This Theory About Helly In Severance Season 2 Is Wild But Convincing
Rewatching the premiere hits so different once you hear this.
Will the real Helly R please stand up? After Severance returned with its Season 2 premiere on Jan. 16, fans have become convinced by a theory about everyone’s favorite red-headed Lumon employee. And if it turns out to be true, it might be the twist-filled show’s biggest swing yet.
Spoiler alert: This post discusses details from Severance Season 2, Episode 1. At the start of the new season, Mr. Milchick (now the manager of the severed floor) welcomed a traumatized Mark S back to work, informing him that his exploit in last season’s finale with Helly, Irving, and Dylan worked in exposing Lumon’s unethical working conditions for severed employees. Despite that, Mark’s outie still insisted on returning, with the other three outies declining to continue with severance (at least, that’s what Milchick said happened).
But after Mark sabotaged his new team, an unknown amount of time passed, and Milchick reunited Mark with Helly, Irving, and Dylan once again. Except, something seemed off about one of the foursome. Upon first exiting the elevator, Helly had a bizarre response to Mark hugging her. Instead of the relieved embrace you’d imagine she’d give him, she seemed confused and a little thrown off by the hug.
There are also a bunch of little details that don’t add up about Helly in the new season, like how she struggles to find her computer’s power switch, something that should be ingrained in her muscle memory after spending her life at that desk. It’s also suspicious that Helly so easily agrees to remain severed to help Mark locate Ms. Casey, when you’d expect her to try to convince Mark to leave Lumon given everything they’ve learned.
Most notably of all, Helly lies to the group about what she learned about her outie. Instead of telling them she discovered she’s actually Helena Eagan, a member of Lumon’s founding family who agreed to be severed to show the general public that it’s a safe practice, she told Mark, Irving, and Dylan that her outie was an inconsequential woman who lives alone.
So, the new big theory about this season is this isn’t really Helly R — this is Helena Eagan. That would explain her weirdness around Mark, why she’s unfamiliar with the computers, and also why she was so quick to notice and point out the security cameras in Macrodata Refinement room were removed to encourage the group to spill everything they know.
If this really is Helena, she’s almost certainly acting as a mole to quell any further uprisings from Mark, Irving, and Dylan before they start... or sabotage them once they do.
New episodes of Severance Season 2 stream Fridays on Apple TV+.
