As “Silo” Season 2 begins rolling out this week on Apple TV+, star and producer Rebecca Ferguson is eager to see the entire sci-fi story from the source material told onscreen. For that, she says they’ll need about four seasons.
“Silo” is based on the book trilogy by Hugh Howey, which envisions a dystopian future in which society lives in an enormous underground silo as the world outside is unlivable.
“I believe that the whole story of the three books would have to be told over four seasons,” she told TheWrap during an interview about Season 2. “And then it’s down to people loving the show and all we do is the best we can to get it out there and hope that people want more.”
When asked about the status of a Season 3 renewal, Ferguson was coy.
“We are constantly discussing [the possibility of Season 3]. It might be [renewed], I couldn’t tell you. It might not be. We might have finished it. Or nothing’s happening. I mean, I could just lie.”
In the Season 1 finale, Ferguson’s Juliette Nichols went outside and survived, having sussed out a conspiracy from those in power to ensure everyone who goes outside dies. But once outside, she discovered their silo was surrounded by many more silos.
Season 2 picks up immediately where Season 1 left off with a largely wordless premiere episode that follows Juliette as she struggles to gain entry to the nearest silo before she runs out of oxygen. It’s a deeply physical performance, which was a challenge that Ferguson relished.
“I loved that. It’s what the story is. She comes from absolute chaos into complete loneliness, and just that shift is so good,” Ferguson said. “I love that [showrunner] Graham Yost let the episode be a standalone moment for her, and not cut away with the sound and noise and rebellion and uproar and anger and confusion.”
The season also posed another challenge in that Ferguson’s primary screen partner is Steve Zahn, who plays the new character Solo, a man she discovers in an abandoned silo. The actress said she was over the moon when Zahn accepted the role.
“I knew he was going to do something that was so f–king unpredictable, and that would put me selfishly in a scenario where the person I’m acting with will make every scene interesting,” she said. “He doesn’t look at the whole picture. Steve looks at this moment. That’s how he works, and I’m very similar to that. What is it in this moment between you and me that is going to make this interesting? And then we just play.”
Given that Ferguson and Zahn’s scenes all take place in a different silo from the rest of the story this season, they not only shot separately from the rest of the cast – they shot their half of the season after everyone else had wrapped, after the strikes.
The crew used the same sets from the original silo but dressed them differently for Ferguson and Zahn’s scenes, which take place in an abandoned, run-down and water-logged silo. “Everything just looked so different and derelict, but it’s such a huge space,” Ferguson added.
For as much as Ferguson loves “Silo,” she still hasn’t seen Season 2 for “various reasons.”
“I get the dailies and the cuts, but I don’t want to see them because I don’t see that as my job as a producer on this show,” she said. “Seeing the raw footage with the green screen and the blue screen, I find it really discombobulating, so I’ve decided that that’s not a good idea.”
The actress was ill for the show’s premiere so she missed her chance to see the first episode on the big screen – “which is really, really sad,” she said – but she acknowledged she’s seen a lot of footage of the scenes between her and Zahn.
“Because they’re so personable, I was so close, I wanted to see what was happening in the dynamic between us.”
Her verdict? “It’s great.”
“Silo” Season 2 premiered this week on Apple TV+ with its first episode. New episodes are released every Friday.
