The end of Silo season 2, explained

Warning: Major spoilers too Silo Season 2 finale ahead.

Silobased on the books by Hugh Howey and created for television by Graham Yost, has become one of the crown jewels of Apple TV+, recently getting a two-season renewal for seasons 3 and 4 (the latter of which is set to be the show’s last rate). The compelling sci-fi series follows the lives of those who live in “the silo”, a mysterious underground structure inhabited by 10,000 people. They know they have lived there for over 100 years, but not how they got there, why or what lies behind its walls.

When the Season 2 finale, “Into the Fire,” written by Aric Avellino and directed by Amber Templemore, drops on Jan. 17, it’s sure to leave fans with more questions than answers. Over Zoom, Yost discussed the shocking finale, including three big scenes at the very end, the particularly surprising final sequence that could change everything, and what to expect from Season 3.

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A big cliffhanger for Juliette and Bernard

In the season 2 finale, the silo has been thrown into chaos. Ever since Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) stepped outside in the Season 1 finale and walked over the hill, uncertainty has been brewing: Is there life outside the silo? Has everything been a lie? Juliette has become a symbol of truth and hope for the citizens of the silo, and those who believe she is still alive have joined together to fight for their freedom. They’ve had enough and are ready to leave – completely unaware of the devastation that awaits them outside.

As the silo faces an all-out war, Juliette has spent Season 2 in nearby Silo 17, but is finally ready to return to her original silo after finding the materials to fix her suit. Juliette has also uncovered the secret behind the protection procedures, a remote poison capable of destroying any life in the silo with barely a second thought. Juliette sets out to return to her silo (number 18) to warn everyone to go outside and to find a way to shut down the fuse.

Before things take a shocking turn, the finale has some big plans for Camille (Alexandria Riley). Her husband Robert Sims (Common) leads her and their son to the vault, but the omniscient voice says that only Camille can stay – despite Sims’ endless dedication to the silo, he is not considered the best person to be it next head of DET.

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That’s a big move for a show that didn’t even think of Camille as a character until late in Season 1. “Writer and director Aric Avellino and I were in a jam on episode 9 of Season 1,” Yost recalls. They tried to find a place where Juliette could hide. They settled on the Sims’ house, prompting them to think further about his life, leading to the creation of Camille, the Sims’ wife. While the show follows the Howey novels quite closely, things develop differently; genders are reversed and deaths occur in different ways. “I think you owe the audience something new. You can’t just be a Slavic or a direct translation from page to screen,” says Yost. “Then we got Alexandria Riley and it was like, ‘Oh my god, she’s good, let’s write her,'” he explains. Riley’s impressive performance led to an expanded role in Season 2, and according to Yost, the decisions she made impressed in Season 2 the all-knowing, all-listening voice that has chosen her for greater things. “This presence discovered something in her, a certain quality that would make her a great person to be—and the best person in the market—boss for IT.”

The Season 2 finale barely gives the viewer time to process this major development as Juliette returns to the silo that she’s been waiting for. This encourages the civilians who have taken control of the silo, shocked but hugely relieved to see Juliette approaching, to clean the camera – something she refused to do when she left – and in doing so saw the seeds of revolution. She warns the people of the silo that it is not safe to leave.

Before we can see their likely confused reactions, we see Juliette walk onto the walkway to the silo, only to be met by Bernard (Tim Robbins), the current mayor and head of IT and by far the most powerful person in the silo. But Bernard is at his wits end and just wants to be free of the burden of leadership, a burden that has only gotten worse throughout season 2. He is no longer trusted and the people in the silo want revenge for a lifetime of lies . Bernard just wants to go out and die. They briefly discuss the lethal protection procedures – Juliette doesn’t know who releases the poison or why they’re doing it, Bernard knows who but not why, “But I don’t give a damn,” he tells her. “It never really mattered,” he adds blankly. But Juliette may just have a solution to shut down the fuse, giving Bernard a glimmer of hope.

