Sony Pictures
Adam Scott has been given the role of a lifetime on Severance, as it’s the first time the veteran 51-year-old actor has led a project of this scale, both in terms of its cost and its popularity.
While playing Mark Scout in Severance may be Adam Scott’s first major leading role, anyone whose been into movies and television over the last 15 years or so has certainly been familiar with him, as he’s been putting in consistent work across multiple types of projects for over a decade now.
While Scott was largely known for his roles as Ben Wyatt on Parks and Rec and starring on the Starz sitcom Party Down, he’s also had roles in TV shows such as Eastbound & Down, The Good Place, and Big Little Lies, and films such as The Aviator, Our Idiot Brother, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (which Ben Stiller directed), Black Mass, and Krampus.
Scott’s definitive movie performance, however, was he scene-stealing role of Derek Huff in Step Brothers, which — despite being released 15 years ago — helped him land the lead role on Severance.
In between his many tweets about his beloved New York Knicks, Severance director Ben Stiller shared a video of the diner scene from Step Brothers, calling it one of the funniest scenes of all-time, and added that it “completely” influenced his decision to cast Scott as Mark Scout/Mark S.
One of the funniest scenes in all of movies ever made in history of movies being made. https://t.co/xVI66YI7dZ
— Ben Stiller (@BenStiller) February 18, 2025
Completely. It’s when i knew he was an incredible actor.
— Ben Stiller (@BenStiller) February 18, 2025
Not only has Severance been a game-changer for Scott’s career but it’s also being hailed as a potentially definitive series, up there with the likes of Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Lost, The Wire, The Sopranos, etc. if it can continue on this trajectory and eventually stick its landing.