I’ve covered a lot of streaming news here at TechRadar and while I’ve dived into some quite silly things, such as Duolingo’s scary collaboration with Netflix to celebrate the Squid Game season 2 launch, I didn’t think covering goat-based theories would be on the cards. Still, I was excited to dive into this because I’ve been eagerly waiting for Severance season 2 since it was first confirmed.
When we were first introduced to the baby goats, we were told that “they weren’t ready”. In typical Severance style, they haven’t given us anything else to go off, so fans have taken it upon themselves to try and work out what the goats mean. I’ve put together my favorites, and a little of my own opinion too.
Theory 1: The goats are The Board
This fun theory originally appeared in an Entertainment Weekly video and there’s something hilarious about the idea of goats running the whole operation. While we have not seen ‘The Board’ in person and they’re referred to as a collective where they communicate exclusively with selected people through earpieces, the idea they’re goats is a little far-fetched, no?
So far, The Board has spoken exactly one word to us which has led some people to believe it may be an AI of some kind but if Lumon has trained goats to speak the way you’d train a parrot, consider me impressed honestly. If they went to that much effort, we may as well just accept the goats as our leaders.
Theory 2: They’re involved in some sort of cloning experiment
The same video saw one fan suggesting that Lumon is involved in human cloning, where Reddit user Scdsco wrote that they believed Ms. Casey is a clone of Gemma due to the fact she behaved “strangely”. They went on to link this back to the goats, saying that they could be involved in cloning experiments. Out of all the theories so far, I do like this one and it could well be plausible. But knowing Severance, they’re about to drop some wild explanation on us and I can’t wait.
Recently, we had even more reason to suspect cloning and you can read more about that in our seven big theories about Severance season 2 piece which breaks down the first episode and some of the big questions it poses. It’s full of spoilers though, so beware!
Theory 3: They’re symbolic of the god, Pan
We all know Severance loves its symbolism so it wouldn’t be too surprising if we start to see more of it, especially when it comes to theology and gods. There’s a pretty in-depth theory about this from Reddit user Shayray, which explores this idea.
Part of their in-depth theory reads: “In Greek mythology, Pan resembles a goat, he is the god of fertility, sex, and music. He also personifies chaos and the word panic stems from pan. Throughout the show, goats frequently make appearances: be it in the form of baby goats, goat masks, or goat busts. Fertility is also an ongoing theme in the show and they keep pointing to the possibility of the severance program being entangled with matters of reproduction and pregnancy.
“Additionally, I think it’s possible that the weird waffle party scene could be interpreted as a representation of Pan and his nymphs. We also see music come into play in this waffle party scene. Another connection to Pan I saw was with Petey’s map which could be a reference to Pan’s Labyrinth.”
Theory 4: The goats will be sacrificed to someone or something
This is one of my personal theories but it’s one that other fans share too, as the concept of a sacrificial animal like a goat or a lamb is very common. In keeping with the theology themes, making a sacrifice to appease a higher force would make a lot of sense, especially as Lumon does give some pretty big cult vibes. Whether the Eagans are indeed a cult is not yet known but it’s got me worrying about the fate of these poor goats. I really hope this isn’t the reason they’re at Lumon, to be honest!
While this one is probably the least bonkers theory of them all it’s a likely one and perhaps the goats exist merely to be disposed of.
Theory 5: They’re being tested or experimented upon
Animal testing is a real-world controversial topic and it wouldn’t surprise me if Lumon were up to something shady like this! As part of a thread of suggested theories on Reddit, user chiwawaacorn suggested: “Lumon is testing the storing and ‘uploading’ of consciousness into “container bodies” with the goal of immortality for the Eagan clan.”
Honestly, the Eagans seem keen to preserve their family name at all costs so I can understand this one. If they were seeking immortality so they never died out, they’d need to do a lot of experimenting to make that happen, and the goats would make great disposable subjects in case something went terribly wrong.