‘Severance’'s Britt Lower Talks About Tonight's Game-Changing Offsite, an Intense Moment With John Turturro, and How Helly R. and Helena are Like Patti Smith

I’m going back to your previous question. If there’s something we can all relate to, [it’s] that there are versions of us in different environments. We all go—not we all, but most people, go home for the holidays and take on, possibly, a more teenage-like version of themselves when they’re around their family. I think that’s sort of where I came at Helena being able to tap into parts of Helly R. She’s blending in a little bit because that is deep within her. There is a rebel that’s been suppressed through the conditioning of this family and this very high-control corporate world that she lives inside of.

That taking on this other version of yourself that maybe you’ve out-grown or you’re at odds with, but it’s still there—it’s a frequency and a rhythm that you can tap into. Even in the scene where she’s kind of laughing at the mythology of the scriptures at the ORTBO, I think that, probably, when she was a kid, she wanted so badly to laugh at these pretty ridiculous texts of her family, but she didn’t have the ability. So here she is, through the lens of Helly R, getting to live out that [rebellion].

Do you think that Helena’s time spent on the severed floor has kind of changed her perspective towards the innies or made her slightly more sympathetic—outside of just the relationship she has with Mark—to the innies lives, or how the innie-outie dynamic works?

Having the connection she does with all of the innies, but particularly with Mark, her perspective has been shifted dramatically after doing a kind of organic version of reintegration, right? Both Helly R and Helena have now effectively stepped into one another’s shoes; Helly R, at the end of Season One, poses as Helena on stage and gets to see a glimpse of her world, what it looks like, and what it’s like to be in a room with her father. Helena has stepped into the perspective of Helly R and has gotten to feel and see what it’s like to connect with the MDR innies and to see what it’s like to live a bit more of a free existence.

How much Helena’s desire to get closer to Mark is in service of Lumon, legitimate feelings for him, or some combination of the two?

It’s very delicate. I’m not sure what I think matters as much as how people receive it, and I think it might hit people in different ways. Yeah, it’s very tough.

How much experience with Woe’s Hollow do you think Helena’s had before? Is that a place you feel like she’s visited before or had any experience with?

Yeah, I would guess this is a place her family has visited before. It’s this kind of state park or this thing of lore. I’m guessing she’s been there before.

I’m sorry — I keep leaving back to your previous question, but I do think there’s something genuine in what Helena experiences with being an innie, and I think that rattles her for the rest of the season, and that’s all I’ll say.

One of the things that’s been interesting about how Helena’s been wardrobed for this year is a blend of both a light and a dark shade of MDR blue, almost as if even the way that she’s presenting herself is conflicted. Is that something you had a conversation with [costume designer] Sarah Edwards about?

Sarah Edwards is a genius. She, Ben, and all the directors work really closely when they’re choosing color palettes and sometimes referencing something we’ve worn from season one in order to have something rhyme a bit visually. Everything is pretty intentional.

There’s that moment in the tent where Mark is very transparent with her about how helpful she’s been. I’m curious what you think that validation means to Helena, especially given the fact that the relationship with her father doesn’t necessarily seem like it’s the sunniest in the entire world.

That’s a really good question. I think there isn’t very much validation or a sense of nurturing inside of Helena’s life. She’s pretty isolated and I think it’s meaningful. I think it’s meaningful to hear and to be present in the way that they are with one another. I don’t think she’s ever experienced anything like that before.

Do you think that then plays into the decision for them to be intimate in that moment?

The two of them are on a path. The two individuals, regardless of the innies or the outies, have been on a path of kindred spirit from season one. There’s something physiologically that they have, this innate connection, and this is the first time they’re in a private environment enough to be able to connect in a different way.

Can you tell me about the scene with you and John Turturro at the falls? What was the atmosphere like on set when you got to that?

John is such a seasoned professional. He’s a real role model of mine, and we’ve built a lot of friendship and trust together over the last few years. I felt really lucky to be doing the scene with him. We worked really closely with the stunt team and with Ben to make sure that what we were doing physically was safe because it was a dangerous environment. It was freezing water—there was actual ice and just the conditions of being outside, rocky ice and those types of things. So we worked closely to make sure that we were doing this kind of dance together with the choreography so that we could go where we needed to go emotionally. I couldn’t have asked for a better scene partner. John is just so great. It’s a harrowing scene to do, but I felt really safe with him.

I like to work closely with the stunt doubles so that, ideally, the choreography is in tandem with one another. I felt it was important to put my actual head in the cold water for the effect that that had on me physically. The shock of that intensity, of cold freezing water, had an effect that I felt was important for the character to experience. We did it as much as we could before we needed to obviously shift, dry me off, and then get back in. Our stunt team is incredible. We work really closely, and I feel we’re building the character together because they have a certain skillset that I don’t always. Even though I’m game to try [laughs], I’m not as tough as my stunt double. She’s amazing.

That must be a hell of a way to start the day.

It’s unreal. Also, because it was just my head, not my whole body, that was a real, literal head trip [laughs].

The brain is getting a cold plunge. [laughs]

I really like music as a metaphor. I was curious if you had given any thought to the idea of who Helly and Helena might be as far as a musician and who those different albums would be.

Helly R is so many Patti Smith songs for me. I listened to Patti Smith when I was finding the character in Season One and would tune back in when I was revisiting. It’s not the same artist, but the soundtrack to Orlando just felt very much of the world that Helena was living in and just kind of classical music in general. That goes against my metaphor of it being the same artists in different albums, but that’s the first thing that came to my mind.

I mean, who knows? There might be some more overlap there. There might be something we’re not seeing here or noting immediately.

I want to give you one more analog with music [laughs].

Give me as many as you want.

A way to think about Helena playing Helly R, too, was when you hear a cover of a song and you’re like, “It’s the same song, but…”. Or a live version of the same song you’ve heard on the radio a lot, and there’s just something slightly off about it or slightly different, and you’re like, “That’s the same musician, but it’s live,” and you’re like, “Wait. They breathe in a different way,” or “There’s a pause there,” or “The drums are more intense” or — there’s just these variables that shift it almost completely sometimes. Maybe that’s another [way to look at it]. You’re so used to the version you’ve been hearing on the radio and then all of a sudden it’s live.