Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Silo Season 3, Episode 7.One of Silo’s greatest strengths as Apple TV’s best sci-fi is its continue
Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Silo Season 3, Episode 7.One of Silo’s greatest strengths as Apple TV’s best sci-fi is its continued ability to make every answer feel like the start of an even bigger mystery, and Episode 7’s “Radio” does exactly that. While Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) scrambles with her friends to stop Silo 18’s looming Safeguard before it’s too behind schedule, the Before Times storyline delivers its biggest revelation yet as journalist Jessica Henwick’s intrepid journalist Helen Drew and Congressman Daniel Keene (Ashley Zukerman) finally come face-to-face with billionaire Per Stensen (Colin Hanks), whose plan to save the world is as clear-cut as it is alarming.
But what begins as another search for answers about Charlotte’s (Jessica Brown Findlay) missing memories quickly spirals into something far more unsettling for the pair, culminating in the series’ most haunting image of countless silos being drilled beneath America’s farmland. While it’s a dim foreshadowing of the reality Juliette is currently living, for Helen, that reveal isn’t just shocking because of what she’s seeing with Daniel, but rather terrifying for what it means.
Throughout the season, the reporter has believed every lead has brought her closer to the truth. But “Radio” forces her to realize the conspiracy she’s been chasing is actually just one piece of a much larger story. As Henwick says in an exclusive Collider Signature Q&A, Helen reaches the point where she understands “the rabbit hole goes so much deeper,” realizing, “I’m so far behind this story. I’ve come into the middle of a story or the end of a story.”
As the show enters its final episodes for Season 3, Henwick breaks down why Charlotte’s recovered memories are more unsettling than reassuring, how Per quietly challenges everything Helen believes about truth and morality, why her partnership with Daniel reaches a major turning point, and what Helen truly understands in those final moments overlooking the future silos.
Henwick Says Helen Is Willing To Compromise Her Morals for the Truth
COLLIDER: You and Ash [Zukerman] have done such an amazing job as this anchor couple for what the show is. A lot of people say it’s sci-fi, but I really do believe it’s a love story at the core, with these sprinkles of affection and admiration we see from the two of you, which is so nice. You also gave an amazing performance this season.
JESSICA HENWICK: Thank you. That’s really sweet to hear. It’s so nice to hear from someone who’s seen the whole thing and knows the journey that we go on. And yeah, I totally agree. At the end of the day, the whole show is about love. That’s what it comes down to. It’s what sparks Juliette. She was trying to find out what had happened to her love. And to know that the Pez is no longer a mysterious object; it’s just something that Daniel gave to Helen on a non-date. It’s really sweet. And I think ultimately what we need right now are stories that have love at the heart of them.
I totally agree. I know that Helen is so used to being the person always asking questions, but Episode 7 puts her in the room where Per controls what she’s allowed to know. What interested you as an actor in playing that shift in power?
HENWICK: Honestly, what I was attracted to and found fascinating in that episode specifically is that when we’re introduced to Helen at the end of Season 2 and all through Season 3, we really come to know her as someone who believes in the truth at all costs. She really believes in the power of the people, the will of the many. Like, give people information, let them do what they will with it, but don’t protect them. And then to discover that she is not quite practicing what she preaches.
Obviously, we discover that she herself has protected a source by pretending that her story was fabricated, and now she’s really having to question: is there such a thing as too much information? Is there such a thing as too much truth? Is it possible that the public shouldn’t know what she’s about to find out? I think it’s a really strenuous decision for her to make. It remains to be seen how much she regrets it in the long run, but it’s a fascinating transition for the character. I think by this point in the show, she’s so desperate to get to the truth, she’s willing to sacrifice her morals a little bit.
Charlotte remembering Daniel feels like it should be a breakthrough, especially for him. Helen’s been chasing the answers the whole season, but it becomes immediately clear that it’s actually opening the door to something much bigger than the two of them even imagined. Why does that moment end up feeling more unsettling than triumphant for Helen?
HENWICK: Helen respected Charlotte going into this, and I think that they felt that there was a kinship there. So to see Charlotte, and she’s apparently got her memories back, and she’s totally fine, and she’s still saying, “I’m on this side now.” She’s crossed over, and she feels unreachable in a way, and I think that scares Helen even more because she definitely doesn’t trust Per Stensens, but she trusted Charlotte’s judgment, and if Charlotte thinks that she’s doing the right thing, maybe there’s more to this.
Per kind of threatens Helen and Daniel in a way. He treats them, also, like potential recruits. Did you see it that way, too, when you were reading the scripts? Did it feel like this was something where your characters were being very much manipulated into a situation where it would benefit just one faction of people versus the entire community of America?
HENWICK: I think that they don’t really want Helen. They just want Helen to shut up. This is their way of, like, “Come to our side,” and they would essentially muzzle her. They muzzle her regardless. But I don’t think they particularly like her from the get-go. Per could sadly buy many journalists who probably have a better reputation. Helen’s reputation is marred. I think she’s in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Colin Hanks Found the Chilling Mindset Behind Per Stensen
Image via Apple TV
What was it like building that vigorous with Colin Hanks? There’s such a tension that comes from that passive aggressiveness between the two of you. You are both talented actors, but seeing that back and forth was really fun because I love the quick wisecracks that Helen gives to him, but he also tries to put her in her place most times.
HENWICK: I kept joking that Per is miniature for persnickety. He’s humorous, and he can dish it. And I mean, look, Colin is the nicest, most charming, congenial man, and has a penchant for bursting into song randomly, which I found very adorable because I do the same. But when he’s in the zone, as Colin, it’s pretty fascinating.
