These 'Servant' Theories Are All About Figuring Out What the Heck Is Going on in the Series

Servant is barely halfway through its first season on the new streaming platform Apple TV+, but already there are Servant theories that try to make sense of everything going on. And if you have watched the M. Night Shyamalan show thus far, you know that there is a lot going on. You’ve got supernatural elements at play and a handful of mysterious characters who are all still hard to figure out.

To top it all off, the ongoing single setting of the series makes things extra uneasy for viewers at home. There are a number of places the show could still go as the season progresses into its second half. But before questions are definitively answered, these are some of the most pressing Servant theories to tide you over.

Servant theories about Season 1:

In the Dec. 6 episode of Servant, Dorothy and Sean were revealed to have suffered close to a dozen losses before their son Jericho was allegedly born. But one fan on reddit wrote that it’s possible Jericho was never born at term either. The redditor pointed out that Sean refers to Jericho as having been 13 weeks old when he died in his sleep. But, they reasoned, 13 weeks is more typically used when referring to a gestational age than the age of a newborn.

Sean and Dorothy named their unborn baby every time Dorothy was pregnant and so far, the flashbacks haven't shown a visibly pregnant Dorothy. Plus, when she mentioned bringing the baby to work to show him off, Sean was vehemently against it. This could very well be because all of her co-workers know there was never a live birth to begin with.

Besides the appearance of Jericho as a living, breathing baby, another big mystery on Servant is Leanne, the oh-so-creepy nanny. One fan wrote on reddit that they believe Leanne is a witch. They pointed out the crosses Leanne has made, which "are commonly known as witches crosses." The fan also pointed out how M. Night has already referred to the show as supernatural, so having Leanne revealed as a witch would fit in that genre.

So far, viewers have been led to believe that Dorothy is living in a fantasy world while trying to deal with grief she doesn’t even realize is there. But, redditor jamjamjame2 theorized, what if Sean is the one losing his mind? This theory says that everyone, including the nanny, died in a fire, leaving Sean behind as the only survivor. Now, the life he is living stuck in the house is all in his mind, which explains why he never leaves and only interacts with guests who visit him.

On the show, Leanne recently asked Sean, "Were you there when it happened?" and he went into an explanation about where he was when Jericho originally died and how it had happened. But, one fan wrote on reddit, Leanne could have been referring to something else. She could have been referring to the moment the doll was switched for Jericho or changed into him.

The theory also says that it means Leanne could be an angel or otherwise religious figure meant to witness the miracle of Jericho. She could have been referring to that instead of the moment Jericho himself died and it would make more sense, even though so far, she has denied that the baby was ever a doll in the first place.

It’s not like M. Night to be so inspired by another writer’s work that he backs a project that almost mirrors it, but another reddit theory says that Leanne could be an agent of Satan, or a "servant" of his, meant to watch his spawn grow up, a la Rosemary’s Baby. This would mean Leanne is also meant to make sure Jericho grows up to become a politician who eventually takes over the world, as was the storyline for the movie and the sequel to the novel on which the movie was based.

Servant could still do a total 180 and prove all of these theories to be wrong. But right now, there are more questions with each episode and it’s only natural to obsess over what is going on.

Watch new episodes of Servant on Fridays on Apple TV+.