Gwendoline Christie Says the Goats Working on Severance Were Constantly 'Disruptive' on Set: 'They Were Divas' (Exclusive)

Warning: This post contains spoilers from Severance season 2, episode 10.

On the Severance set, the goats had a mind of their own.

Lumon Industries' Department of Mammalians Nurturable (MN), helmed by Gwendoline Christie's character Lorne, cares for and raises dozens of goats. Audiences first discover the department's existence in season 1, when Mark S. (Adam Scott) and Helly R. (Britt Lower) stumble into a room where an MN staffer is seen nurturing a goat before saying they were "not ready yet" and that "it isn't time."

Fans get to see the many goats of MN running about the mysterious place from then onward, and Christie, 46, tells PEOPLE exclusively about her own experience getting to work closely with the animals.

"There are a ton of goats. And they're all mine!" she says. "Some were disruptive, actually. They were divas. They were really difficult. As Adam Scott brilliantly said, 'Goats don't care about being on television.' Goats also have an incredible self-confidence. They feel comfortable to eat clothes whilst you're wearing them."

Recalling some of the goats' silly shenanigans, the Game of Thrones alum days: "I was receiving a makeup touch-up. They were eating the brush. I was there for it. The goat was in my face. The goat was climbing off someone's desk. The goat was butting its head against my knees. The goat is pooping. The goat's doing whatever the goat wants to do. And I aspire to that level of personal freedom."

"What I loved is how happy they were that day in that strange environment. That amazing set that they built, which was so extraordinary. And again, so many layers of juxtaposition of... It was a golf course, so you have a natural environment that's man-made," she says. "And then, you have the imposition of the office-like walls around it. And the goats were delighted. There were roaming free, there were lots of handlers around giving out treats. I had treats in my pocket, so they were following me around."

Christie says she had done "goat prep" prior, having "spent a huge amount of time in fields with sheep because I would observe goats."

"[There] were some very frisky Friesians, actually, that were intimidating and got me to leave the field. But to be around live animals is a great thing," she continues. "They inject you with some of their spirit. Goats are highly intelligent, they have a very good sense of humor. They love to go on a mini trampoline. They love to go on a seesaw. They'll climb very high up on things. And you get the sense of their kind of absurd outlook on life."

The season 2 finale revealed that the goats are part of a ritualistic sacrifice, which Christie notes includes an "interesting set of circumstances" at play.

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"We see the corridors, the endless corridors that reminds us of corporate environments and bureaucracy and perhaps science, perhaps archives, perhaps institutions, perhaps a million things. Then, we move into this clinical space that seems... Is it scientific? Is it morgue-like? Is it a hospital-like environment?" she says.

"And then, we are presented with this contraption, which we can't quite understand, but appears to have been designed to cradle the outlines of a goat. There's just so many things at odds," she continues. "The very low-fi nature of the trolley, the sort of strange, almost custom-like dress of Lorne. Is it a ceremonial hair adornment? Is there makeup? Is it ceremonial makeup or is it skin? Has Lorne gone through something physically? There are so many tensions involved." 

In the finale, Christie's Lorne is shown bringing a single goat to Drummond (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), who is prepared to fatally shoot the animal. "That environment, the animal, Drummond, the gun, there are so many things at odds," the actress explains.

"There's so many juxtapositions happening and we're so activated by it," she shares. "What I love is that within us are ignited a million stories. What I love about the show is that we're not given facts, it's our own story. How we pose ourselves on the story, how we receive it, where we are taking it. And then, we enter into the land of fan forums and fan theory where people are coming together and being highly creative in the exchange of ideas and forming stories in groups across the world."

"It's a magnificent thing to be a part of. I love that in an age of facts, here, we have no answers." 

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Seasons 1-2 of Severance are now streaming in full on Apple TV+.