Apple TV+The Innies experience the outside world for the very first time in Severance Season 2 Episode 4, and it’s a monumental moment for the Apple TV+ show, with the cast and crew breaking down the Minnewaska filming location post-credits.
Episode 4 was the most anticipated of Severance’s second chapter and for good reason. Mark, Helly, Dylan, and Irving’s Innies go on the first ever ORTBO (outdoor retreat and team-building occurrence), giving them a glimpse of the real world.
But this is Lumon we’re talking about, and so of course it’s tightly controlled. They are made to walk the same trail of their great founder, Kier Eagan, and learn about his “twin” as they traverse the Dieter Eagan National Forest.
When they finally reach the sacred earth of ‘Woe’s Hollow’, Milchick rocks up to tell them they’re at the “tallest waterfall on the planet”. It’s not, but it definitely is a real place that you can visit.
Severance Season 2 Episode 4 filming location
Severance’s latest episode, ‘Woe’s Hollow’, was shot at the Minnewaska State Park Preserve in Ulster County, New York.
Known as one of the most scenic state parks in New York, there are numerous trails, waterfalls (including the one you see in Episode 4), dense forests, three lakes, cliffs, and ledges opening up to beautiful views.
As per New York State’s official site, the Minnewaska State Park Preserve is situated on the Shawangunk Mountain ridge, which rises more than 2,000 feet above sea level and is surrounded by rocky terrain.
“Visitors can also enjoy hiking, biking, swimming, picnicking, scuba-diving, rock-climbing, bouldering, boating and marveling at the scenery. Horseback riding and cross-country ski trails are available as well. Technical rock climbing permitted.”
It’s just an hour and a half drive from New York City, but many of its attractions are closed for the winter for safety reasons. Right now, visitors aren’t permitted to go cycling, horseback riding, bouldering, or rock climbing.
Apple TV+Footpaths including Gertrude’s Nose, Millbrook Mountain, and Stony Kill are also closed, as is the Stony Kill Falls parking area and the ice caves trail, which is set to reopen in mid-Spring 2025.
Now, if you’ve watched Severance Season 2 Episode 4, you’ll know that it was shot in the dead of winter. When Irving wakes up, he’s stood on a frozen lake, surrounded by snowy cliffs and trees.
Taking Lumon to Minnewaska was a “challenge”
For the cast and crew, it was a “challenge” to set up, but well worth the payoff. Creator Dan Erickson explains in the post-credits discussion that this was something he’d always wanted to do: “Have an Innie wake up in the middle of a snowy forest and just, ‘How did I get here?’”
Apple TV+Adding to this, director Ben Stiller says that Season 2 Episode 4 “was very challenging because it was all snow, and so creating the visual landscape for that episode was one of the more fun things we got to do.”
Severance’s production designer, Jeremy Hindle, elaborates on what it took to set up their filming gear in the middle of a snowy state park.
“You know, parks are insanely hard to shoot in, so we went and scouted it with the rangers and stuff to explain to them how we could build this without disturbing anything,” he says.
“We had to build, I think, about a quarter-mile bridge over all those trees out of scaffolding to get everything in, because we couldn’t touch one thing in this forest.”
Cinematographer Jessica Le Gagne adds: “Minnewaska was a lot. It was a lot for the crew. We’re used to being on our sets and not going out that much, so it was difficult, but it was nice to get out.”
For the Severance cast, getting to go outside was a rare but fun experience. Helly star Britt Lower explains, “We all had so much fun filming that episode.
“We were in the wilderness together and it was such a breath of fresh air to go from being in an office with sort of pharmaceutical lighting to just like the wide open expansiveness of nature. We had a true, wild experience.”
Apple TV+As for Lumon’s motivations, Stiller comments on how they wanted to think about what the organization “would do to send them on a quote-unquote ‘corporate retreat’. I think one of the main motivations is they wanna scare the hell out of them.”
Mr Milkshake icon Tramell Tillman adds, “They wanted to be outside, so I was like, ‘Okay. You wanna be outside? Let’s go outside.’”
Fun fact: the waterfall Milchick tells the Innies is the tallest on the planet is actually Minnewaska State Park Preserve’s Awosting Falls, which is only 60–65 feet tall.
But as Tillman explains, he tells them this because “it’s the truth. They have never seen a waterfall before, so to them, it is the tallest waterfall in the world.”
Where is the rest of Severance filmed?
Much like Season 2 Episode 4, the rest of the Apple TV+ show is filmed in and around the state of New York and New Jersey.
Apple TV+That includes the ominous Lumon headquarters. The building used for this is named Bell Works, a business center located in Holmdel, New Jersey, which features office spaces, stores, and restaurants.
As Stiller shared on the Severance podcast, “The Lumon building is the Bell Labs building that was built in the late ‘50s, early ‘60s. Iris Sarnin and Jessica Le Gagne, our cinematographer, found it Googling, just looking for office buildings.”
For the never-ending maze of the severed floor, the cast and crew shot at York Studios in New York, which operates its 40,000 square foot Maspeth Campus in Queens and its 175,000 square foot Michaelangelo Campus in the Bronx.
Other key filming locations include the Phoenicia Diner in Phoenicia, NY, which is transformed into Pip’s Bar & Grille for Severance, where Mark and Devon meet.
Mark and Mrs Selvig/Cobel’s seemingly reclusive homes are actually shot at the Village Gate Townhouses in Nyack, NY, while the Bier House in Usonia, NY, is used for Devon and Ricken’s home.
Thanks to the Severance podcast (which is well worth a listen if you’re a fan of the show), we also know about the new locations in Season 2.
Apple TV+For Dylan’s interview at the Great Doors factory, the outside was shot at the Red Owl Collective, a Kingston, NY, emporium in a former bowling alley housing multiple vendors selling antique furniture, collectibles, and vintage clothing.
To get the grassy hills shown in the Mammalians Nurturable room, the team actually built an office on the Marine Park golf course in Brooklyn, NY. Speaking to Vulture, Hindle said, “We built the walls of the room around it on a big, wide piece of grass.”
Make sure you know when to catch the next episode with our Severance Season 2 release schedule. You can also read our guides on whether Irving’s dead, the Glasgow Block, Cold Harbor, the Lexington Letter, and Asal Reghabi.
