Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers for Severance Season 2 Episode 1, now streaming on Apple TV+.

Back in 2022, when 15-year-old Sarah Bock first read the script for the Season 2 premiere of "Severance," all she knew about her character was a job title: Lumon Industries Industries) - a position that seemed too ripe for a high school student who didn't look old enough to be an office intern, let alone a boss.

Of course, that's the point. “I didn’t know much about her other than her position, but I did know she was very young,” said Bock, now 18, a freshman at Northwestern University. type About what creator Dan Erickson and director/executive producer Ben Stiller told her about the character. "But they said during the audition that she might be more controlling than she looked, and that was my first clue into her strange but absolutely strong-willed personality."

Bock's character Wong - yes, she finally got a name - had one of the weirdest plot points in the Season 2 premiere, of which there were many. After Harmony Korbell (Patricia Arquette) is fired from her job as quarantine floor manager, she's replaced by Seth Milczyk (Trammell Tillman), who Ms. Huang took over. While her exact age has never been revealed—"She's definitely younger than I am, but I'm not sure exactly how old she is," Bock says—it's clear that she was a child with a creepy sense of audacity. , she summoned to give orders. Her much older subordinate.

Bock said she felt imposter syndrome on her first day of acting alongside older, more experienced actors like Adam Scott and John Turturro, but she had to shake it off before she could deliver A convincing performance - because, apparently, Ms. Huang never once felt professionally a day in her life was a fraud.

Our beloved introverts—Mark (Adam Scott), Haley (Britt Lor), Dylan (Zach Cherry), and Owen (John Turturro)— —as confused as we are by her existence. "Why is she only 8?" Dylan asked Mark in a worried voice as they followed her through one of Lumont's many never-ending tunnel-like corridors.

By this point, we knew we'd never get a clear answer from Ms. Huang herself. Earlier in the episode, Mark W (Bob Barbaran) asked her point-blank, "Why are you a kid?" During an icebreaker, she looked at him blankly: "Because I was born When...?" As we speak, psychologists are using this scenario as a case study in gaslighting.

Below, Bock details the Season 2 premiere of "Severance," how she mastered her sinister aura, and how Wong evolved from the first script she read.

Did you watch the first season when it first came out?

No, I haven't seen it before, but I've heard of it because my parents are huge fans of the show. When they were watching the first season, I walked into the living room a few times and I was like, "What is this?" But once I auditioned, I watched the entire series in one sitting that day and stayed up until about 4 a.m. Because I wanted to feel the tone. But I didn't expect that I would be so fascinated. I just had to watch the whole thing because I became a fan and I was obsessed and needed to know what was going on.

How has Mr. Huang changed from your original script?

She behaves a bit like you'd imagine a typical child would - like, maybe a little nervous or timid, which doesn't fit her style. But when we were trying to work with it, even on my first day of shooting, I wasn't sure how they wanted the character to be, but there was one specific moment when we were doing the ball game scene with Mark S. Ben that I stared at. He stared at Mark for a long moment, almost like an eye contact contest. He said, "As soon as you feel like you've been staring too long, just look for three more seconds." It was at that moment that I started to understand who she was and started to understand that maybe she wasn't your typical teenager in that situation - She's a little more powerful than that.

What was your audition process like? What scene did you read?

I got my first selfie at the end of August 2022, and then we started shooting in October 2022 - so it was definitely a super long process. The first step was my self-tape, which was the ball game scene from (the first episode) verbatim. I think a month later I had a Zoom call with Ben and then a couple of the producers, and I think (creator) Dan (Erickson) was probably there. A month later, they flew me to New York and I met Trammell in person and read the ballgame scenes with him, which was a lot of fun. I read the book with Ben and Trammell, who played different characters. Then there was a scene that wasn't in the play and I was reading with Tramell and I thought I was sending someone into the green room.

How much did you learn about Ms. Wong and where she was going in the story during your filming?

I think they had all the scripts ready when the first season started. But with Season 2, the process was a little different - I think we got the first three or four, but the rest followed over time, so we didn't necessarily know where Season 2 was going. So it was definitely a lot of theory, at least for me, and when I read the script, I had no idea what was going to happen next. It's definitely super mysterious. And there were a lot of rewrites, just plot changes. So it made things a little confusing at times because our shoots were really out of sequence - but it also made me nervous because I was really excited to see what was going to happen.

What was your experience on set with an actor like Adam Scott, who I'm sure you were familiar with before?

I definitely have a lot of imposter syndrome because I'm a huge fan of all of them and they're all incredible actors and just incredible people. But this was my first time actually being on set. So they just taught me how to hold myself, and how to find my mark, but not make it obvious to me that you're looking at your mark, that kind of thing. I think they're all amazing role models, whether it's being a leader on set, setting the tone, or keeping morale up. So, yes, I did learn a lot from them.

You are a first-year student at Northwestern University. What was the reaction like from your classmates before you landed your breakout role in the new season?

They were really excited for me, which was so sweet. When I came to school I didn't tell anyone because I just wanted to get to know some people first and I really thought I wasn't announced yet. So for the first few months, only two people knew. But once the news was announced, everyone was very supportive. I was in a show last fall with some people from the theater program, so they all wanted to have a watch party with me, which everyone was really sweet about.

Did you watch the first episode with your friends when it aired Thursday night?

So I was actually sick all week. Unfortunately, I was only in my dorm room, but I FaceTimed my parents and sister and we watched the episode together.

This interview has been edited and condensed.