He has verve.
Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, the Icelandic-American actor who played Lumon enforcer Mr. Drummond on the Emmy-winning Apple drama “Severance,” became the show’s first bloody death in the Season 2 finale.
“I was kind of excited,” Ólafsson exclusively told The Post.
“I spoke to [director Ben Stiller] about it, and it’s the first time that you see real graphic violence and blood…..if you’re going to go out in any kind of show, this is the way to go out.”
“Severance” is a sci-fi drama following employees at the sinister biotech company, Lumon, including Mark (Adam Scott) and Helly (Britt Lower). During the Season 2 finale, which came out on Friday, Mark rescues his wife, Gemma (Dichen Lachman), who has been trapped at Lumon getting experimented on.
Mr. Drummond tries to stop Mark, and the two men get into a violent scuffle.
As Adam Scott revealed on the official “Severance” podcast, when Drummond throws Mark into a wall, Scott was supposed to block his head with his hand, but he missed, and his head ended up really slamming into the wall.
When that happened, “I just kind of wanted to go back to my chair and cry,” Ólafsson said.
He continued, “I remember I brought in an Icelandic chocolate bar and gave it to him as a sort of ‘I’m sorry.’ Also because Adam worked so hard in the show, like he is there all the time — and you don’t want to knock the lead actor out!”
Drummond nearly gets the best of Mark, but soon, fellow Lumon employee Lorne (Gwendoline Christie) rescues Mark and fights Drummond herself.
Their clash visually echoes Christie’s iconic earlier fight on “Game of Thrones,” when her character on that show, Brienne, battles The Hound (Rory McCann).
“I was such a fan, I think her character was one of my favorite characters in ‘Game of Thrones.’ I was kind of starstruck to be honest,” Ólafsson told The Post.
“It’s really funny, you never know when you get starstruck. I never thought I’d meet Gwendoline, let alone work with her. And I was kind of like, ‘Oh my God!’”
He added that someone pointed out on a “Severance” panel recently “that that this fight scene between Mark and Mr. Drummond and Gwendoline – this would probably be a wet dream for Adam Scott’s character on ‘Parks and Recreation,’ because he loves all that stuff. It kind of felt like that moment to me as well. So I was just like, ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this, but this is great!’”
Ólafsson is also friends with Rory McCann, the Scottish actor who played The Hound on “Game of Thrones.”
“I sadly haven’t met Rory in a few years, but we used to be in touch quite a bit back in the day. I had to go to Scotland every once in a while; he used to come a lot to Iceland,” he told the Post. “I think we’re due for a meet up, and I’ll mention this [fight with Gwendoline Christie] to him. I’m happy that we got to share the experience of fighting Gwendoline.”
Earlier in the episode, Drummond is also in a special room to sacrifice a goat, before he’s stopped.
“You wouldn’t believe the amount of care and quality that went into the work. And a lot of it you will never see,” said Ólafsson.
He added, “Like that sacrificial chamber. There was hieroglyphics and stuff that no one will ever see on camera. It makes me happy that I got to enjoy it, but kind of sad that the audience probably never will. But that’s the level of quality that goes into the show.”
Apple has renewed “Severance” for a third season. The actor said he’s a fan and will continue watching the show, even though he’s no longer on it.
Since “Severance” is a show that attracts fan theories, Ólafsson quipped, “I have theories, but I cannot tell you, because maybe some of those theories might be based on something I read or knew. And then, they would have to kill me. And I don’t want to be killed.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
