What does Lumon actually do? All the most compelling Severance theories

The biggest mystery in Severance is what the hell Lumon actually does. The viewers don’t know, and the characters themselves don’t know. Since Severance began, this huge factor being an unknown has lead to loads of theories about what might be going on.

In the show, the main characters work for Lumon Industries. The team members have all undergone a severance procedure that separates their work and personal memories. They go to work each day and work in the Macrodata Refinement (MDR) team, with no real idea what their work is achieving, or what the company they work for even does.

So, what does everyone think is the answer? Here are the best Severance theories, rounded up.

via AppleTV

Lumon is trying to resurrect Kier Eagan

From the start, we know Lumon founder Kier Eagan based the company on The Four Tempers, and impurity of the body. One theory is that the company main goal is to resurrect Kier Eagen. Maybe the coding we see them working on will be him in some sort of AI form, or perhaps the company is working on preserving life – a theory in itself. People have questioned if the creation of “innies” and “outies” is something to do with eternal life.

“Lumon is trying to create a superconsciousness, not just Kier’s consciousness,” one person on Reddit theorised. They added the company wants “a single, united, perfect consciousness that everyone on earth shares.”

The water theory

@jbuckstudios

Replying to @JBuck I’ve been rewatching Severance for Season 2, and is it weird that there’s so much focus on water? Like what’s the deal with Lumon and water??🤔 #severance #theory #severancetvshow #appletvplus #MustWatch #TikTokPartner @Apple TV

♬ Main Titles – Theodore Shapiro

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The water theory is actually fascinating, because it’s based on stacks of evidence. A TikToker has shared an entire explainer on it, and guys, it just makes sense. He has pointed out water is mentioned multiple times in every episode, and Lumon’s logo is literally a water drop.

“I believe that Lumon is on the hunt for water or is the control of water,” he explained. He then pointed out that every single (yes every single one) file name we see the team sifting through, either has water in it, or is named after a dam or reservoir. Every file name is associated with a water source. It’s too much of a coincidence.

“Water is somehow Lumon’s goal,” he said. After more research, which you can see in the video above, the TikToker said: “Lumon is gaining control of the world’s water – the last resource they don’t fully dominate – to either exploit people or control people. It’s some sort of brainwashing mumbo jumbo control thing.”

Someone in the comments has added to this, and said: “When I auditioned for the show is was called Tumwater NOT Severance so I think that’s really important somehow.”

Lumon is some sort of dodgy pharmaceuticals brand

Lumon began as a regular pharmaceutical company. One major theory thinks this has spiralled out of control, and the brand is now a bit dodgy. There aren’t many Severance theories out there which really speculate as to how, but a lot think Lumon could be producing something dangerous or top secret, which would require staff members to not go into the outside world and risk talking about it.

via AppleTV

The Macrodata Refinement team doesn’t actually do anything, its just a bunch of severance guinea pigs

Mark, Irving, Dylan and Helly all work in Macrodata Refinement. They sit all day in their little work stations, and “filter out” numbers on the screen. Their sole task  is to identify groups of numbers on their computer terminal screen, fence those numbers off, and place the number groups in one of five “buckets” on their screens. They do this until all such number groups in a given file are identified.

One of the biggest Severance theories is that they don’t actually do anything for Lumon. Lumon Industries’ work focuses around the severance procedure, and dishing it out for other companies. So, as they have been severed, the team is just being monitored for research purposes. This is why they’re given such a monotonous task to do all day. It’s literally just to monitor their brains. Their output is nothing.

There have been many hints throughout the show that the severance procedure is still in the experimental stage, which would support this theory. Or maybe they’re sat there coding themselves? Either way, one of the main theories is that the MDR team just serves the severance procedure in some way.

The MDR team is refining its own memories

A pretty compelling theory, which also serves into thinking Lumon’s overarching goal is to dish out the severance procedure, is that the MDR team’s work is to refine their own memories. They talk about “binning” “scary” numbers, and sorting the numbers into categories. What if they are slowly filtering out some of their own memories? People on Reddit believe “generic memories like states” are being “preserved.”

Whatever of the Severance theories ends up being true, I just simply need to know what’s going on.

Season two of Severance is on AppleTV. For more like this, and the latest pop culture updates, like The Tab on Facebook.