founded in the wake of the Civil War—a period of great expansion into the West—it would make sense for Kerr to have founded a city a little further out, as the Northeast was full of well-known communities. However, we do not know until when the city was named Kerr, and it may be longer after the company was already established. in “Severance” season 2Episode 2, Mark W. says he broke a lease in Grand Rapids because of his job at Lomon, which means he moved from Michigan. Of course, given that one of MDR’s new employees is Italian, that doesn’t say much about Kier’s proximity to Grand Rapids.

Although it’s fun to speculate, the fictional nature of the world of “Severance” makes it impossible to say with certainty where the show takes place. Many of these clues are likely clipped to red-hot rhetoric, the larger point evoking a certain kind of Americana as a backdrop to stories of evil corporations.