Before they can discuss it, the door back to the silo begins to close. Juliette rushes in and Bernard runs after her, telling her not to go in. They both end up stuck inside the airlock, and fire begins to appear, soon engulfing the entire airlock in raging flames. Juliette is thrown to the side and the episode ends. Yost wouldn’t comment on the specific fates of Bernard or Juliette, but he was aware that the scene is a big deal: “One thing that this show made clear in Season 1 is that anybody could die. The fire is not good. And there’s very serious consequences.”

A shocking coda changes everything

Many creators would be content to end a season on a big cliffhanger that puts the lives of its two biggest characters in danger. But Silo saves its most shocking moment for something completely unexpected: a journey into the past, hundreds of years before silos even existed.

“One of the things I was looking forward to is going from the sound of fire in the airlock to rain over black. And to have the audience go, ‘Excuse me, what?’ Rain?’ There’s no rain in the silo,” says Yost. The effect is unsettling and completely unexpected. It’s almost as if you’ve accidentally changed the channel and are watching a different program, something Yost said he intended when he saw the episode.

Just as the Season 1 finale upped the ante by expanding the scale of the show by revealing that there were dozens of other silos, the Season 2 finale expands the show’s timeline by throwing things back into the past. For Yost, the end of season 1 wasn’t a cliffhanger — “It was a step forward.” Similarly, he sees the Season 2 finale as another step forward, even if it goes back in time. The final scene takes place in Washington, DC, where two people we’ve never seen before, Daniel (Ashley Zukerman) and Helen (Jessica Henwick) meet for the first time in a bar.

As Yost explains, there was debate about whether to end with the flames or something else. “There were times when we talked to Apple and others involved with the show: ‘Do we need this scene? Should we start Season 3 with it?’ We have Juliette in an airlock filled with fire and could walk out. It’s a conventional cliffhanger.” Instead, Yost wanted to take things in a whole new direction. “I wanted to establish that we’re going to see how it all started.”

Daniel and Helen meet under the guise of a date, but Dan is a congressman and what journalist Helen really wants from him is information. She is particularly interested in a “dirty bomb” – especially whether the rumors of one exploding in New Orleans are real or just made up to promote a war between America and Iran. Dan doesn’t answer, but instead chooses to leave. It’s all vague, but it gives the viewer a chance to gather some details: It was probably the bomb and the escalation of a war between America and Iran that led to the creation of the silos. “We wanted something where the audience goes, ‘Oh sh-t! Oh sh-t,’ and that was the Pez. It’s not a cliffhanger, but it’s a story moment that leans forward,” says Yost.

About the Pez: Before Dan leaves, he gives Helen a present. Helen opens the brown paper bag to reveal a Pez dispenser with a duck on top. She begins to smile and the episode fades to black, ending Season 2 – for real this time. However, this is not just a random token of Dan’s appreciation. It is the exact same Pez dispenser found in the silo hundreds of years later, existing as a relic, a forbidden object and symbol of the past that normal civilians are not allowed to possess. The message is clear: however life in the silo began, these two played a role in it.

For those confused by the sudden shift in the Season 2 finale, Yost offers reassurance that we will get clarity on the beginning of the silos next season. “We’re getting into the origin story, but we’re also deep into our silo world,” he says. There will also be more to learn about the dirty bomb. “In Season 3, we find out what happened to Silo 17” – the silo Juliette spent the vast majority of this season in. “At the end of season 3, you’ll know what happened to the people who went outside 17, and the why and how of all that. That’s a big thing that’s going to be resolved — and how it all began.”

“One of the things I loved about the books,” explains Yost, “is that Hugh (Howey) took the pace of revealing the answers to the mysteries, and we’re trying to stick with that as well.” The audience finds out what Juliette finds out. More mysteries will surely be answered in the final two seasons – but we’ll have to wait and see if it’s still Juliette who reveals them.