Apple TV+’s Silo cemented the streamer’s reputation as the go-to place for innovative science fiction television. Based on the self-published series of books by Hugh Howey, the series followed a diverse cast of characters who lived in an underground silo, with no memory of what happened to put them there.
Season 1 was a tense, claustrophobic paranoid conspiracy drama that ended with mechanic-turned-sheriff Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) venturing out into the wasteland. While everyone else who faced the outside ended up collapsing after only a few steps, she managed to survive, thanks to special heat tape developed by Juliette’s fellow mechanic Martha Walker (Harriet Walter).
Now, in Season 2, the story has fractured into two separate stories: one following Juliette as she tries to find her way home after finding another Silo, and another following the world Juliette left behind, where she has gone from leader to symbol. But this latter storyline, following an uprising in the silo, is far bigger than its counterpart.
“We’ve got these five or so pairings and relationships and five stories going on,” showrunner Graham Yost tells Inverse. “That was a fair amount of service, but we never felt burdened by any of it, I’ll be honest.”
One of those pairings consists of Martha Walker and her ex-wife, Carla (Clare Perkins), who form the emotional heart of the uprising as two “old ladies” forced into a movement much bigger than themselves. “It’s their version of being woke, I suppose,” Perkins tells Inverse. “They’re truth seekers and they’re put right in the heart of the matter so that they can effect change. I think it’s as surprising to Carla as it is to anybody else that she’s right there doing stuff, but she’s only doing it because it feels right.”
For Walker especially, Juliette’s absence — and possible survival — means more than she can say. “There’s a very faint glimmer of hope that she’s alive, but the sort of self-protective caution in believing that because it would just be too awful to be disappointed,” Walter tells Inverse. “Juliette is, I hesitate to say, a Jesus figure and the figurehead of a movement. Even if she’s not alive, we believe in what she was seeking and so we’ll keep things alive for her.”
That hope is well founded. Juliette manages to stumble into another silo, where she finds herself talking to another survivor behind a vault door. The survivor introduces himself as Solo (Steve Zahn), the sole member left from his silo after a mysterious tragedy. “He’s a middle-aged 11-year-old,” Zahn tells Inverse of his character. “He’s somebody who has the face of an older man, but [is] as childlike as you can get because he’s been alone.”
This makes for, understandably, a frustrating collaboration with Juliette, who realizes she needs to get back where she came from to tell everyone they aren’t alone. Solo’s unique behavior is more than just a character quirk — it’s a liability that could get endanger either of them. “Kids are unpredictable and all of a sudden they’re just drifting off and they’re, like, playing with stuff or getting mad for no reason. If a kid flies off a handle, you’re like, ‘Hey, chill out.’ But if a kid flies off gets emotional and they have a beard and long hair, it’s a little dangerous,” Zahn says.
But that doesn’t put Juliette off her true mission of getting back home. “We knew early on in that first mini room that we would end Season 1 with Juliette going over the hill and disappearing,” Yost says. “Season 2, we debated on it. There was some talk of extending this season and making that two seasons, and I was like, ‘No, we got to get her back.’”
But just how Juliette gets back, and what her home will look like by the time she returns, is a complete mystery — one worth tuning in to solve. It’s twice the story and twice the show now, but nothing feels half-assed. Just like how the scope of the show has grown, so has the capacity for top-tier sci-fi intrigue and heart.
