The Lexington Letter and the Expanding Lore of Severance
If you've been obsessively rewatching Severance and dissecting every moment for clues (as many of us have), there's a hidden gem you may have missed: The Lexington Letter. This short story, available for free on Apple Books, is more than just a fun companion read. It’s packaged as a series of letters acting as a prequel that deepens the eerie mythology of Lumon Industries and it might just change how you view the entire series moving forward.
What The Lexington Letter Severance Adds to the Canon
Unlike the visual medium of the show, The Lexington Letter takes the form of a written confession. Penned by a former Lumon employee named Peggy K, the letter is both a personal testimony and a corporate exposé. Set in Topeka, Kansas (far from the familiar halls of the Severed floor in Kier, PE) the story reveals that Lumon isn’t isolated to one branch. In fact, it has multiple facilities, each with its own Macrodata Refinement (MDR) team.
These MDR teams, like the one we know from the series, consist of four members. This consistent team structure raises a tantalizing question: are these employees archetypes based on the Four Tempers of Kier Egan - woe, frolic, malice, and dread? Fans of Severance will recognize these categories as the ones used to sort data within Lumon’s surreal system. It’s not just symbolism, it’s workplace doctrine.
By revealing that this structure exists beyond the central team we follow in the show, The Lexington Letter Severance broadens the universe, making it clear that what we see on-screen is only one part of a much larger, deeply controlled organism.
The Repeated Tragedy of Severance Car Crashes
One of the most chilling revelations in The Lexington Letter is that Peggy dies in a car accident - the exact same fate that supposedly befell Mark’s wife, Gemma! This may seem like a tragic coincidence, but in the world of Severance, coincidences rarely exist without purpose. Could these car crashes be a pattern? Are they corporate cover-ups to silence employees who get too close to the truth?
Peggy’s letter suggests she was beginning to remember things from her severed life, echoing the cracks we see forming in Mark and Irving’s minds throughout the series. This overlap between personal tragedy and corporate secrecy pushes the show’s themes of surveillance, control, and memory manipulation to a disturbing extreme. If Lumon is willing to surgically split minds, is faking a death really out of the question?
The Religious Machinery of Lumon
Another layer of intrigue comes from the story’s emphasis on The Lumon Handbook, a sacred bible-llike text within the company. Just as in the series, The Lexington Letter underscores how this handbook governs every aspect of employee behavior. It’s a doctrine for "good behaviour", passed down and enforced with fanatical zeal. Well until Irving smashes a hardboiled egg in its pages...
The fact that it’s addressed to a journalist in the outside world suggests Lumon’s grip isn’t absolute. Someone, somewhere, is listening. So who is going to listen to the testimonies of Mark S, Dylan G and Irving B?
The letter describes Lumon employees being observed during lunch, their conversations monitored, and their thoughts guided by the teachings of Kier. This reinforces what fans already suspect: Lumon isn’t merely a tech corporation, it’s a cult masquerading as a workplace. And in this cult, the line between personal identity and professional obedience has been completely erased.
Peggy’s letter is not only a warning, it’s a cry for help. And the fact that it’s addressed to a journalist in the outside world suggests Lumon’s grip isn’t absolute. Someone, somewhere, is listening. So who is going to listen to the testimonies of Mark S, Dylan G and Irving B?
The Lexington Letter is more than a fun marketing tie-in. It's an impressive piece of storytelling from the marketing team but narratively it’s a puzzle piece that adds to the overall mystery of Lumon. By extending the lore, mirroring key plot points, and introducing new philosophical quandaries, it gives us a broader sense of Lumon’s reach and its terrifying ambition. Plus a fantastic Easter Egg rewarding the most curious of fans with extra detail.
If you’re already deep in the theories surrounding Gemma, the Eagan dynasty, or the severance technology itself, reading The Lexington Letter is essential to understand more about the show. And if you thought Kier was just a founder, think again. He may be something closer to a prophet - or at least wants to be! His legacy is far from finished. What does Peggy’s story tell us about what’s coming next?
