When you adapt a book into a TV series, there will naturally be some shifts. Pacing a series and pacing a book are two different tasks, and as budget and logistics come into play, the purely imaginary world of the book needs to adapt to real-world limits. That’s why it’s a good idea to have the creator of the source material on hand to approve those changes and keep things true to the original vision. For example, The Last of Us is often heralded as one of the best TV adaptations in recent years, and that’s in part because the original game writer, Neil Druckmann, is a co-showrunner.
Silo, Apple TV+’s breakout sci-fi hit, took the same approach. Hugh Howey, who wrote the original trilogy of novels, is on board as an executive producer and, according to showrunner Graham Yost, is always on hand to chime in about what’s changing in the move from page to screen.
Graham Yost and original author Hugh Howey collaborated on the adaptation of the Silo trilogy.
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“I’ll be sitting with Hugh and I’ll go, ‘Was that you? Or Is that us? I forget,’” Yost tells Inverse. “And he’s like, ‘It doesn’t matter to me. It’s good.’ He and his wife Shay love Season 2, so we’re very happy about that.”
But sticking more or less to the original books has its drawbacks, too. Yost confirms that Season 2 of Silo completely adapts the first book in the Silo trilogy, Wool, following Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) as she leaves the underground bunker where she was raised and encounters a survivor in another silo. However, the second book, Shift, goes in a completely different direction, jumping from the establishment of the silos in 2049, but also through new stories set in 2110, 2212, 2312, all the way up to 2345, when the first book was set.
Rebecca Ferguson’s Juliette has been the focus of Silo so far, but adapting the next book poses a big problem.
Apple TV+
In the last moments of Shift, a character calls a silo, and out of nowhere, Juliette answers. It’s her only appearance in the entire book, so the reveal is a big deal. That puts Silo in an awkward place for Season 3, if there even is a Season 3. “We have plans, and plans to make plans, and hope that the thing connects with people and good friends at Apple TV Plus,” Yost says.
While he wouldn’t say much about what would happen in a hypothetical Season 3 that would adapt Shift, there’s one thing he was able to say absolutely. “When you have Rebecca Ferguson playing Juliette, she’s not just going to appear on the final page, Hugh Howey!” he says with mock frustration. “But I think if Hugh Howey knew that Juliette was going to be played by Rebecca Ferguson, he would’ve written a different book too.”
So while a possible Season 3 would change the series significantly, it won’t abandoned the characters — or at the very least one character — that fans have grown to love. It may be a less faithful choice, but given the choice between a faithful adaptation and Rebecca Ferguson’s barnburner performance as Juliette, the answer is clear.
Silo Season 2 premieres November 15, 2024 on Apple TV+.
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