Warning! This article contains spoilers for Silo season 2 and Hugh Howey’s Silo books.
After Silo season 2’s ambiguous ending, many viewers would want to know what happens next in the story. Given how the Apple TV+ sci-fi show is based on Hugh Howey’s book trilogy, the source material can give a fair idea of how the show will unfold in future seasons. It must be noted, however, that Silo season 2 significantly drifts away from the original books. Owing to this, even though the show will likely stay loyal to many aspects of the books’ narrative, it will change many others.
Before closing with an intriguing flashback, Silo season 2 features a nail-biting ending arc in which Bernard learns the truth about the world he lives in while Juliette makes her way to Silo 18. In the meantime, Silo 18’s rebellion reaches its peak as many citizens set out to open the underground structure’s airlock. However, before the show can finally reveal the fate of its main characters, its credits start rolling, leaving viewers curious about how the books continue the story.
Bernard Dies, & Juliette Is Elected As Silo 18’s New Mayor
The Show Changes How Juliette & Bernard’s Story Ends
In Silo season 2’s ending, Bernard decides to leave Silo 18 and embrace a few moments of freedom after learning the truth about the founders’ motives. On his way out, however, he encounters Juliette, who assures him that she knows how to save Silo 18 before it is too late. Before the two characters can finally come to a peaceful agreement and potentially join forces to save their silo, they get locked in Silo 18’s airlock chamber. Moments later, flames engulf the room, leaving an air of ambiguity surrounding Bernard and Juliette’s fate.
Even towards the end of Hugh Howey’s first Silo book, Wool, Juliette heads back to Silo 18 and finds a man waiting to be killed by the air lock’s fire. She assumes the man is Lukas and attempts to save him by covering him with a heat blanket. However, she soon realizes the man is Bernard, who, to her surprise, pushes her away and intentionally burns himself. With this, Bernard dies while Juliette sustains severe injuries. After recovering, she is elected as Silo 18’s new mayor.
If Bernard survives in the show, he might join Juliette and redeem himself.
This will likely not happen in the show since Silo season 2’s ending hints that Camille Sims will be appointed as the new leading figure in Silo 18. She might face some stiff competition from Juliette because the people of Silo 18 will support her after her return. However, Camille has access to the Algorithm and the vault, which will help her establish control over the citizens. If Bernard survives in the show, he might join Juliette and redeem himself.
The Silos’ Origin Story Confirms The Reason They Were Created
Nothing About The Silos Is As It Seems
The second book, Shift, in the original series unfolds more like a spin-off/prequel, walking through the events surrounding the origins of the silos. It all begins in 2049 when freshman Congressman Donald Keene is recruited by Senator Paul Thurman for a project dubbed the CAD-FAC (Containment and Disposal Facility). The Senator claims the project involves the construction of underground structures to store nuclear waste in Georgia’s Fulton City and will also require one silo-like structure where workers can seek shelter in case of a disaster.
| Name of Silo book | Parts |
| Wool |
|
| Shift |
|
| Dust | Serves as a singular book. |
However, things take a grim in 2052 when, during the opening ceremony of the project at the Democratic National Convention, a nuclear bomb drops on Atlanta, forcing the people at the convention to accommodate the “CAD-FAC.” The book initially suggests that CAD-FAC was merely a disguise for an initiative called World Order Operation Fifty (W.O.O.L.). It was started to help humanity sustain itself in case of an apocalyptic event. With nuclear blasts wiping out the entire planet’s population, the people in the silos are expected to stay inside for 500 years till the world heals.
The Nuclear Blast Was A Mere Cover To Hide A Darker Truth
Dangerous Nanobots Caused The Apocalypse
In the world of Silo, the use of self-replicating nanobots had become prevalent, especially in the medical field. While it greatly benefited humanity, terrorists and hostile nations started weaponizing them by using them to create biological weapons. When the dangerous nanobots started spreading across the globe and evolving, Operation Fifty was implemented.
Through Operation Fifty, the founders hoped to wait for the world to be cleared of all bad nanobots so that humanity could live safely again.
