Watch Dichen Lachman’s ‘Severance’ audition as wildly different Ms. Casey (exclusive)

You have never seen Ms. Casey like that before.

When the well -being advisor with the soft voice of Lumon – played by Dichen Lachman – appeared for the first time on Breakup In season 1, she was simultaneously soothing and strange when she delivered random information to the cut employees about their outings. She was calm, graceful, but tirelessly, and it was clear that there was much more in her story. The final of season 1 finally confirmed this theory when it was revealed that Ms. Casey is in fact Gemma, the alleged wife of Mark (Adam Scott), shocking, but trapped inside Lumon for reasons which are not yet clear after season 2.

But Ms. Casey was not always a serene and impassive employee. Weekly entertainment has an exclusive overview of Lachman’s original hearing for Breakup in which she played a very Difference in the character’s version, as much more aggressive, direct and fierce during his wellness session with Irving (John Turturro).

“This video shows my very first hearing,” Lachman told EW. “As you can imagine, the secrets of Ms. Casey and Gemma at this stage were closely kept, so I had very little context for the characters when I started to read.”

Lachman worked in close collaboration with the program director of the show, Rachel Tenner, during the hearing to understand how to represent this mysterious character.

“Rachel was so helpful and so generous with his time, talking to me as much as she could, so I could even find the smallest window on the world and approximate what this character might look like,” says Lachman.

Tenner says she had received scripts in advance, so she knew more about history than others during the hearing process. That said, the cast of Ms. Casey was “really difficult”.

“We were trying to sail in this strange and complicated character without giving too much history that would take place,” said the casting director in EW. “When I saw Dichen Audition, it was undeniable that she had exactly what we needed. She had the beauty, the mystery, the complexity and her instincts were to the point from the start. She felt different from everyone and toneally was a wonderful match.”

It was only when Lachman won the role she finally started to understand who Ms. Casey was.

“Once I got the job, I finally read all the scripts and I had conversations with Sydney Bucksbaum Dan [Erickson]”Lachman says.” And it was then that it all started to change for me in terms of where Mrs. Casey, and by Gemma extension, came internally. “”

It took a long time and a lot of work, but Lachman finally found the character’s final version when it was time to start filming.

“The voice of Ms. Casey especially started to take shape once we got on the set,” explains Lachman. “It is not Gemma’s voice, but there are aspects of her that had to cross Ms. Casey. [Executive producer] Ben [Stiller] was the key to composing what was necessary in terms of tone. John Turturro was an incredible first scene partner, and after that day, I think we all knew how she would integrate into the world of Lumon. “”

Watch Lachman to make Ms. Casey (and Gemma!) His throughout the shooting of the first two seasons impressed the casting director, especially knowing where it all started in the hearing process.

“I loved seeing how much warmth, vulnerability and naivety Dichen brought Ms. Casey during filming,” said Tenner. “I think that in her initial reading, she was much more austere and almost practical in her effectiveness, but she finally brought something really unique and open to this role. I loved looking at the casting react to this strange bird in the midst of them.”

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All this led to the final of the explosive season 2, in which Mark finally found Gemma (and, for a moment, Mrs. Casey, while they were making her way through the cut ground) but refused to leave Lumon with her. Lachman remembers the intense end of the episode as some of the most difficult scenes she has ever filmed.

“The whole final sequence – of Mark Extraction Gemma from the port of Cold, to their presumed escape from Lumon, at these atrocious moments at the corridor door – is one of the most difficult and emotionally difficult things that I have ever had to execute in front of a camera,” said Lachman. “The pressure to nail something like that can be intimidating for any actor, but with a stage partner like Adam and a director like Ben, I really felt independent and prepared to grasp this huge moment, and this character who changes his life.”

Watch the exclusive video of EW from Lachman’s Original Breakup Hearing above.