Britt Lower Clears Up That Viral Severance Finale Theory About Helly

Spoiler alert: Don’t read on if you haven’t seen Severance Season 2, Episode 10.

So much happened in the Severance Season 2 finale, that fans will likely still be dissecting it years from now (which may be how long the wait for Season 3 will be, if the past is any indication). Of course, the most crucial moment is the last one, in which a conflicted Mark S. decides to run away from his outie’s wife Gemma and remain in the severed floor with his love, Helly R. The climactic scene immediately spawned a prominent fan theory that Helly’s outie Helena may be tricking Mark once again. But Britt Lower nipped this speculation in the bud.

It’s no surprise a theory like this would become very popular, very quickly. At the very beginning of Season 2, fans correctly called out that Helena Eagan (the rich and powerful Lumon heiress) had been posing as her innie Helly to infiltrate the MDR inner circle. She managed to trick everyone — even Mark — until Irving B. finally called Helena out by noting her uncharacteristic cruelty.

Suspiciously, Irving was the only main character not present in Season 2’s finale. And the end goal of keeping Mark S. trapped within Lumon would fall right in line with Helena’s goals. Given this, and a few other tiny moments in the episode, superfans instantly jumped back on board the Helena theory.

Well, anyone buying into that theory can stop following that route now. In a March 21 Los Angeles Times interview, Lower confirmed it was Helly R. — not Helena — who convinced Mark S. to turn his back on Gemma and stay at Lumon.

“That’s Helly R. in the final episode,” Lower said.

The actor believes her character had just gone through a major identity crisis, and felt compelled to run after Mark S. when he was about to leave the building. “She’s lost this father figure in Irving and then she’s lost this brother figure because Dylan seems to have turned his back on her,” Lower said. “Then all of a sudden she’s standing on a desk remembering Irving and remembering that their half-lives are worth fighting for, I think she just runs to go see Mark one last time. Maybe there’s a chance they can do this all together. For all they know, if he crosses that barrier, they’re going to take down Lumon entirely and all of these innies are going to get wiped away. I think it’s just gut instinct that she runs.”