If you’re tuning into Severance, then you’re well aware of the existing tie between Irving (John Turturro) and Burt (Christopher Walken). They met in Season 1 at Lumon, with Burt hailing from the Optics and Design (O&D) department, handling art for the office building on the severed floor, while Irving operated out of the Macrodata Refinement (MDR) department.
Their connection was something that grew over time as rule-follower Irving began taking field trips to see Burt in his department. It was one of the sweeter aspects of Season 1 until Burt was seemingly forced into retirement as a punishment, meaning his innie (the personality of his work self) would cease to exist.
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For those less familiar with Severance, the series follows workers at a company known as Lumon, where some employees can undergo the severance procedure which separates the consciousness of their personal self and life from that of their work self and life. The personal life version is known as an outie, while the work self is referred to as an innie.
It was a heartbreaking realization, especially for Irving who was still figuring his feelings for Burt out by the time he was yanked away from the building. But how did the show land Walken as Irving’s love interest, Burt?
“When I read it, I thought it was mysterious. I thought it was a little funny, and a little bit scary, which I always think is a good combination,” Walken tells TV Insider. “For me, it was a different kind of part. I had a romantic involvement. And [Burt] was a nice man, a decent man, which was different from what I usually play.”
Of course, fans of Walken know he’s played his fair share of bad guys, but it was this romance and this mystery of Severance that drew him in. “To be with Ben Stiller, who I’ve known a very long time… and John Turturro, who I’ve known for 40 years… I knew that you see people who know each other very well, you can tell,” Walken points out. Onscreen, those behind-the-scenes connections helped bring Burt and Irving’s love to life. “It’s what they call chemistry.”
Ultimately, Walken notes, “it had a lot of good stuff going on,” and for that reason, he decided to play Burt.
As fans have seen so far in Season 2, Burt is trailing Irving in a car, spying on Irving’s outie as he makes mysterious phone calls from a telephone booth. Stay tuned to see what happens for the duo next, and let us know how you feel about the Burt and Irving relationship in the comments section, below.
Severance, Season 2, Fridays, Apple TV+