[This story contains spoilers from Severance season ones finale.]

Like the rest of the world, Tramell Tillman is rewatching season one of Severance. As one of the stars of the hit Apple TV+ series Tillman plays Milchick, the supervisor of the severed employees of Lumon Industries he was, of course, there for all of it. But the shows unexpectedly long hiatus has been testing his memory, too, and he wanted to make sure he was prepared for all the questions coming his way during the press tour for the long-awaited season two premiere (the show returns on the streaming platform Friday). His big takeaway from the binge? I see why people want to fight me, he says with a laugh. At the time, when I was acting in season one, I was like hey this is all fun but now, I see that its terrifying. I dont even recognize that guy as me. Tillman, 39, is Zooming in from his New York apartment, hours after returning from the Severance casts appearance at Comic-Con Brazil in late December (and, it must be noted, the real-life actor clad in a hoodie that stands in stark contrast to his onscreen business casual, is decidedly warm and breezy). The trailer for Severances second season dropped while he was traveling, so in between fighting the jet lag hes been fielding texts from friends, family and colleagues about the footage the first that audiences have seen since the season one finale aired in April 2022. Everyone wants to know whats going on at Lumen, and whether were going to pick up right where we left off, he says. But still, the number one question I get is: what the hell took us so long?

The answer to the former is straightforward: Season two opens on the Lumon employees in the immediate aftermath of the severed floors attempts to learn about their outies. The answer to the latter is a bit more complicated: Hollywood happened. The cast and crew reconvened to shoot season two in the fall of 2022, and when the WGA strike came down the following spring, they decided to pause production in solidarity. We had a monumental, historic shift in our entertainment industry, and we needed to tend to that, he says. If Ive learned anything during my few years here, its that nothing and no one is safe but I was always optimistic that we would return. By the time everyone came back to set following the resolution of the SAG strike, it was January 2024.

The role of Milchick served as a long-awaited breakout moment for Tillman. He grew up in Maryland, and though he developed an early interest in acting he pursued a college degree in communications and worked at a nonprofit. His creative passions eventually won out, and Tillman enrolled in the University of Tennessees acting MFA program; in 2014, he became the first Black man to graduate from the program. He then spent years doing guest roles on shows like Elementary and Godfather of Harlem before landing Severance. Now, his commercial and critical success finds him in rooms both of the party and meeting variety hed never dreamed of being in. He joined the cast of the next Mission Impossible movie and went to the Emmys. So many celebrities were terrified to come talk to me, but then I would break the ice and theyd realize I was actually much nicer than Milchick, he says. Ive also been learning that a lot of people think that Im British, which Im starting to see as a compliment.

While he wants to be strategic about the advantages that come during this stage of his career (see: MI8, and hed also love to do Shakespeare, Marvel, or a movie musical one day), he says hes mostly focused on finding projects that feed his soul. I grew up in the church and we talked about ministry; I think the art of storytelling is a form of ministry for me. I think about what I witnessed in Brazil, how excited people were to see us and get our autographs, how much they love the show, its really beautiful and rare.

And in the meantime, hes working on fielding more questions about Severance. When asked if the second season will offer another viral dance scene akin to season ones beloved maraca sequence, he offers a sly, wink-punctuated no comment. That scene wasnt scripted as anything specific, so we as an ensemble had to figure out how we were going to choreograph it and it took two days to film, he says. It was a fantastic surprise that it became such a huge moment, so the fact that people are even asking whether Im going to dance again is a reward in itself.

Severance releases the first two episodes of season two Friday on Apple TV+.