‘Severance’ and Dichen Lachman Fans Can Stream Emmy-Nominated ‘Last Resort’

When she first appeared as Ms. Casey on Apple TV+’s acclaimed sci-fi satire Severance, Dichen Lachman left quite an impression despite her limited screen time. To some viewers, it might have seemed like she appeared on the scene out of nowhere, as enigmatic and unknown as her character. But while Severance is clearly a big step in her career, Lachman has been appearing on screens large and small for decades, beginning in her home country of Australia with a role in the long-running soap opera Neighbours.

Lachman made her debut stateside in 2009 in Joss Whedon’s short-lived series Dollhouse, followed by a run of guest spots on some of the biggest shows of the era. Her next main role would come in 2012, on another series that was canceled before its time, the political thriller series Last Resort. Following the tense aftermath of a US Navy submarine’s refusal to fire ballistic missiles at Pakistan, the show received a fair amount of acclaim from critics, and even scored Emmy nominations for visual effects and music composition. Despite the warm reception, the show was canceled after its thirteen-episode first season, leaving viewers hanging after its explosive ending. This was only a minor bump in the road for Lachman, who has continued to work steadily in movies and TV ever since.

What Is ‘Last Resort’?

Created by veteran showrunners Shawn Ryan (The Shield, The Unit) and Karl Gajdusek (Dead Like Me, Stranger Things Season 1), Last Resort tells the story of USS Colorado, a Navy ballistic missile submarine, who are given orders to fire nukes at Pakistan. Captain Marcus Chaplin (the late, great Andre Braugher) questions the orders, and refuses to follow them when he grows suspicious of their origins. He’s quickly relieved of command, but his successor, Lieutenant Commander Sam Kendall (Scott Speedman), also refuses to fire. The sub and its crew are declared enemies of their own country and are fired upon by one of their sister vessels, a false pretext for the government to blame Pakistan and hit them with nukes anyway.

The crew decide to commandeer an old NATO post on the nearby island of Sainte Marina in order to mount a defense against their government’s continued attacks while they attempt to prove their innocence and figure out who set them up. It’s the island locale where Lachman’s character comes in. As Tani Tumrenjack, island resident and owner of a local watering hole, she serves as a love interest for James King (Daniel Lissing), one of the Navy SEALs on board the Colorado.

James is wracked with guilt over his participation in the attack, and ends up drinking heavily in Tani’s bar to try and numb the pain. Tani tries to comfort him, and the two begin a tentative romance. As the series progresses, James gets to know more about Tani’s life and family, as she’s conflicted between the island’s more traditional ways and the more modern world across the water. Meanwhile, James becomes torn between his loyalty and his feelings for Tani, deciding to stay on the island while some of his fellow crew members elect to leave.

The series was placed up against some pretty stiff competition from other networks and struggled in the ratings, but its provocative premise and themes of defying corrupt orders and standing up for the greater good feel more timely now than ever. While it’s unlikely any kind of revival would happen, particularly with Braugher’s passing in 2023, hopefully its continued life on streaming will help it find an audience.

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Lachman’s Expanding ‘Severance’ Role

(Note: the following contains spoilers for Severance seasons one and two)

In the first season of Severance, little was known about Lachman’s character Ms. Casey up until the big reveal that she was actually severed worker Mark S.’s (Adam Scott) “outie” wife Gemma, who Mark’s outer self believed to have died in a car crash. The Season 1 finale ends with Mark’s “innie,” awakened in the outside world, seeing a picture of Gemma in Mark’s house and putting the pieces together. This sets up one of Season 2’s biggest ongoing plot threads, as the innies work to find where Ms. Casey is being hidden and get her out.

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Lachman has only appeared sporadically for most of the second season, until the stunning seventh episode, “Chikhai Bardo,” revealed just what sinister designs Lumon has for her. The episode serves as a showcase for Gemma’s character and Lachman’s performance, flashing back to her early romance with Mark and their subsequent struggles after a miscarriage. It stands as one of Season 2’s finest moments, bringing a character who existed largely as a memory into sharp focus, raising the stakes on her and the other innies’ plans to break her out.

Severance is just the latest role for Lachman, an actor who has been steadily racking up credits for two decades now. While her career has largely been made up of guest spots or larger roles in cultishly adored but less popular series like Dollhouse or Last Resort, she seems poised to break into the mainstream any time now. With supporting roles in recent blockbusters like Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and the Jurassic World series, it’s only a matter of time before she’s headlining a major movie role of her own. In the meantime, TV fans can rejoice that she’ll remain a steady presence on screens for a while longer.