In too deep
As Silo returns to Apple TV+ for a second season, DQ speaks to showrunner Graham Yost and stars including Tim Robbins, Common and Harriet Walter about the success of the sci-fi series and the practicalities of filming a drama set deep underground.
Based on the dystopian novels by Hugh Howey, Apple TV+ series Silo tells the story of the last 10,000 people on Earth, living together in a mile-deep home that protects them from the toxic ruins of the world outside.
But no one knows why or how the silo was built, and those who try to find out often face fatal consequences. In season one, which debuted last year, Rebecca Ferguson stars as Juliette, an engineer who seeks answers for a loved one’s murder and stumbles into a mystery that may reveal the true nature of the world outside.
Other cast members include Tim Robbins as Bernard Holland, the mayor who oversees the silo’s operation, and Common, who plays Robert Sims, the head of Judicial, which is responsible for enforcing the law. Harriet Walter is Martha Walker, an electrical engineer who runs a workshop deep in the silo; Clare Perkins plays Carla, Martha’s ex-wife who works in the supply department; Shane McRae is Knox, the head of mechanical; and Remmie Milner is Shirley, another engineer who understands the silo’s history.
Season two, which is produced by Apple Studios, now promises to take viewers deeper into the mystery when it launches tomorrow.
Here, showrunner Graham Yost joins the cast to tell DQ about returning to the world of Silo, their experience making a series that resonates with contemporary issues and the challenges of making a dystopian murder mystery.
Yost was at Sony a decade ago when the studio “took a run” at the rights to Howey’s novels, and was drawn into the world and the mystery the author created. Then when he moved to Apple Studios to work on espionage drama Slow Horses, former Sony exec and Apple head of worldwide video Jamie Erlicht asked if he was interested in the project.
Yost: I loved that Hugh created a great world, but a great mystery, with the underlying questions of what the hell is going on? Why are people living underground? What happened? When can they go back out? I also loved the fact that he started with the story of two people who are gone in the book in the first 60 pages. And then what? He published it himself. It went viral. And then people wanted more. Then he had to retcon Juliet into it and came up with her – and I loved her as a character.
I loved the world. It felt real, but it also felt ‘other than,’ so it had that nice duality. But it really comes back to the mystery. Then as it developed both in the writers room and in the books, to a degree, there’s some kind of mystery every season that needs to be solved, for what those characters want in that season. So that’s really what got me.
The winner of Bafta awards for production design and original music, Silo was also a hit with audiences and critics on its launch in 2023.
Robbins: Caught a wave, didn’t we? It was really cool. It was great to receive that script and to see how much it reflected the world we’ve just been living in, and are still living in. The idea that freedom is limited, compliance to the state is essential for survival, censorship is tolerated, history is eliminated – all these things that just completely resonated with me. And what an incredible gift to be able to do my job, but also do something that I feel is relevant and will importantly start a conversation about it.
Common: I just love and am very grateful to be a part of art that feels like people are talking about it and it resonates with them. But it also brings up questions. You can have storytelling that people enjoy but it hits on a spiritual, cellular level. It’s great to get that and it’s great to be a part of a show and to be sitting here with Tim Robbins and Rebecca Ferguson and on Apple TV+ with a show that people are talking about.
McRae: Sometimes you’re fortunate enough to get on a project where there’s something in the air. I remember the first time I came, and we were working on the generator room stuff and just saying, ‘Man, this feels different. This feels really special.’ You just hope that what you’re vibing or whatever’s in the air comes to fruition. This was amazing because it did. People responded the way we hoped. Graham and Rebecca are owed a tremendous amount of that. They really set the tone.
What makes Silo a unique proposition is the fact it’s a murder mystery set in a dystopian world.
Milner: The outside world is completely toxic, and then you zoom in on all these different characters just making their lives work underground. The scripts, the characters, the way they’re written, it’s just phenomenal. The variety of energies going on in the silo is completely brilliant.
But such are the communities within the silo that members of the cast often don’t encounter each other on set.
Milner: I remember the first time filming with Common, and we had never encountered Robert Sims. Then all of a sudden he’s there and he’s an intimidating, looming presence and [I remember] just how exciting that felt. The same with Bernard, Tim Robbins’s character. All of a sudden seeing how tall and looming this person is and how much of an impact that has on you. It’s just really exciting because being in the down deep, you’re so tight. You know each other so well, and then you get to bounce off in different directions and interact in a completely different manner. It’s a playground.
McRae: As an actor, it’s a very close cast. It feels like a family. So we all know each other for the most part. But then to say, ‘Tim, I finally get a scene with you’ – not to give anything away but it’s really exciting.
The award-winning production design helps put the actors in the middle of the silo for real….
