For those who tuned in to “The After Hours,” the latest installment of Severance, and are familiar with The Twilight Zone, it’s likely that some parallels to an episode with the same title caught their attention. In fact, even before the latest Severance episode aired, an astute viewer on X (kudos to them) pointed out the similarity and suggested watching “The After Hours” from The Twilight Zone as a precursor.

This classic episode of existential dread serves as a fitting companion piece, and it’s evident that the creators of Severance, who have likely drawn inspiration from The Twilight Zone throughout, borrowed specific elements from Rod Serling’s work in this instance. Given the recent revelation that a different Twilight Zone episode influenced Ryan Coogler’s upcoming horror film Sinners, and considering the peculiar era we’re living in, it’s a timely reminder to keep The Twilight Zone (available on Paramount+) in regular rotation.

The following discussion includes spoilers for both the 2025 “The After Hours” and the 1960 “The After Hours” episodes.

In the Severance episode “The After Hours,” Ms. Cobel engages in a peculiar conversation with a security guard to gain access to a compound containing a cabin that will allow Mark’s inner consciousness to awaken outside of Lumon. The exchange is quite unusual:

Cobel: “We’re heading to cottage five.”

Guard: “I don’t have anyone scheduled.”

Cobel: “She’s one of Jame’s. No one’s to know… Miss Marsha White, ninth floor.”

Guard: “Specialties Department.”

Cobel: “I’m looking for a gold thimble.”

This conversation bears a striking resemblance to the Twilight Zone episode “The After Hours.” First aired on June 10, 1960, the episode stars Anne Francis as a woman who enters a bustling department store to purchase a gold thimble as a gift for her mother. The narration sets the scene as she approaches one of the store’s elevators: “Express elevator to the ninth floor of a department store, carrying Miss Marsha White on a most prosaic, ordinary, run-of-the-mill errand.”

The elevator dial indicates that it only goes up to the eighth floor and the roof, but the operator takes Marsha to the ninth floor, which is mysteriously deserted except for a peculiar saleswoman selling gold thimbles. The narration continues, drawing parallels with Severance: “Miss Marsha White on the ninth floor, specialties department, looking for a gold thimble. The odds are that she’ll find it—but there are even better odds that she’ll find something else, because this isn’t just a department store. This happens to be The Twilight Zone.”

After purchasing the thimble, Marsha discovers it’s damaged and decides to return it. However, when she describes shopping on the ninth floor, the store managers are perplexed, as the store supposedly has no ninth floor. The situation takes a darker turn when Marsha realizes that the sales clerk who sold her the thimble is actually a mannequin. The shock causes her to faint, and when she awakens, she finds herself alone in the store, surrounded by mannequins that begin to move and call out to her.

The twist in the episode is that Marsha herself is a mannequin, allowed to come alive for a brief period, during which she forgets her true nature. As the episode concludes, she returns to her frozen state, with a mannequin eerily resembling Anne Francis.

Rod Serling’s closing narration explains, “Marsha White, in her normal and natural state, a wooden lady with a painted face who, one month out of the year, takes on the characteristics of someone as normal and as flesh and blood as you and I.” The episode ends with the haunting question, “But it makes you wonder, doesn’t it, just how normal are we? Just who are the people we nod our hellos to as we pass on the street?”

While it’s possible that diligent observers might uncover more Severance clues in “The After Hours,” it appears that the dialogue in the Severance episode is deliberately nonsensical, serving as a nod to the audience rather than an in-universe reference. The exchange between Cobel and the security guard feels like a coded conversation, acknowledging the connection to The Twilight Zone episode.

The themes of both episodes, however, are more closely aligned. In The Twilight Zone, Marsha is a mannequin allowed to come alive under controlled circumstances, only to be reminded that she’s not truly human. Similarly, Lumon’s severed employees in Severance are permitted to come alive in specific situations, yet they must also endure the harsh reality that they’re not entirely human.

Perhaps, in the world of Severance, there are indeed mannequins that come to life roaming the halls of Lumon. The show has certainly presented its fair share of unsettling moments, leaving viewers to wonder what other secrets and Easter eggs they might have missed.

If you’re intrigued by this rabbit hole, feel free to share any exciting discoveries or theories in the comments. You can stream The Twilight Zone on Paramount+ and Severance on Apple TV+.

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