‘Severance’: John Turturro & Christopher Walken on Irving and Burt’s Emotional Train Station Farewell

Severance‘s second season continued to explore the relationship between Irving (John Turturro) and Burt (Christopher Walken) outside of Lumon as the former employees reconnected in the outside world after meeting on the severed floor in Season 1.

As viewers know, some employees at the company undergo the severance procedure to separate their consciousness between work as innies and outside as outies. And despite having no real memory of having met each other in their innie forms, Burt and Irving proved that chemistry can certainly transcend the procedure.

Unfortunately for Burt, he was still doing side jobs for Lumon, one of which was to seemingly stop threats to the company, which Irving appeared to be based on mysterious calls he was making about Lumon in phone booths late at night. But as Burt told Irving in Season 2’s penultimate episode, “The After Hours,” he liked the idea of being innocent, “but then my innocent part fell in love with you.”

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And for that reason, Burt couldn’t bring himself to harm Irving, instead bringing him to a train station to send him far away, forcing the men to part ways. Their farewell was emotional and mirrored an earlier interaction between their innies from Season 1. While the future for their characters is unclear, there’s plenty of love between Walken and Turturro, who have been friends for years.

That love was evident as Walken showed up to support Turturro at the 2025 Spring Moving Image Awards, where the latter received a special honor for his contribution to film. In addition to Walken, Turturro’s other Severance costars Patricia Arquette and Tramell Tillman were also there for the event held at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens.

As for the critical response to their onscreen performance, Walken tells TV Insider, “It’s wonderful, you know, [when] you’re an actor it’s always good to be in something that people like.” As for his and Turturro’s onscreen chemistry, he notes, “It has a lot to do with John and I knowing each other for 50 years.”

Meanwhile, when it comes to Burt and Irving’s romance resonating with audiences, Turturro admits you never know when something will hit. “But I think when people have connections with other people, that resonates, and also that that can happen at all different ages,” he adds in regards to Irving and Burt falling in love. “It doesn’t only happen when you’re 17.”

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The duo’s emotional train station farewell saw Burt and Irving admit their love for one another, which made their necessary separation that much sadder. What helped the actors in the scene was the real train station setting, as Walken reveals the scene was filmed at a Utica-based station. “It was the nicest train station I’ve ever seen,” the actor remarks.

“Anytime it’s real, it always helps,” Turturro adds. “A set can be the same thing, too, but that’s a nice thing about making movies or TV.” But, as he notes, “[When you’re really] in the environment that you’re in, that can be very helpful, especially when you’re in a beautiful structure or you’re outside in nature.”

When it comes to their storylines continuing or not, Walken tells TV Insider, “As far as I know, we’ve done it, but who knows,” he notes, regarding the possible continuation of Burt’s presence in the series. Meanwhile, Turturro says of Irving’s future on the show, “There’s a lot of stuff from the background of where he came from, why he went to Lumon, and for what reason,” hinting at more stories to tell, “so, yeah,” he adds of believing there’s more to Irving’s story. “That’s up to Dan Erickson‘s brain.”

While fans will have to wait until Season 3 to find out, let us know what you thought about Turturro and Walken’s onscreen moments in Severance Season 2 in the comments section below.

Severance, Season 1-2, Streaming now, Apple TV+