Author Hugh Howey began his Silo saga by self-publishing the WOOL short story, which he expanded with additional chapters until he completed the full-fledged Silo omnibus. Over a decade after that journey began, showrunner Graham Yost (Justified, Band of Brothers, the upcoming Slow Horses season) began adapting Howey’s brainchild for Apple TV+. The first season took Rebecca Ferguson thousands of feet underground as Jules, who began her onscreen journey as a singularly focused and brilliant mechanic who keeps her civilization’s lights on. She’s pulled out of the Earth’s depths for a different calling, which leads her to uncover truths that eventually make her a target.
Silo quickly landed on our list of best Apple TV+ shows since the service launched. And as viewers know, the first season ended with Jules being condemned to walk outside, where she became the first silo inhabitant to ascend over the hill and disappear from view. She then discovered an array of other silos, whereas everybody at her “home” believes that only one silo exists. Let’s get down to business on what thrills that viewers can expect next:
Plot
An ominous teaser shows Juliette — outside her silo after having refused to perform the ritualistic “cleaning” — with the following message from the Order: “In the case of a failed cleaning, prepare for war.”
Of course, the show has yet to reveal what “war” means, but the first season finale did show Bernard (Tim Robbins) losing his sh*t over Juliette’s form of rebellion. It’s also no secret, as confirmed through a Variety panel with Yost, Howey, Rebecca Ferguson, and Common, that Juliette makes her way to another silo, where she will meet a “scary and weird” dude, Solo, who is portrayed by Steve Zahn.
This puts Silo‘s main characters into two locations, so how will the series juggle those different settings? TVLine’s Matt Webb Mitovich received clarification from Yost during a recent conversation:
When I spoke to showrunner Graham Yost this week, he confirmed my suspicion — given the amount of retuning cast members — that whereas the second half of the Wool novel that Season 2 covers is quite Juliette-centric and spends comparatively less time in her old silo, the TV series will be “a little more 50-50.” Case in point, the first new episode is all Juliette, he said, and the second is all Silo 18 action.
Ferguson has previously teased that the second season “gets incredibly intense… wet,” and if she’s stressing that detail, we can probably expect something even more intense than Juliette nearly drowning while attempting to cool the generator with a hose.
From there, we can expect the story to jump back and forth between two silos, as Graham Yost has stressed that “there are two storylines in Season 2. One that follows Juliette and one that happens in her home Silo.” This makes me suspect that a third story from the Shift novel will be pushed to a third season or done away with altogether. There’s simply not enough space in a single season to deal with every monumental book event in an adequate matter, so we’ll have to see how Yost and Apple TV+ decide to roll in the future.
Cast
Returning cast members not only include Rebecca Ferguson but several members of her home silo including Common as Leather Jacket Sims, Harriet Walter as Martha, and Tim Robbins as Barnard.
Steve Zahn feels like a pitch-perfect selection to portray Solo, and other second-season cast members will include Chinaza Uche, Avi Nash, Billy Postlethwaite, Alexandria Riley, Shane McRae, Rick Gomez, Remmie Milner, Clare Perkins, and Caitlin Zoz.
Release Date
Weekly episodes will drop for the second season starting on November 15.
Trailer
Since Apple TV+ hasn’t released a trailer yet, this behind-the-scenes look at Juliette’s tattoos can be an appetizer.