Severance star Patricia Arquette says Harmony Cobel’s loyalty to Lumon will be tested in season 2: ‘There’s a desire to be loved by them and also punish them’

• Severance star Patricia Arquette reveals what’s in store for Harmony Cobel in season 2
• Harmony will “grapple” with her long-standing loyalty to Lumon Industries, Arquette teases
• She’ll be trapped in a “teenage vortex of emotional growth” this season, too

Severance star Patricia Arquette has teased what fans can expect to see as part of Harmony Cobel’s character arc in season 2.

Chatting to TechRadar before the highly-rated Apple TV Plus show returns on January 17, Arquette suggested that Cobel will embark on a coming-of-age journey of sorts. Not only that, but she’ll also spend much of this season questioning her allegiance to Lumon Industries, the clandestine biotechnological megacorporation that she’s loyally served for throughout her adult life.

Major spoilers immediately follow for Severance season 1’s final two episodes. Turn back now if you haven’t watched them.

In Severance season 1 episode 8, titled ‘What’s for Dinner?’, Cobel was suspended as Lumon’s Severed Floor manager. That’s because she withheld information about Helly R’s (Helena Egan’s ‘innie’ persona) suicide attempt and her extracurricular activities using the alias Mrs Selvig from Lumon’s board. The latter included Cobel spying on Mark Scout by posing as his absent-minded neighbor and being hired as the nanny for Mark’s newborn nephew.

Last season’s finale, though, saw Cobel spare Lumon’s blushes – and some potentially spare it some devastating press coverage – when its Macrodata Refiners, including Helly and Mark’s ‘innie’ (known simply as Mark S) temporarily escaped into the real world. That almost led to them blowing the whistle on Lumon’s nefarious working practices, and they would have succeeded had it not been for Cobel’s last-minute intervention. Indeed, it’s Cobel who realizes that the ‘innies’ have utilized Lumon’s Overtime Contingency program to break out and, at a Lumon gala, tries to stop Helly from revealing what goes on at the heinous organization.

You would expect, then, Cobel’s sinister employers to thank her for saving their skin, and potentially reinstate her as Severed Floor manager, right? Not so. I won’t spoil what happens in this season’s early episodes – my Severance season 2 review contains some very light spoilers for its first four episodes, though, if you’re interested. Arquette was similarly keen not to ruin anything significant about Cobel’s character arc in the Apple mystery-thriller series’ sophomore outing, but she did tease where Cobel’s mindset is at heading into Severance season 2.

“I think she doesn’t like the direction [that] the corporation is going in,” Arquette told me. “She’s an old-school devotee, and I feel like even though she’s been doing things that were outside the purview of the company, her agenda was to do it for Lumon [and] for the greatness of care, and she’s very frustrated that the corporation doesn’t value that at all, or value her at all.

“She sees how much she’s done and how pivotal she’s been to the growth and trajectory of that corporation,” Arquette added. “It’s like a kid who has a parent that will never really acknowledge or love them, so she’s always trying to get that kind of approval. At the same time, in this kind of teenage vortex of her emotional growth, she’s also kind of hating them, so there’s a desire to be loved by them and also punish them that she’s grappling with.”

For more on one of the best Apple TV Plus shows’ next installment, including details on its cast, plot, and trailers, read my Severance season 2 hub. Alternatively, read more of my exclusive coverage of the show’s next entry in the section below.