I remember on his first day, we had been bonding for episodes. The stranger was coming into an established set, which is always really strenuous, and we were trying to be welcoming and chatty. Then, just before the take goes, I heard him just kind of step to the side — I hope he doesn’t mind me sharing this — and he just said to himself, “You don’t care about any of these people. None of these people matter.” And then it was action, and he went into the take.
It does kind of get to the heart of that character and people who are of that ilk. Not to say all tech billionaires don’t care about people, but when your time is worth so much, I do imagine he looks at us and goes, “Ugh, God, if they could just sign it already. What a waste of my time. They’re burning through millions.” I think he reduces us to a number in his head, or just an obstacle, a thing to deal with. I don’t really think he sees us as people.
You’ve played in a lot of roles that have an eat-the-rich sort of theme, and so I’m wondering what was something about this show that you feel maybe does it differently, especially with Per Stensen, because I feel like he comes off like an Elon Musk character, which is a whole other conversation. But it just feels like something so relevant and so crucial to actually acknowledge, because there are people who are in the secret shadows, shaping our own government, our lives, etc. For you, what was it like reading that back and figuring out this is a character we’re going to have in the show?
HENWICK: Any time there’s any sort of leak of internal government documents, it’s always not shocking, sadly, but awful to see how much influence external figures have and all the conversations that are happening behind closed doors. We, as the public, get a fraction of the real reason for every single move.
I have done a couple of eat-the-rich things, but I think Silo takes it seriously and is also willing to point out, rather than sort of making it humorous and making them evil or just othering them, all the ways that he may be right. Like Helen and Per go head-to-head, and every time she says, “Well, what about this?” He replies, “What about this?” And they both have points. They both are making valid points.
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The show does a very good job of not villainizing anyone. It grounds them in humanity, and I think that’s why the show is so relatable. People do love the different characters’ back-and-forth. What you say about Per — he has points, and his points make sense — so I think that’s just very fascinating. That being said, though, Helen is normally the person asking questions all the time, but how do you keep those quieter reaction beats busy when so much of the performance is now happening internally for her? It does require her to watch and calculate and listen. It’s a lot more internal for you.
HENWICK: I love that stuff. I love the scenes where I’m just listening and just reacting in the moment. I’m such a substantial fan of cutting my dialogue. [Laughs] It was a pleasure.
Also, the thing I’ve noticed with actors, they always say the hardest thing is either sneezing in a scene or crying or whatever, but I think listening is one of them, because there’s so much internalizing for your expression you have to do, too.
HENWICK: There is internalizing, but what I like about Helen is that she’s also not afraid to just scoff in your face or smirk or laugh openly. When we meet her at the end of Season 2, she’s there in a work capacity, and there is an element of keeping her cards a little close to her chest. But all in all, I think she’s a very emotional person. Not that she’s lacking in logic or external decision-making, but she does kind of wear her heart on her sleeve, which is refreshing. It was fun. It was really fun in the dinner scene in the next episode.
Henwick Had To Ignore What ‘Silo’ Fans Already Know
Image via Apple TV
Episode 7 doesn’t really reward Helen with answers so much as it forces her to rethink the questions she’s been asking all season. When you first read the script, did it completely change your understanding of her journey when you got to that episode?
HENWICK: I read everything at once, so I knew exactly where we were going, and obviously the audience knows where this goes. The audience knows this is all about a silo. At the end of the day, it’s all about a silo. You can’t play that. You have to play it that she thinks, “Okay, so there’s a conspiracy about a bomb,” and then, “Oh, okay, so it’s a conspiracy about memory.” But her expectation is the closest to reality each time. There’s no world where she ever would have been able to imagine, “This is what this has all been about? It’s been about a guy with too much money and time, obsessed with doomsday bunkers?” She couldn’t have imagined it. So, I just tried to stay true to where she was rather than where the show was, or the audience was.
‘Silo’ Episode 7’s Final Scene Makes Helen Realize It May Already Be Too Late
Image via Apple TV
Helen and Daniel built their relationship through this shared risk and this gradual trust in one another. How does what they experience in Episode 7 strengthen or even complicate their partnership as the story moves towards the final episodes?
HENWICK: We had that handsome bottle episode for us entirely in the car. I think Helen is forced to confront the fact that she hasn’t even begun to scratch at the surface. She’s so used to meeting people and immediately filing them away in a box. Like, she meets him in the bar, and she goes, “Okay, politician. Probably a douchebag.” And then she meets him, and he’s kind of humorous and charming, and she’s surprised. Then he gives her this Pez, which is so tender, and that takes her aback. She doesn’t know how to respond to that. Then in the car, to discover, “Well, he actually doesn’t have these grand aspirations to be a politician. It’s not what he got in. He didn’t get into it for the fame or the glory.” I think she’s at a crossroads where she’s starting to realize there’s so much more here, potentially. But obviously that’s messy because work/play — don’t shit where you eat. [Laughs]
Yeah, I totally understand. That final image of Helen and Daniel looking out at the enormous silos being built across the farms is very haunting. I feel like it’s foreshadowing everything we know is going to happen, but we don’t really know the stuff in between. What does Helen understand at that moment that she didn’t understand when she stepped onto that plane?
HENWICK: The rabbit hole goes so much deeper, and there’s a possibility that it’s too behind schedule. I think a lot of what she was doing was, “Let me blow this open before it progresses.” And to realize, “I’m so far behind this story. I’ve come into the middle of a story or the end of a story,” is just beyond her grasp.
Silo streams Fridays on Apple TV.
