For Rebecca Ferguson, star and executive producer of the Apple TV+ series “Silo,” the layered mysteries hiding beneath the surface of the sci-fi drama remind her of the sometimes confusing rules of England’s national sport, cricket.
“Every time you think you’ve solved something, whether it’s an emotional mystery or a connection or a bond, there’s another hurdle and another hurdle,” Ferguson said. “And that’s what’s so great about these stories: they just don’t end. And when you think you get the story, it’s like cricket, but you just don’t. It just evaporates. Did that make any sense? Just like cricket, just like the game, there is no point.”
Ferguson spoke with her co-stars Steve Zahn and Common, as well as showrunner and executive producer Graham Yost and executive producer and author of the ‘Silo’ book series Hugh Howey at the Variety Studio, presented by Google TV, at 2024 San Diego Comic-Con to discuss the upcoming second season of “Silo.”
‘Silo’ is set in a dark post-apocalyptic future of Earth, where people are forced to live in massive underground bunkers known as silos to protect themselves from the toxic waste that pollutes the surface world.
For Zahn, a newcomer to the show, the process of joining “Silo” was a “very unique job.” Although he had to catch up to the immensely complex world that showrunner Yost set up in Season 1, he only interacts with one character, Ferguson’s Juliette Nichols, in Season 2 due to his character’s lonely nature.
“It’s a huge world, there’s a lot of people involved, there’s a lot of moving in and out with characters and this and that,” Zahn said. “But my character has been living alone for decades, so I’m really playing with one person here.”
“He’s weird,” Ferguson noted of Zahn’s character. “He’s creepy and weird.”
Season 2 also brings an uprising within the confines of Silo 18, an uprising that will involve head of security Robert Sims, played by Common. Although the role was difficult for him, Common welcomed the challenge and was eager to explore all the repressed questions and insecurities in Sims’ minds.
“Sims is experiencing a lot of things that may not fully come to light in Season 2, but there are definitely some questions, at least in the way I’m approaching this season with the Rebellion,” Common said. “It’s something that’s part of the government [in ‘Silo’] for me as a person. Like being part of the people who created society and perpetuate the lies, or maybe some of it is the truth. It’s funny for me to play this character, but I love it.”