Silo season 2 kicks off with a bang – and judging from our own Silo season 2 review, it only gets better from there. But what else would you expect from one of the very best Apple TV shows?
Picking up immediately after the events of Silo season 1, the first episode follows Rebecca Ferguson’s Juliette as she explores the world outside of her silo, having “gone outside”. Soon enough she stumbles upon a mountain of skeletons, needing to push through these bodies to reach the door to another silo – which we soon learn is called ‘Silo 17’.
It’s a haunting opening to the second season and one that showrunner Graham Yost reveals was much deliberated upon. As he states to GamesRadar+ in an interview, how to kick off this next chapter off following season 1’s jaw-dropping ending was a key question the creative team faced.
He explains: “The first thing was how are we going to start the second season? We knew we needed to get to Juliette fast but we also thought it would be fun to create a mystery about where all these bodies in the bowl of Silo 17 came from. What happened? We don’t really get the answer but we back up and we see this rebellion, and people going out.”
As Yost says, episode 1 features flashback scenes that reveal some of this new silo’s backstory, with Band of Brothers star Ross McCall appearing as the sheriff – which has been much teased in promotional material ahead of the show’s release.
The casting of McCall in this flashback role was critical to ensuring the opening episode made an impression, as Yost reveals he hopes to play with audience expectations here: “I managed to get Ross McCall to play the part of the sheriff, we’ve known each other for a long time. And I said, ‘Ross, I want someone for people to look at and say, oh, that guy, and then he’s dead, you know’.”
Outside of the flashback scenes, episode 1 sees Juliette explore the silo, which she believes to be abandoned until she meets mysterious newcomer Solo, played by a terrific Steve Zahn.
With the majority of the silo being underwater or destroyed, Juliette has quite a mission when it comes to reaching the origin point of a sound that catches her attention, which we eventually learn comes from Solo.
This episode then could easily be described as a survival story, as Yost adds: “It is a survival episode and it’s fun to see someone just try to survive. It’s not just getting food or water, she hears this sound and wants to know what that is, part of her character is that she just can’t let a mystery lie.
“She’s also wondering and hoping that another human being is there, facing that urge for companionship. Not wanting to be alone is driving her.”
If you are wondering where the other characters from season 1 are, following this opening episode we do indeed return to the show’s original silo, with this season splitting the story across both silos.
Over at the original silo things aren’t looking too good, as the residents are shocked that Juliette “walked over the hill”, meaning she didn’t die instantly upon stepping outside which is the usual procedure.
Mayor Bernard Holland then is having to take desperate measures in an attempt to stop a rebellion from breaking out, repeatedly stating his actions are “for the good of the silo”. But does he really believe that or is it simply about trying to retain his power?
Actor Tim Robbins, who returns as the antagonist, believes that the answer is complex: “I believe in his mind, his intentions are guided by a knowledge that he has, that no one else in the silo has, which is a huge burden he has to carry and a very lonely place to be. He has one person that he can talk to about that, but that person doesn’t want to talk to him, so it’s he’s in a very unenviable position of kind of isolation.”
Continuing, Robbins believes that Holland’s position here is reflective of the situations leaders in the real world find themselves in: “I see how this happens all the time with power. Some people in power, that possess a certain information, feel that they are doing things for the greater good, when in fact what they’re doing is rationalizing their own ability to stay in power.”
Adding to Holland’s struggles this season is the fact that his former right-hand man Sims (played by an incredible Common) is starting to question the mayor, beginning to wonder if his instructions really are benefitting the silo. We see how Sims’ wife Camille (Alexandria Riley) really starts to encourage him to push back against Holland, asking him to open his eyes to what is really going on.
As Common says to GamesRadar+, it is this evolving relationship that helps unlock a new side to Sims: “It’s really telling about him as a person and kind of rounds him off as a human. You see the moments he is in doubt and him taking off the leather jacket, which is him questioning things. And sometimes that direction is given from his wife.”
Common continues emphasizing the crucial role Camille plays in Sims’ season 2 arc: “It’s just telling that no one totally does it by themselves. I mean, even the greatest of leaders still have someone that they bounce ideas off. I love that our great writers have written this character to have that much depth to him and you see those aspects of his life.”
Silo season 2 begins on Apple TV+ on November 15, with a new episode dropping weekly. Don’t miss a beat with our Silo season 2 release schedule.