The Severance Season 2 Cameo Barack Obama Rejected, According To Ben Stiller

In the season 2 premiere of Dan Erickson and Ben Stiller's hit Apple TV+ series "Severance" (which imagines that, every time you go to work, you split your consciousness into your "innie," who works at the in-universe company Lumon, and your "outie," who lives your regular life outside of Lumon), several of the "innies" are invited to watch an instructional video about their bizarre workplace. After Mr. Milchick (Trammell Tillman) and his strangely young assistant of sorts Miss Huang (Sarah Bock, a new addition to season 2) gather Mark S. (Adam Scott), Helly R. (Britt Lower), Dylan G. (Zach Cherry), and Irving B. (John Turturro) in a room to watch an instructional video about the functionings of Lumon, the building itself ends up playing a lead role in the video ... and it's voiced by none other than Keanu Reeves.

Was Reeves the first choice? Stiller has admitted that he was not, and that his first choice couldn't really make it work ... because his first choice happened to be the former President of the United States. "I didn't ask him in person, I knew someone who knew his lawyer and his lawyer said I can relay the request if you write an email," Stiller told late night host Jimmy Kimmel during an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" early on the morning of March 4, 2025. "So, I wrote an email to him saying like, 'Hey, we have this show,' whatever. And like two days later, I get an email back from President Barack Obama."

President Obama told Stiller that he was a fan of the show and excited for its second season but that he wasn't able to find time in his schedule. "What's more important than doing the voiceover for the animated building in 'Severance?'" Stiller joked before saying, "It was pretty cool that he responded."

If President Barack Obama had been able to find the time to voice the Lumon building in the in-universe video titled "Lumon is Listening," that would have been pretty amazing — but I should say that Keanu Reeves did a phenomenal job. (I'll circle back to how he even got involved in a moment.) The Claymation video zooms in on the now-sentient Lumon building, who remarks that the employees probably don't recognize him from this angle but they're "sitting in [him] right now." He then goes on to claim that he loves both unsevered and severed workers while also specifying that Lumon operates in "206 countries" (even though the United Nations currently only recognizes 195). That's when things get even weirder, if that's possible, because the animated Lumon building starts telling a story about Mark S., Helly R., Dylan G., and Irving B.'s exploits in the season 1 finale "The We We Are" — specifically, the fact that they created an overtime contingency that allowed their "innies" to access the "outie" world. (In the video, this is referred to as the "Macrodat Uprising.")

Claymation versions of the four employees then re-enact many of their season 1 finale actions on screen — including a kiss between Helly R. and Mark S. that prompts Dylan G. to exclaim, "What the sh**?!" — before the video announces new "incentives" like "hall passes and pineapple bobbing" and the "brand new, playful mirror room." (New snacks include "fruit leather, cut beans, Christmas mints, and salsa" as well.) Though the video seems to be praising the four Macrodata Refinement workers for their rebellion, it also makes one thing quite clear: Lumon is always watching.

During that same interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Ben Stiller did discuss Keanu Reeves' performance as the voice of the Lumon building, stating that even though he approached President Barack Obama first, he really enjoyed Reeves as the all-knowing structure, noting the "John Wick" actor "took it very seriously." Not only that, but Stiller also felt the tone and timbre of Reeves' voice was just ... correct. "He's just like the most warm, inviting voice," Stiller told Kimmel. "I don't know if when you see the building and you hear his voice, you necessarily think immediately that it's Keanu, but then I think you have this just innate feeling."

"Severance" creator Dan Erickson also spoke to Collider after the episode aired and said that there were other options for the role — and now we know at least one of the possibilities — but he, too, was happy with how it turned out. "All I can say is that we talked about a couple of different people for that role," Erickson told the outlet, noting that he wanted the voice to be familiar and oddly comforting despite the bizarre content of the video: 

"We always wanted it to be somebody that people have certain associations with, but also, it had to be a very warm presence. The Lumon building is very friendly in the context of this video, and there's a friendliness to that particular voice and a heart to that particular voice."

"Severance" airs new episodes of season 2 on Thursday nights at 9 P.M. EST on Apple TV+.