The voice of Lumon in the Severance Season 2 training video belongs to Keanu Reeves — but as Ben Stiller explains in the Jimmy Kimmel Live! interview above, former president Barack Obama was asked first — and he said no.
“I didn’t ask him in person. I knew someone that knew his lawyer, and his lawyer said ‘I can relay the request if you write an email,’ so I wrote an email to him,” says Stiller in the clip above. “Like two days later I get an email back from president Barack Obama saying, ‘Hey Ben, big fan of the show, love Season 1, can’t wait for Season 2…don’t think I have time in my schedule to make this happen.’ And like, come on, what’s more important than doing the voiceover for the animated building in Severance? But it was pretty cool that he responded.”
It would have been a glorious cameo, but at least Reeves makes an undeniably excellent backup.
