Exactly a year ago today, on Monday, Apr. 8, 2024, North America stopped working for a few hours to watch a solar eclipse — and that included the cast and crew of the hit Apple TV+ show Severance.
Officially the platform’s biggest show in terms of unique viewers, the dystopian show created by Dan Erickson and produced by Ben Stiller halted filming while in New York shooting its second season.
Stepping outside and looking up may have been an alien concept to the corporate corridors of Lumon Industries, but Erickson shared a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the moment on Instagram. His post’s photo featured cast members Adam Scott and Britt Lower with Erickson gazing skyward, eclipse glasses firmly in place.
Severance And The Eclipse
“I remember we all watched the eclipse together. The solar eclipse. I have pictures of us all going outside of the stage in the Bronx there to look at that,” director Stiller told People. Scot added that they had been shooting the finale on Apr. 8. Filming wrapped a few weeks later on April 23, according to a later post from Erickson.
According to Timeanddate, New York City saw almost 90% of the sun blocked by the moon in a deep partial solar eclipse, meaning eclipse glasses had to be worn at all times.
Where Totality Happened
A total solar eclipse — when the sky darkens for a few minutes, the temperature drops, and the sun’s spectacular corona becomes visible to the naked eye — occurred some 300 miles northwest of New York City. On April 8, 2024, a roughly 125-mile wide path of totality through northwest Mexico, the U.S.(from Texas through Maine) and southeast Canada was created by the moon’s shadow, which took 139 minutes to travel across Earth’s surface.
50 Million Watched
It’s thought about 50 million people may have witnessed this “Great North American Eclipse,” though where they did so was not as predicted because of unexpected weather. Texas, where a $1.4 billion tourism windfall had been expected from a million visitors, hosted as few as 270,000 visitors as storms moved in, while New Hampshire, where as few as 450 eclipse-chasers were expected, saw 170,00 extra vehicles make the journey.
Sunrise Solar Eclipse
Although it made far fewer headlines, a similar phenomenon occurred last week when, on Mar. 29, 2025, a deep partial solar eclipse was again seen from North America. This time, it was viewed at sunrise only from northeastern U.S. states and eastern Canada, as well as Europe and, northwestern Africa and Russia. From New York City, 21% of the sun was blocked by the moon at sunrise. From parts of northern Maine, the U.S., and Quebec and New Brunswick, Canada, a rare “double sunrise” was seen, with as much as a 94% partial solar eclipse.
The Next Total Solar Eclipse
Eastern Greenland, western Iceland and northern Spain will see a brief totality during the next total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026. The first such event for mainland Europe since 1999, North America will experience a slight partial solar eclipse during this event.
The next total solar eclipses in the U.S. will occur in Alaska on Mar. 30, 2033, on Aug. 23, 2044, in Montana and North Dakota, and on Aug. 12, 2045, across 13 U.S. states from California to Florida.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.