Perkins: If you are working in sci-fi, a lot of the time you’re working with green screen or blue screen. But the first time I walked onto the set [of Silo], it just looked like how I imagined it in the book. It was huge and it was so well done. There was the big central staircase, and you could see several floors and all the intricacies, whether it was people’s dwellings with their front doors or the big huge doors of Judicial – it’s awe inspiring. You’re just like, ‘Wow,’ because you’re there.
Walter: The peculiar thing is you can be on the same set [for different scenes], but you don’t know you’re on the same set because it says level 18 or level 56 and they’ve changed the set all around you, even though it’s actually the same structure. But when you’re on them, you do actually believe that you’re way down. Then when you come out for your tea break and you’re on the same ground floor as the world, you really do get caught up in it.
…but the challenge for the actors is still to bring this fictional world to life.
Walter: It’s the imagination, the imaginative dimension of thinking, ‘This could be me in this situation.’ That’s what you usually say as an actor. You go, ‘This could be me,’ and you approach it that way. But to think, ‘This is me in 300 years’ time, living underground and I’ve never been out…,’ that’s a challenge.
Perkins: Some people have never been from the top [of the silo] all the way down to the mines at the bottom. That’s a challenge in itself. But actually, when you’ve been in the dark on the set all day, you’re like, is it a challenge?
McRae: The production design is so amazing that you almost don’t have to do much pretending. It’s not one of those productions where everything is blue screen. Most of it is actually there. So as an actor, you just step into this world that is so realised. It’s crazy. It’s like being a little kid in the in the best playground you’ve ever been to.
As the series showrunner, Yost is most concerned with keeping the numerous character storylines in play while ensuring each story arc has numerous set-ups and pay-offs through the two 10-part seasons.
Yost: We just have so many freaking stories going on. In season two, we’ve got the Juliet and Solo story [featuring the new character played by Steve Zahn]. Then we’ve got the uprising story in Silo-18. There are a lot of stories. The fear is we’re going to drop something, we’re not going to follow up on something, we’re not going to pay something off.
But here’s the one cool thing about doing a show for streaming and doing a complicated production where we have to be filming scenes from all 10 episodes in any given week depending on cast availability and set availability: we have to write all the all the scripts first.
But how does he balance the demands of telling a complete story each season with keeping the central mystery behind Silo under wraps for potentially multiple seasons?
Yost: To a degree, you just have to roll the dice and say, ‘We’re going to do this as if we’re going to do the whole thing,’ because it would be such a shame to spill a lot of the beans early on and then have nowhere to go. We felt with the scripts, with the directors, with the cast, with Apple TV+’s incredible support, that we’ve got a shot at doing more than one season, and so far that’s what we’ve got – and we’re hoping we get to do more. In Hugh’s books, the first book divides very nicely into two stories, and that’s the first two seasons. Beyond that, that’s a separate conversation that I hope we get to have.
Many of the cast praise Yost, Ferguson and other leaders on the show for fostering a supportive environment on set.
Robbins: It’s one of the most human experiences I’ve had. It all starts with the leader, and Graham Yost is a really kind, good person, and we feel that every day because we’re not overworked. We work a 10-hour day and we get home and can have a meal with our loved ones and go on a date. A real human life can still exist with a difficult job. The fact is, it’s been a joy. It hasn’t been difficult. He’s made it very easy. It really is one of the best ones I’ve been on.
Common: It’s from Graham to Rebecca also. The leadership they show and the energy of seeing how enthused everyone is to collaborate and the exceptional talents that we have on this experience of Silo, I’m overwhelmed by it to be honest. It feels like a beautiful team. That energy is flowing through and it’s great to be spending so much time on something that you care about and being around people you’re building great friendships and relationships with and just being in a good energy with.
Perkins: There’s something about this show where you really feel looked after. Sometimes with filmmaking on TV, it’s fast and there’s loads of money involved, so sometimes it’s a bit frenetic. But I felt on this that there’s so much care in the writing, there’s so much care in the direction, there’s so much care of us. You feel very free to do what you’re paid for, to play, to act. To craft these characters and play with other actors is very freeing while knowing you’re safe within this organisation, within these people, within this production. It just makes it a real pleasure.
Season two continues from the climax of S1, when Juliette leaves the silo and discovers it isn’t the only one. What happens next is under wraps.
McRae: It comes out of the gates firing on all cylinders. And I know for myself, it was just a thrill. Knox gets to do all the things that, as an actor, you daydream about.
Walter: We learn so much more in season two. It just completely opens up and is expanding in every direction. That was what I was looking forward to, and developing the relationship with Carla, which we only see the very beginning of at the end of season one.
Perkins: A lot happens. At the beginning we think one thing’s going to happen and then something else happens, and it’s great that it’s such an unusual story arc. That was really exciting to see in the scripts and be like, ‘Yeah, I can’t wait to get started.’”
tagged in: Apple Studios, Apple TV+, Common, Graham Yost, Harriet Walter, Silo, Tim Robbins