Severance: "Woe's Hollow" Explores Uncharted Territory
Content Warning: This article contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 4 of "Severance," streaming now on Apple TV+.
In the latest installment of "Severance," fans depart from the熟悉的办公氛围，踏入未曾涉足的广阔天地。
"Woe's Hollow" begins with Irving (John Turturro) waking up stranded on a desolate ice sheet. He soon encounters fellow employees Mark (Adam Scott), Dylan (Zach Cherry), and Helly (Britt Lower) as they venture through snowy forests on a mysterious work retreat orchestrated by Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman).
Production designer Jeremy Hindle, who previously worked on "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Top Gun: Maverick," describes "Woe's Hollow" as the most challenging episode of the season due to its extensive exterior filming. Hindle meticulously scouted locations in upstate New York, selecting Awosting Falls for the climactic waterfall scene and Minnewaska State Park Preserve for the tent and hiking sequences.
Hindle emphasized the importance of capturing diverse visual landscapes to convey the distance traveled by the characters. "When scouting, we would hike for days to find areas that were not accessible by car," he explains. "We had to hike for miles just to see if a location was feasible."
Changing weather conditions posed further obstacles. "We had a lot of snow early on, but it melted quickly, leaving us with no snow to shoot with," recalls Hindle. The crew employed machines to ice up trees and lay down snow for the actors to walk on, with approximately 70% of the snow in the final cut being CGI.
Despite the challenges, the crew achieved a particularly striking shot for Irving's dream sequence, which features him in a Lumon office on a mountaintop, filmed day-for-night in a burnt forest. "It snowed heavily, so we shot it in an afternoon with a desk in the middle of a surreal landscape," Hindle says.
While the episode showcases expansive snowy vistas, it also focuses on intimate character moments, particularly Irving's questioning of Helena's motives. The memorable sex scene between Mark and Helena, set in a tent with a vibrant red backlight, serves as a notable example.
"We wanted the tents to feel confining, like animal cages," Hindle says. "We built a heater inside the tent that doubled as a light source, resembling a retro radiant heater. Red is sparingly used in the show, and it represents genuine moments of intimacy."
Episode 4 also marks the first time many severed employees encounter the outside world. "We treated them like young children," Hindle says. "They'd never seen the sky, a tent, or fire. Their amazement had to be authentic, as the audience would be experiencing these things alongside them."
Safety remained paramount during filming. Since the forests were protected by the US Forest Service and inhabited by wildlife, the crew couldn't alter the environment in any way. For the intense finale sequence where Irving immerses Helena in water to uncover her true identity, the crew built additional rocks to blend seamlessly with the natural scenery.
Hindle credits the entire crew for their unwavering dedication in the face of challenging conditions. "We pushed everyone to their limits," he says. "But looking back, we managed to pull off something truly remarkable."