Apple Concludes Production on Sci-Fi Series Silo

After a whirlwind season that gave Apple TV some of its highest IMDb ratings of the summer, one sci-fi show is preparing for its final chapter. Silo, based on the dystopian book trilogy Wool, Shift, and Dust by author Hugh Howey, finished its third season by finally giving viewers answers to some of the show’s most long-awaited questions. Who built the silos? Check. How did the world end? Check. Who is in charge of the mysterious algorithm? Check.

Though Season 3 began as a slow burn, introducing two separate timelines that didn’t interweave until several episodes in, the payoff proved to be worth it for both viewers and Silo’s ratings. The show’s penultimate episode, titled Farewell, revealed the exact moment a nuclear explosion struck, and the finale, titled Troy, unveiled both the face and voice behind the show’s mysterious algorithm. Both episodes have ratings above 9.0 on IMDb, the highest ratings in the series.

There’s No Going Back After Silo’s Third Season

The Season 3 finale makes one thing clear: there is no going back to normalcy for the people of Silo 18 now. The thousands of people who live in Silo 18 have long assumed that the outside world isn’t safe. That belief was already tested once in Season 2 when Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) was sent out to clean and returned alive. In Season 3, more characters started to join Juliette in her rebellion. Even those who were once faithful to the laws of the silo had their beliefs tested. In the Season 3 finale, a pipe was successfully clamped, preventing a safeguard that would have released poisonous gas into Silo 18 and caused mass extermination. The action not only shocked the leaders in Silo 1, but gave the people in Silo 18 the confidence that they could fight back.

The action not only shocked the leaders in Silo 1, but gave the people in Silo 18 the confidence that they could fight back.

And in Silo 1, faith is starting to crumble at the leadership level. The leaders in Silo 1 have been kept in cryogenic sleep for hundreds of years and, as viewers learned in Season 3, have been in control of all the other silos all along. Viewers learn that Dr. Victor Crnkovic, one of the founders of the silo, had been the one communicating with Camille Simms in Silo 18’s vault all season long. When Silo 18 successfully stops the safeguard in the Season 3 finale, Crnkovic takes his own life, leaving a video behind in which he says he is relieved they stopped it.

All eyes now turn to Troy, who is revealed to be Daniel, the congressman from the “before times” who, along with journalist Helen Drew, originally opposed the silo project. After hundreds of years in cryogenic sleep and ongoing memory-wiping drugs, he has been brainwashed into being the no-nonsense military leader of Silo 1. Troy is the one who ordered the mass execution of Silo 17’s population, and additionally, ordered that drones be kept on watch over Silo 18.

The problem is that Troy and Daniel’s memory has been shown to be coming back to him in glimpses. Specifically, he keeps seeing images of a woman every time he wakes up. In the Season 3 finale, when he wakes up for the final time, he watches a video Dr. Crnkovic left behind for him and learns that woman’s name is Helen. The way he reacts to learning that information gives plenty of reason to believe that he is going to be switching sides in the near future.

Early Looks at Season 4 Point to All-Out War

An early sneak peek of Season 4 suggests that Silo’s final season will no longer be about trying to survive, but about rising up against the leaders of Silo 1. It seems that very early on, likely in the first episode, every resident of Silo 18 will know about the existence of other silos, and that one silo is in charge of all the others. The voice of Sheriff Paul Billings rings out to all residents of Silo 18 with an important message: “Citizens of the silo, you have a right to hear the truth. We are not alone. There are other silos out there, just like ours, but one silo controls the rest. They’re the reason we believe that the air outside will kill us.”

The other quick glimpses of Season 4 suggest an all-out war against Silo 1, with shots of characters running, firing guns at drones, and diving underwater. Perhaps the biggest point of interest in the Season 4 sneak peek is the first face-to-face meeting between Troy, Daniel, and Juliette Nichols in what looks like Silo 18. Except he seems to have no idea who he is, answering “I don’t know” when Juliette demands to know his identity. Whether Troy and Daniel was cast out of Silo 1 after getting his memory back, or if he was sent to earn the trust of the residents of Silo 18 remains to be seen.

As Season 4 approaches and with it, the end of the series, one big question still looms over Silo: Is the world outside actually safe?

Source: Polygon