Severance is a much gayer show than first meets the eye. Of course, there’s the canonical LGBTQ+ representation, from the surprising but heartwarming (and then heartbreaking) romance between Burt (Christopher Walken) and Irving (John Turturro) to the casually mentioned queerness of Devon (Jen Tullock). Then there’s the queer team behind the scenes, including Tullock herself as main character Mark’s concerned sister and Tramell Tillman as floor manager Mr. Milchick.
Naturally, then, those queer cast members would be experts on what Severance characters are the most queer-coded — and which are painfully straight.
Speaking to Them on a recent red carpet, Tullock and Tillman were each challenged to name the two queerest and least queer-coded characters from the show.
“Oh, honey. Okay. Not a problem,” Tullock replied, happy to jump in, first offering her own character as one of the series’ gayest.
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“We did find out this season that Devon is queer, which I was really happy about,” she said. “That had always been part of the conversation with [series creator] Dan Erickson. I did improvise a line about having a crush on a girl and that accidentally became Devon’s great outing of 2025. I was really stoked about that. I think Devon’s pretty queer. I mean, she loves Ricken, but I think she’s a rugby, Oberlin sort of gal.”
For her second pick, Tullock named Felicia (Claudia Robinson), the second in command in the Optics and Design department under Walken as Burt.
“I think I just have a crush on Felicia, and I love all of her scenes with Christopher Walken so much, and I think I just think she’s too cool to be straight,” Tullock admitted.
Tillman, meanwhile, stuck strictly to canon for his queerest picks: “Well, I guess the top two would be Burt and Irving,” he said.
Related“My thinking was, ‘Who could I fall in love with?’” Turturro said of why he pushed for Walken to be the Burt to his Irving.Peppermint tells INTO the importance of her character’s arc in Season 2 of the Netflix series, including that fairytale wedding and saying yes to the dress.
Naming Severance’s least queer characters was trickier for both actors. Tullock went with her character’s brother Mark (Adam Scott), no doubt to the dismay of any fans who shipped him with his Season 1 work bestie Petey (Yul Vasquez).
“That’s a straight man,” Tullock reasoned. “Have you seen his apartment?”
Her second pick was Lumon manager Mr. Dummond, played by Darri Ólafsson — but after a moment’s consideration, she took it back. “He possesses too much magic to be straight. All love to the straights.”
“Everyone I’m thinking of just feels queer to me because I just see everyone as queer,” Tullock continued. “I’m just gonna say Mark’s apartment is the least queer-coded character in Severance.”
Tillman agreed that the question was difficult, as according to him, “they all got a little flavor to them. A little zhuzh.”
When asked if his own character, Milchick, belonged on either list, Tillman replied, “I don’t know. He’s such a mystery. We haven’t unfolded all of this guy, you know?”
That said, though, Tillman said Milchick “totally could” be queer. “It’s totally possible, you know? I’d be open to that. We just have to see what happens,” he said.
All episodes of Severance Season 2 are now streaming on Apple TV+. Check out the season trailer below.
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