Which Silo Novel Will Season 2 Follow? Rebecca Ferguson Hints At More Book Changes
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The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of Silo (now streaming on Apple TV+), as well as well-marked spoilers for the first novel in Hugh Howey's Silo series.
Once Silo Season 2 resumes and finishes filming, and then eventually hits our Apple TV+ queue, there is the question of exactly what story it will tell.
Season 1 saw onetime Mechanics maven Juliette Nichols (played by Rebecca Ferguson) use her most unexpected promotion to sheriff to delve into the darker recesses of the mile-deep silo — meaning, uncovering who truly held the power, and trying to bring to light perception-altering deceptions.
Thoroughly irked by intrepid Juliette's investigations, Bernard (the IT chief/interim mayor) and Sims (a Judicial bigwig) lied to the silo that their sheriff had asked to "go out." Thinking they were ridding themselves of a major headache, they outfitted Juliette to get sent outside to "clean." Yet Juliette's longtime mentor and friend Walker conspired with Supply to make sure that Jules' protective suit was secured with the good heat tape, and not the purposely faulty tape designed by IT (to ensure quick deaths for those sent outside). As such, we last saw a suited-up Jules not only refuse to clean the sensor lens, but then walk up and over the small hill that reliably proved unreachable by her predecessors.
Once atop that crest, Jules saw that her home for the past 30some years was but one of dozens of silos situated across a dystopian landscape.
What Juliette does next, where she goes, promises to have repercussions for "not one person," series star and EP Rebecca Ferguson told TVLine in late June, but "an entire human race." In other words, "The stakes are ridonkulously high."
But where will Jules go next?
Apple TV+'s Silo is based on a trilogy of novels by EP Hugh Howey, titled Wool, Shift and Dust (shop separately at Amazon or boxed set). Yet Season 1 covered not even half of the first book. (Howey's first, self-published take on the Silo world represents just the first 48 pages of Wool; the other 500 pages, starting with Juliette's introduction, were added on when the initial novella was met with great success.)
Meaning, there is much in Wool left to be explored — namely (MILD BOOK SPOILER ALERT) Juliette's experiences in the silo she visits next — whereas significant portions of the second novel, Shift, are set hundreds of years prior, back when the W.O.O.L. (World Order Operation Fifty) project that begat the silos first took shape.
When TVLine spoke to Ferguson in late June, we asked what Juliette's story might look like in Season 2, and she said, "We're trying to stick as close to the book as possible" — without specifying Wool or Shift — "but we also have certain reasons to change certain things, which will make sense when you see it."
Ferguson had also told TVLine, in between shooting scenes for Season 2 (which last week halted production due to the SAG-AFTRA strike), that from her point of view as an executive producer on the Apple TV+ series, "People worked really hard" to get the scripts done ahead of the WGA strike, "and the fact that they were able to do it with the means that we have was phenomenal. And [the end product is] looking insane."
What are your predictions or hopes for Season 2, Silo novel readers? Do you think we will meet Solo aka Jimmy? Will Lukas' TV fate change? Should Season 2 end with the climax of Wool, and any Season 3 can delve into Shift?
Note: This interview took place before SAG-AFTRA officially announced a strike on July 13.
Want scoop on Silo Season 2, or for any other TV show? Email your question to InsideLine@tvline.com, and it may be answered via Matt's Inside Line!