The first two seasons of Apple TV’s flagship drama series “Severance” were produced by production company Fifth Season who owns the IP… or at least did.
Deadline reports that in a deal finalised late last year, Apple has now acquired the IP and all rights to the Emmy-winning show from Fifth Season in a deal said to be worth just under $70 million.
Fifth Season will remain as an executive producer, but the show will now be produced internally at Apple rather than through that external agency. The series, produced for as much as $20 million per episode, famously had difficulties in production with Fifth Season having to shoulder the financial burdens of the show.
This arrangement will alleviate that and guarantee Apple has a longer-term view of the series, which has already been renewed for a third season. The trade now adds that “a fourth season is a lock and factored into Apple Studios’ plans for the show”, with the show’s creators now targeting four seasons overall, and Apple is said to be fully on board.
What about a fifth? At present, there are no such plans, but the creators are reportedly open to the idea of doing more with the “Severance” universe (ie, prequels, spin-offs, etc.). Filming on the third season begins this Summer.
A similar arrangement to this happened with AMC Studios and Apple over “Silo”, though several of Apple’s biggest hits remain incoming from outside studios, including “Ted Lasso,” “Pluribus”, and “The Studio”.
