Patricia Arquette Explains Harmony Cobel’s (and Mrs. Selvig’s) Quirks

Patricia Arquette is really, really into the world of Severance. What she’s really, really not into is discussing fan theories. Not because she doesn’t care, rather because she cares too much to risk spoiling anything.

In another world, Arquette might be racking up karma way down your Reddit rabbit hole. But in this world, Lumon (and Apple TV+) is listening.

Here’s the thing though: with all due respect to other terrific (and eligible) dramas like The White Lotus and The Diplomat, Severance deserves all of the Emmys. But first, it needs the votes. Part of that process includes putting talent front-and-center in the press. Fear not, fellow Outties, we’ve got you.

Was season one or season two more of a challenge for you as an actor?

I don’t even know how to really parcel out the first season from the reality of the world of the first season. We were shooting during COVID. I got contact-traced, I don’t know, six or seven times or something. So I ended up— I kept getting put alone in a room for like 10 days at a time, and I started to kind of lose my cool.

We didn’t have [vaccines] yet. We were all wearing those plastic masks. Nobody could see you smile. It was a very dystopian experience on the set.

Should viewers be rooting for Cobel at this point? Do you want fans of the show to like her?

I don’t really care if they like you or not like you. I mean, people go through life making “the bad guy,” making “the good guy,” and then the bad guy’s the good guy and the good guy’s the bad guy. She just has to have her perspective on why she’s doing what she’s doing. We go through life looking at people in the certain way that we frame them, and then they say or do something, and we reframe them. And so I think that we’re going to do the same thing with Cobel.

Cobel is at a very weird precipice right now where it’s like it really could go either way. She could go to supporting Mark and all those guys, sticking one to Lumon, or she could consolidate her power at Lumon, get more respect there and be in a more powerful position, like she had been at one point in time.

Did Mrs. Selvig legitimately care for Mark Scout?

Yeah. I mean, I approached Mrs. Selvig in many ways. Yes, I think both sides of her care about Mark and are interested in what he’s doing, both personally but also academically. What she was surprised by with Mrs. Selvig was— she got to put down the laws of Lumon. So it’s like, “Oh, we’re kind of chummy. Is this what it’s like to be not indoctrinated into this? Is this how people make friends? We’re real friends and we’re going somewhere together and it’s not to a Kier Remembrance Day.”

So, yeah, I think there’s a part of her that’s really fascinated and comes alive, but it’s awkward and uncomfortable because it doesn’t really know what it’s doing. It’s also that weird mixture of stalker and friend…there’s a weird energy to that.

Why is she so bad at recycling?

We definitely talked about making her fumbling, bumbling. To insinuate yourself into someone’s life, the biggest manipulators act like the most innocent victims. The most dangerous manipulators act like they’re just this sweet, innocent, couldn’t-hurt-a-fly person. That really can be very scary.

She’s got some element of that, like, I have to disarm him by being the fumbling, bumbling aunt from next door. And, “Oh, I need your help” and “I’m an older woman than you” and “Oh, you don’t have to worry about me.” So there is a damsel in distress device.

Did Cobel do a better job than Milchick?

Oh yes, come on now! What kind of question is that?

Yeah, I mean, I think that like such a horrible betrayal to her. Because she felt like he was under her tutelage. And even though she was a tough and mean kind of boss, sometimes she was doing it for his own good. And she was also weird in this way, of like, almost like a drill sergeant. They’re supposed to be kind of mean. It’s a little bit part of the protocol within Lumon — of the old school, especially that she came up in — there’s a certain way of treating people you’re training. But she’s pretty sad that Milchick stabbed her in the back. That he usurped her.

Why is the MDR team allowed to roam the halls of Lumon so freely?

I’ve had that conversation also, a concern in a weird way, where the viewer would be like, “Wait a minute, wouldn’t [Cobel] have seen this? They’re doing that — can’t Cobel see that?” There’s something about— I don’t know, I don’t want to give away things. What they do, informs.

Also, here’s the thing. I don’t think Lumon was so aware of what Cobel was doing and experimenting with. They have a very fine, limited view of what they thought was going on in this experiment, which is not the same idea of the experiment as to what Cobel is doing.

How did you come up with Cobel’s unique affectation?

I was like, watching Maude and all these weird shows. It was sort of a little bit of a tip of the hat to Bea Arthur. And this idea of, like, this world where upper management sounded a certain way. That power sounded a certain way. And maybe how that wouldn’t quite be right — it wouldn’t sound exactly authentic if it came from a poor kid who was looking up at this rich family, imagining what they sounded like, imagining what they talked like, imagining what this thing was. So, yeah, it’s not completely authentic. But she also grew up in this school in a weird way, like with nuns, or with, you know, being indoctrinated by these kind of people who were zealots. So they sounded the most like this. This is her child interpretation of that.

You’re really into this world huh?

I am really into it. But I have to say, Cobel is— she has a whole things going on on her own. She is not somebody who feels comfortable telling people, letting people in, or any of that. And yet she also has incredible hubris and is driven and convinced that she’s right. So it’s like, in a weird way, it’s very lonely, because she’s got her whole own agenda, and she doesn’t share it with anybody.

This might be a stupid question, but did you write any of Cobel’s notebook?

I love this question, actually.

Oh, thank you.

It’s part of what I love so much about being in the movie business and all the different departments. Our prop department is off-the-hook insane accomplished. Cat (PMG Property Master Catherine Miller) is amazing. So, no. They actually hire people to write stuff. Like, “I need 10 pages written about blah, blah, blah.” I’ve seen it throughout my career on different sets. On some, they’re actually sticking with the agenda of what the scene is about. And some they’re just writing shit so you’re rifling through and they’re like, “It’s 4 a.m. I’m so sick of this job. How many more pages left do I have to write?” They’re pretty hilarious.

But this— anything on [Severance] is really drilled-down right. You actually could focus on each page. You could print a book out of it. What they’re coming up with and writing is really good.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.