A Dual role refers to one actor playing two roles in a single production, something that has been around for years in film and television but is typically used for comic effect, or to depict identical twins or relatives.

A recent example being Michael B. Jordan’s portrayal of Smoke / Stack in ‘Sinners’ (2025).

However, ‘Severance’ is an extreme case as the four main actors each give standout performances adding layers and nuance to their split “Innie” & “Outie” personalities. Yet, Britt Lower takes it further with the complications between her characters and the overarching storyline…

“I think this show really deals with that notion of duality. It feels very human to be at odds with parts of ourselves. Helly, or Helena, is essentially trapped by the same company in both circumstances, but in different ways. I started the process of differentiating the two characters with what was the same—which is that these are both strong-willed parts of this person. They’re both fiercely loyal. They also share the same body, and that body is carrying the trauma and joy that both of them are experiencing on the inside and the outside.” - Britt Lower

*SEVERANCE SPOILER WARNING

After the big twist in the Season One finale where we discover Helly R’s real identity to be Helena Eagan - daughter of current Lumon Industries CEO and next in line to run the company that is essentially torturing her and her friends. Going into Season Two, many fans would feel like something is off and would be torn on if we were seeing Helly or Helena on the severed floor!?

With many hints being dropped in the first three episodes of the second season, it would all lead up to the anxiety inducing fourth episode ‘Woes Hollow’ in which all the built up tension culminates in Irving confirming his and the audiences suspicions of Helena being in the place of Helly R.

The complexity of Helly / Helena is integral to the story but also just another puzzle in this mysterious and important world that is being built and solved at the same time. Lower uses many metaphors when describing her process. “I like to lean on that it’s an Adobe Photoshop [image] and this is the same person and we’re using the same source material, but it’s about modulating the saturation or the exposure level within that person. My job as an actor is to sculpt that inner life.” She further describes playing both roles as sounding like different music inside of her, two parts of the same person. “It’s the same musician, but maybe different albums, and whether you recognise that music or not is up to you.“

The tone shift between the two is also heavily impacted visually, through the incredible team of hair, makeup and costume designers along with, of course, the way the scenes are lit and shot. Lower would say: “Sarah Edwards, our costume designer, is a genius. She and Ben Stiller worked so hard to build the wardrobe world of this show.” Further finding it interesting that Helly has never dressed herself in the morning, this would actually be one of the many reasons Helly expresses her feelings of violation in the show.

No clothing in Severance can have labels, logos, or graphics. “They’re oppressed by their clothing,” says costume designer Sarah Edwards.

“With the costume design in general, everything is very precise. Everything is handmade. The knits are dyed to be specific colours. And in season two, you get to see more of how Helena dresses. Differentiating the ways in which the two of them dress was exciting and there are tons of Easter eggs to look out for.”

In Season One & Two, Britt puts on brilliant performances as a lost woman pretending to be someone else. The role is obviously handled with care and depth which allows her to balance and blend the two personas so seamlessly.

Helena has so many masks she has to wear, and to a certain extent Lower wants the audience to decide for themselves if she’s putting up a front. “But there’s a heartbeat in there that she has. There’s a longing, I think, for something she hasn’t had access to: connection. She does have a sense of humor, and she’s able to tap into Helly’s.” Helly coming face to face with the vile father on both the outside & inside and Helena meeting Helly’s caring “chosen family” within the office. Helly and Helena have now experienced each others lives first hand but they still have a lot to learn from each other.

With her: expressions, body language, emotional range, dialogue and tone Britt Lower creates two distinctive shifts in character whilst still evidently portraying their shared connection. Expect her to bring home the 2025 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and many more awards in the years to come!

“When I’m Helena posing as Helly, Helena had a similar job to myself as an actor which was her job was to blend in to this family that she is just kinda encountering for the first time and she’s having to do the same kinda role as we do as actors which is to assume an identity and to move around like that person. They sound like different music in my head so I use music a lot when I’m getting ready in the morning. There’s a lot of inspiration once you get to set by the elements around you that are shifted slightly based on where you’re at. I think it was something we worked really closed with .. with Ben [Stiller] we were trying to figure out what things slipped through, when is her acting not so good and when is she able to tap into that part of her, that inner rebel that she has maybe abandoned from childhood .. or you know has maybe never had full access too but kinda .. especially in 204 [Woe’s Hollow] she gets a kick out of playing against Milchick and getting to be the one in the classroom who’s disrupting .. well not the classroom but the campfire” *as she laughs with Tramell Tillman

Story from RELOAD MAGAZINE Issue 5