There’s a moment in Severance somewhere between the break room interrogations and the unsettling Waffle Party, when you start to question your own sanity. Maybe it’s the sterile fluorescent lighting. Maybe it’s the creeping sense of dread. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s the room full of baby goats.

For context Season 1, Episode 5 is where Mark and Helly first wandered down a nondescript corridor and stumble upon a tiny, bleating herd of goats. A frantic man looks up and delivers a cryptic warning that“They’re not ready yet. It isn’t time.” No follow-up, no explanation. Just existential terror. Then, in Season 2, Episode 3, the goat zone expands. Mark and Helly return to find an even larger room full of them, this time with Gwendoline Christie’s character Lorne, convinced they’ve come to kill her.

Why goats? Why here? Why does the caretaker act like they hold the key to something unspeakable? Naturally, the internet has theories. Some believe the goats are test subjects for Lumon’s memory-severance technology. Others think they symbolise corporate dehumanisation—docile, controlled, and stripped of agency, much like the employees themselves.

Below, we've curated five of our favourite theories from the internet as to why are there Severance goats, and why are they in the office...

1. Lumon’s goat yoga initiative spiralled out of control

Corporate wellness has officially gone off the rails. First, it was in-office meditation pods. Then, mandatory gratitude journaling. Now? Goat therapy. But in true Lumon fashion, they’ve taken it to an unsettling extreme. Forget downward dog, these baby goats might be part of a much darker experiment.

2. The goats run Lumon

We’ve never seen the board, but what if that’s the point? Harmony Cobel and Milchick act like they’re answering to some higher, untouchable force. What if those board meetings are just them nodding solemnly at a herd of goats, waiting for divine wisdom? If a goat bleats, does Mark get a raise?

3. Lumon’s farm-to-table dairy initiative

Maybe this is less of a mystery and more of an unhinged corporate perk. You refine numbers all day, and in return, you get fresh, Lumon-branded goat cheese in the break room. Farm-to-table, but make it dystopian.

4. The goats represent one of Lumon’s four tempers

In Lumon’s bizarre corporate lore, the four tempers (Woe, Frolic, Dread, and Malice) define human nature. Goats show up too often to be a coincidence, they might represent one of these tempers, possibly malice. The company’s own artwork shows Kier Eagan confronting a goat, and a dancing goat appears at the Waffle Party. When the caretaker says, “They’re not ready yet,” maybe he means they haven’t been fully purged of their malice.

5. The goats are a metaphor for the severed floor

The severed employees don’t know why they’re there. They don’t know their purpose. They’re confined, controlled, and kept alive only to serve some unknown function. The goats have the same deal. The eerie parallel suggests the baby goats are a direct reflection of the innies trapped, manipulated, and stripped of autonomy.

6. The goats are an emotional attachment experiment

Lumon might not just be severing memories, they could be testing whether severed employees can still form emotional bonds. The caretaker’s protectiveness over the goats suggests a deeper connection, and if they suddenly disappear, it could be an intentional experiment to measure grief, attachment, or loss. Are they just as disposable as the goats?

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