Warning: This article contains spoilers for Severance season 2, episode 3, "Who Is Alive?"

"Careful, there's poop!"

Mark's (Adam Scott) hilariously calm warning to Helly (Britt Lower) in this week's episode of Severance was the perfect build-up to the long-awaited reveal of Lumon's mysterious goat department. And while we still have a million questions about what the goats are actually used for after "Who Is Alive?," at least we now know a lot more about who takes care of them: Gwendoline Christie's intimidating new character, Lorne, and the rest of her Mammalians Nurturable department.

During their search for Ms. Casey (Dichen Lachman) on the severed floor, Mark and Helly returned to what they thought was the goat department and crawled through a tunnel to discover the real, hidden one: a sprawling, green, grassy hill spanning the entire underground space where the goats graze and roam (along with an employee wearing the skin of a black goat).

Adam Scott, Britt Lower, and Gwendoline Christie in 'Severance'.

Apple TV+

Gwendoline Christie debuts as mysterious Lumon employee Lorne in Severance sneak peek (exclusive)

As they explored the field in shock, they were greeted (at knifepoint) by Lorne, who revealed they're in the Mammalians Nurturable department filled with equally terrifying employees — who all also have a soft spot for Ms. Casey and her therapeutic wellness sessions. Unfortunately, Lorne and her Mammalians coworkers don't have any intel on Ms. Casey's whereabouts post-"retirement"; however, there is still a vital exchange of information, as the Mammalians Nurturable employees ask to see MDR's bellies to confirm they don't have pouches. At least Lumon's interdepartmental propaganda continues to be disproven!

Now that this episode is out in the world, Christie is relieved she no longer has to keep Lorne's — and Mammalians Nurturable's — secrets. "But I still feel like I can't say anything," the Game of Thrones alum tells Entertainment Weekly with a laugh. "When I watched the series the first time, I was really enraptured by it, and when it got to the point where the goats were introduced, I just felt like sinking to my knees because it was beyond anything I could comprehend or predicted."

Ever since then, the goats have been her favorite part of Severance. "I've been obsessed with the goats," she says. "It felt so right, but was so outside of the realms of anything logical or sensible, and it was so disturbing and so endearing and entirely, entirely strange and entirely original. And the only thing I can liken it to is that moment in Silence of the Lambs when Lecter is talking to Clarice Starling and he says, 'You can still hear the lambs, can't you, Clarice? You can still hear them calling to you?' And it's that moment that's so entirely chilling but intimate."

'Severance'.

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When she was cast for season 2, she had no idea that she would play such a big role involving the goat mystery. "When [director] Ben [Stiller] said to me that I was in charge of the goats, I can't really convey how thrilled I was and am," Christie reveals. "I was actually in the highlands of Scotland when we had the Zoom when we talked about this, and we were moving through endless moors with mountains and it was dotted with sheep. And in my mind, I just transfigured them into goats, and I'd sort of transcended into a goat Severance abstract heaven with the news that I would be in charge of the goats."

Christie worked closely with Stiller and the creative team to build Lorne from the ground up. "Several things spoke to me, and I put my ideas together and we discussed them, and it was such a gloriously collaborative process," she says. "Although we only just start to see Lorne — I've not even said the character's name out loud, really at all — I felt a strong sense of who that person was."

Getting to film on the beautiful Mammalians Nurturable set also helped Christie get into character. "The environment of when we shot episode 3 was heaven! I mean, you've seen it," she says. "Seeing those sheep spread out across those rolling hills in Scotland was somewhat similar to the set I found myself in. They built this incredible set, and I believe it was actually on a golf course, and it was an enormous thing with the goats just roaming around."

Gwendoline Christie in 'Severance'.

Apple TV+

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But Christie had been working on the character long before she got on set. Even though she couldn't tell anyone that she was going to be working closely with goats on Severance, she still found ways to immerse herself into the lifestyle of a goat farmer.

"I have a couple of friends that are sheep farmers, so I'd had, in a very covert fashion, asked them a lot of questions about goats, and they knew about goats," she says. "And I read books about goats and I would spend a lot of time in the country with goats I located. I'd spend as much time as I could with them in fields, because that was as close as I could get."

She didn't want to be "at odds" with the goats when it came time to film her scenes, and all her research and preparation paid off. "I was in ecstasy to be around the goats and to be transplanted into my favorite show on television, and with Mark S. and with Helly," Christie says. "I was surrounded by goats, and surrounded by my people who I take care of, and it was a kind of total bliss to me. And so bizarre and strange, and it felt completely right."

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Britt Lower and Adam Scott in 'Severance'.

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Severance cast debunks popular fan theories: 'You are very far off and wrong'

By the end of the episode, Mark and Helly formed a tentative friendship with the Mammalians Nurturable department (or at the very least, dispelled the rumors that MDR workers are monsters with pouches). And Christie loved getting to portray Lorne's fragile new relationship with them.

"When we were in the scene together, it was completely joyful to work with them both and try different things out," she says. "And the strange magnetism that Helly has and the childlike enigma that is Mark S, I can't really convey what a delight this was. I enjoyed my surreal — I don't know, like if Fellini had a David Cronenberg dream, I don't know, or if David Cronenberg had a Fellini dream, I'm not sure. It was just sublime, and it felt like something quite terrifying came out."

Severance season 2 debuts new episodes Fridays on Apple TV+. Check out more of EW's exclusive photos, including some behind-the-scenes shots, from the episode below:

'Severance'.

Apple TV+

Britt Lower and Adam Scott, 'Severance'.

Apple TV+

Adam Scott, 'Severance'.

Apple TV+

Gwendoline Christie and director Ben Stiller, 'Severance'.

Apple TV+

Gwendoline Christie, Adam Scott, and Britt Lower in 'Severance'.

Apple TV+

Britt Lower and Adam Scott, 'Severance'.

Apple TV+

Britt Lower, 'Severance'.

Apple TV+