Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Silo Season 3.
Silo did not become one of Apple TV‘s most beloved original series by sticking to the script. Although the show is based on a trilogy of books by Hugh Howey, the story has been expanded and changed quite a bit in the adaptation, and fans haven’t complained. Howey’s novels were miniature and self-published, and practically begging for more detail. However, Season 3 kicked off this month with one of the first changes to cause widespread muttering among fans — the story of Juliette’s (Rebecca Ferguson) induced amnesia. Now that we’re three episodes in, it’s clear that this was actually a brilliant move for the TV show, and perhaps an overall improvement to the story.
When the trailers for Silo Season 3 began to show Juliette suffering from amnesia, fans and critics came up with all kinds of theories about how and why this plot line was added. We feared it might feel like a stretch, added just to draw out Juliette’s story while other things were introduced to the narrative. Even then, there were some ideas online about how the amnesia arc might work well, but they all fell miniature of showrunner Graham Yost‘s actual vision.
Viewers Get A Timeline While Juliette Loses Hers
Rebecca Ferguson in Silo Season 2Image via Apple TV
A major unforeseen aspect of Juliette’s amnesia plot line is that it juxtaposes the experience of the audience themselves. Viewers have spent two seasons now wondering how, when, and why humanity ended up confined to these underground shelters, and the mystery has been woven into elaborate knots without coming any closer to a solution. Readers of Howey’s books knew that we’d have to start answering these questions with the storyline of Congressman Daniel Keene (Ashley Zukerman) in Season 3, yet we didn’t imagine how well these info-dump flashbacks would work alongside Juliette’s amnesiac nightmare.
Of course, the connection works narratively as well, since Keene’s story deals directly with the same memory loss drugs afflicting Juliette in her story. In fact, it’s becoming clear how much groundwork the show has done to set up the memory loss drugs in general. The storyline concerning Dr. Crnkovich (Matt Craven) is already hitting harder on the show than it did in the books. It’s always a good idea to add more depth to the fantastical elements of a sci-fi series, and it looks like the Silo team has been planning this from early on.
This week, Season 3 Episode 3 “A Dark Web” gave some clear indications of where the amnesia plot line is going and how it will flow into the next phase of Juliette’s story. By all appearances, it’s going to work very smoothly. The show won’t miss anything from the books, and it will feel perfectly natural to get back on track. Some may still call this a detour made just for the sake of the show’s run-time, but even then, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. With most streamers tightening their belts and shortening the seasons on their most high-priced shows, it’s a relief to see one series taking its time and pacing things right.
‘Silo’ Adds Stories Without Replacing Anything
Image via Apple TV+
Adaptations are generally criticized for any changes to their source material, and for the most part, that’s valid. Popular novels tend to work as they are, and changes threaten to destabilize the entire house of cards the story stands on. Modern audiences are particularly traumatized by shows like Game of Thrones, and these days it can be a full-time job cataloging all the changes in an adaptation and debating them online.
Somehow, Apple TV has attained an exemption from this trend. The network’s adaptation of Foundation by Isaac Asimov might be unrecognizable to the author himself or one of his contemporary readers. However, its approach to changes is very similar to that of Silo — they fill in gaps in the books rather than change events and characters. This mostly serves to deepen worldbuilding, add visual flair, and make the most out of the talent on hand.
For Silo, this amnesia plot line might be their biggest addition so far, yet it doesn’t really replace anything necessary. So far, the show has thoroughly adapted Howey’s first novel Wool, which ends at the point when Juliette returns to Silo 18. The second novel in the trilogy is Shift, which completely ignores Juliette’s story to follow Keene through his flashbacks. Only in the third book, Dust, do we pick up the story and move it forward.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re straightforward about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t aid but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are difficult to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle petite, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is extensive, deafening, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
Naturally, Silo Season 3 did not want to drop Juliette’s plot entirely. It seems likely that the season will begin including material from Dust, but in the meantime, this amnesia plot is a clever way to tell two parallel stories without losing the momentum of the series altogether. On top of that, this addition doesn’t need to replace or alter anything about the beginning of Dust. If anything, Juliette’s memory loss will flow perfectly into her time as mayor and her confused scramble to aid her people before it’s too overdue. Many aspects of the story will make more sense this way in the end, and will emphasize the undercurrent of manipulation and social engineering that keeps the silos running.
Silo Season 3 continues on Fridays on Apple TV. Previous seasons are streaming there now, and Howey’s books are available in print, digital, and audiobook formats.
Release Date
May 5, 2023
Network
Apple TV
Showrunner
Graham Yost
Directors
Morten Tyldum, David Semel, Michael Dinner, Aric Avelino
Writers
Graham Yost, Hugh Howey, Jeffery Wang, Lekethia Dalcoe
