Ben Stiller Says Barack Obama Turned Down Lumon Building Voice Role In ‘Severance’ Season 2: “I Don’t Think I Have Time”

The Lumon Building could’ve been brought to life by Barack Obama, Severance producer Ben Stiller recently revealed.

During an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Stiller said that he pitched Obama the voice role for the second season of the Apple TV+ series.

“I didn’t ask him in person, I knew someone who knew his lawyer and his lawyer said I can relay the request if you write an email,” Stiller told Kimmel. “So I wrote an email to him saying like, ‘Hey we have this show,’ whatever. And like two days later, I get an email back from President Barack Obama.”

In his reply, Stiller said Obama told him he was a “big fan of the show” and was awaiting the second season. However, the former President of the United States turned down the offer saying, “I don’t think I have time in my schedule to make it happen.”

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“I’m like, what’s more important than doing the voice-over for the animated building in Severance?” Stiller quipped.

Obama would have provided the voice in the “Lumon is Listening” video featured in the series, but Keanu Reeves ultimately voiced it.

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“He’s just like the most warm and inviting voice,” Stiller said of Reeves. “I don’t know if when you see the building and you hear his voice, you necessarily think immediately that it’s Keanu, but then I think you have this just innate feeling.”

Watch Stiller on the ABC late-night talk show in the video below.