[Severance] Hope for Irving return
Regarding the ongoing fandom conversation about Irving not coming back for S3 and the interview with John Turturro everyone’s been quoting:
I believe what was implied wasn’t so much “I’m done with this show” but “I’m old; it’s always rough committing to anything because life itself feels precarious. When I do something, I want to do it well because I don’t know if I’ll be able to come back.” And Christopher Walken is in his 80s, and in interviews they do together, there’s just this overwhelming sense of affection but also urgency to express it. I get that that’s part of the work, that their friendship is driving the entire Irving performance, that it’s kind of the point to do things you like with people you love as often as you can because the looming threats of death or illness never fucking stop, and the older you get, the more pervasive they become. And lucky is not the word for it, because there’s nothing particularly delightful in its unpredictability, but it’s nice that you get 60+ years of someone you love; it’s nicer than getting less than that. So you take what you can get and mourn when you have to, not a moment earlier.
I understand wanting to close out the season in a way that is both contained as a time period, as a collaboration, and as a gift to yourself, your friend, and any audience that might come along for the ride. I appreciate the honesty and respect for oneself it requires to grapple with the idea of a loved one’s health and your own, and why you’re doing things, and why you might want to continue doing them or stop in a way that gives you (as a person) and your character (as a projected narrative) some kind of closure.
Of course I’m hoping we get a third season and that Irving is in it. But the cast and crew are people, and beyond the paycheck (which I hope is hefty and helpful), I think it’s their time and their life, and I’m just a passenger eavesdropping. I’m lucky to be privy to this. And I’ll mourn when I have to, not a moment earlier.