Silo on Apple TV+ offers a master class in world-building and sci-fi storytelling

Not since the glory days of Lost have I been as obsessed with a small-screen drama as much as I am with the hit Apple TV+ series Silo. Like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, each successive episode of the latter has pulled me deeper and deeper into its sprawling, post-apocalyptic narrative. Silo is relentlessly addictive in the way it raises new questions in your mind with each subsequent answer that’s revealed, reminiscent of how quickly fans like me got obsessed with the byzantine plot of Lost. It’s a superbly cast and overall well-done adaptation of author Hugh Howey’s Silo book series, and I’m also not surprised at all that Apple has just renewed the show for a second season.

“It has been enormously fulfilling to see the engrossing, atmospheric, and beautifully crafted sci-fi epic Silo quickly become Apple’s number one drama series,” Matt Cherniss, head of programming for Apple TV+, said as part of the Season 2 announcement.

“As audiences around the world have become gripped by the mysteries and conspiracies buried within this fascinating subterranean world, viewership only continues to climb, and we are so excited for more secrets of the silo to be revealed in season two.” 

Silo tells the story of the last 10,000 people left on Earth, living in a mile-deep home that’s meant to protect them from the toxic atmosphere outside (“We do not know why everything outside the Silo is as it is. We do not know when it will be safe to go outside. We only know that day is not this day“).

To keep everyone in line, there’s a strict crackdown on anyone who gets too inquisitive about what the silo is, why it was built, and the truth of the outside world. Rebecca Ferguson both executive-produces and stars in the series as Juliette, an engineer whose search for answers about a loved one’s murder puts her at the vanguard of pretty much every mystery the silo has to offer.

Even in the last days of humanity, living in a subterranean warren of a silo, there’s also the realization that some things never change. People who live on the bottom floors, for example (“the Deep Down”), are looked down on by those above who live a more privileged existence. The silo’s IT chief knows way, way more than he probably should. And the quasi-religion of the silo’s “founders,” which includes very specific funeral rituals and quirks like “forgiveness holidays,” keeps most people docile and in line.

Silo’s eighth episode (titled “Hanna”) arrives this Friday on Apple TV+, with two more to go after that. It’s been a thrilling ride so far, and I can’t wait to see how it ends.