Thurman hired someone to drop nukes on and around Atlanta to fake a global nuclear attack, prompting a set of humans to accommodate the silos. The rest of the world crumbled as the bad nanobots, orchestrated by Thruman and his team, gradually spread across the globe and killed all humans outside the silos. Through Operation Fifty, the founders hoped to wait for the world to be cleared of all bad nanobots so that humanity could live safely again.
The Founders Monitor & Control All Silos From Silo 1
They Also Use An Algorithm To Determine The Silos’ Fate
The founders of the silos accommodate Silo 1 and monitor the activities in all silos in shifts. Using cryogenic technology, they take turns remaining in a state of suspended animation, ensuring that they can preserve their own lives for centuries while maintaining control over the silos. Donald Keene questions the moral implications of the project but does not back off, believing that humanity’s fate depends on it. However, when he is accidentally woken up instead of Thurman in 2345, he learns that only one out of the fifty silos is meant to repopulate the world.
In Apple TV+’s Silo, the Algorithm is seemingly portrayed as an advanced AI system in season 2.
Thurman introduced this measure to ensure the new generation of humans remembered nothing about nanobots, preventing them from misuing them again. An algorithm is designed to determine which silo’s citizens are best suited to accommodate the world and sustain humanity. Meanwhile, all other silos are set to be destroyed by releasing bad nanobots in them. Realizing how morally wrong it would be to kill innocents, Donald attempts to save all silos.
Solo’s Backstory Reveals What Actually Happened To Silo 17
Silo Season 2 Changes Some Aspects Of Solo’s Backstory
Solo’s backstory in the second Silo book reveals that Silo 17 was terminated by Silo 1 when a rebellion reached its peak in the underground structure. Bad nanobots were released in the silo to kill all citizens. Anna, one of the humans from Silo 1, attempted to save Silo 17 by reversing the damage. However, it was already too late. The show seems to change Silo 17’s story by suggesting that its people prevented Silo 1 from harming them by covering the pipe that released bad nanobots in their city.
Many story developments in Silo season 2’s episode 9 finally reveal the truth about the mysterious timeline of Silo 17’s rebellion and Solo’s past.
However, as details in the show suggest, many Silo 17 people eventually died after they stepped out and got exposed to a “dust” of bad nanobots. As shown in the Apple TV+ sci-fi show, Solo (Jimmy) was among the few people who survived Silo 17’s termination.
Juliette Uses The Tunnel System To Move Silo 18’s Citizens to Silo 17
She Races Against Time To Save Her People
Juliette returns to Silo 17 and even establishes contact with Donald Keene. To ensure the safety of Silo 18’s citizens, she also plans to move them to Silo 17 through the tunnel system under the silos. However, Senator Thurman awakens from his sleep, gets Donald imprisoned, and takes control of Silo 1.
Thurman Destroys Silo 18, Killing Many Innocents
Only About 200 Citizens Make It Out Alive
Before Juliette can safely move all Silo 18’s citizens to Silo 17, Thurman implements the Safeguard protocol, which releases the poisonous gas in Silo 18. With this, many citizens die before Juliette can lead them to safety. In the end, only close to 200 people make it out alive.
Juliette & The Survivors Learn The World Has Healed Before Finding The “Seed”
Juliette Leads Her People To A Haven
The third book, Dust, in the Hugh Howey trilogy, reaches its final arc when Donald decides to stay behind in Silo 1 to set off its demolition and encourages his sister, Charlotte, and a security officer, Darcy, to leave. While he succeeds at destroying Silo 1, Juliette learns that the boring machines in the silos’ lowest levels can be used to reach a safe zone on the planet’s surface called the “Seed.” However, due to a lack of enough fuel to make the machine work, Juliette and the survivors walk to the haven with hazmat suits on.
Hugh Howey has planned another trilogy set in the Silo universe. The new book series will focus on Silo 14, which mysteriously manages to cut itself off from Silo 1.
To their surprise, they emerge out of a cloud of dust before realizing that the world has long healed. The founders had intentionally surrounded the silos with bad nanobots to kill anyone who dared to leave the underground structures. Before the Silo books’ story ends, Juliette, the survivors, and Silo 1’s Charlotte end up in the “Seed,” which has enough resources to rebuild human civilization.
