Apple TV+’s Severance isn’t just a hit series — it’s a full-blown cultural mood. With its eerie blend of corporate satire, sci-fi mystery, and psychological drama, the show has struck a nerve with viewers and become one of Apple’s buzziest originals. Fittingly, Apple has also leaned all the way into the Severance obsession by turning fiction into stunning IRL experiences that fans won’t forget anytime soon.
The most recent example took place on April 5 in Holmdel, New Jersey, at the Bell Works building — the foreboding structure that serves as the headquarters of Lumon Industries in the show. It was repurposed for a one-weekend-only immersive event that was basically everything a hardcore Severance fan could hope for. We’re talking recreated sets, limited-edition merch, the show’s theme music composer performing, Severance-themed food and drinks, and even a waffle party (if you know, you know).
The event was basically a giant “oh, yeah?” to those of you who constantly accuse Apple’s streamer of failing to market its shows properly.
Bell Works, a space now owned by Nokia, isn’t just a pretty backdrop for the hit Apple series; production designer Jeremy Hindle, in a CNBC interview, raved that the building was practically a character itself. He and the Severance team “looked at it, and obviously, our heads exploded … The building is stunning, and it just matched perfectly with where we wanted to go underground.” Its architecture and eerie openness made it the perfect stand-in for Lumon’s sterile dystopia.
What’s especially cool, meanwhile, is how Apple is marketing Severance not just as a show, but as a complete experience. The activation over the weekend tapped directly into the show’s distinctive vibe, blurring the lines between the screen and the real world. It’s that kind of creative, fan-first approach that keeps people talking — and posting on social media.
The Severance fan event also featured a VIP Q&A with cast members hosted by The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert. It was the cherry on top of a weekend that proved Severance is more than just a TV show, and that Apple has very much promoted it accordingly. The promo box of Severance swag I got from Apple, in the style of a Lumon office vending machine, is another of several additional examples I could point to, along with the Severance pop-up event held at New York City’s Grand Central Terminal earlier this year.
