Every Season of 'Silo,' Ranked
Christine is a freelance writer for Collider with two decades of experience covering all types of TV shows and movies spanning every genre. With a particular affinity for dramas, true crime, sitcoms, and thrillers, if it's a top TV show, Christine has likely watched it and is eager to share her thoughts. When she's not furiously writing away, you can find her enjoying the next binge obsession with a glass of wine in front of the TV.
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Spoiler Alert: This list contains spoilers for Silo Season 3.Silo is planned for a four-season run, and the fourth and final season already has a release date: July 9, 2027. The story is shaping up to follow the core trajectory of the Hugh Howey novels on which the series is based, though it has already diverted in many ways to create a compelling, adapted narrative. While some fans of the novels Wool, Shift, and Dust aren't too happy about that, it also offers a level of unpredictability: even fans of the novel don't know where Apple TV will take the story.
Every season of Silo has been strong, but as the story builds, shifts, and develops, it has also ebbed and flowed. All three seasons are Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and there's no denying that the show is worth watching. With plenty of time to catch up before the story comes to an end in Season 4, you'll want to watch the three current seasons in order. But the best season isn't necessarily the one you might think.
3 Season 1
Ranking the first season of Apple TV masterpiece show Silo last among the three to date isn't suggesting that it isn't good. But it's mostly set-up for the story to come. It begins with a deeply emotional scene, a flashback to when Sheriff Holston Becker (David Oyelowo) watched his wife Allison (Rashida Jones) ask to go outside after becoming convinced that the leaders were lying to them, and it was safe to do so. She perished. Meanwhile, engineer Juliette's (Rebecca Ferguson) boyfriend George (Ferdinand Kingsley), who suspected the same, died under mysterious circumstances.
This, along with conversations with Becker, sets Juliette on a path to discover the truth, and viewers get to go along for the ride with her. The plot progresses slowly as Jules follows breadcrumbs and grows increasingly suspicious about those in power, namely Head of IT, Bernard (Tim Robbins). She wants to solve George's murder, but she also feels a sense of duty to the people of the silo to uncover the truth about what's really going on and why they're there.
The story culminates in a gripping end that will have you at the edge of your seat, terrified of what's to come. But all the major mysteries are still looming. The season has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of all three at 88% from the critics Tomatometer and 71% from audiences. On IMDb, it holds an 8.1 average score. Much of the criticism relates to the slow-burn nature of the story, as well as dislike for the diversions from the books. But the apocalyptic sense of dread, the worldbuilding, and the character development are on point. Collider reviewer Chase Hutchinson gives this season a B+ grade, and notes that while some episodes might feel like they are "going in circles, Silo still draws us into this world with the little moments just as much as the big ones." He also singles out Ferguson's performance as the beating heart of the series, and that's something that continues throughout.
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 honest 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 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 help 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.
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard 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.
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 small, 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.
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.
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, 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.
2 Season 3
If Season 1 was a slow-burn, Season 3 of the addictive sci-fi show is like a constant simmer throughout its entire first half, which gets frustrating at times. Starting off with Jules losing her memory removes the fierceness of the protagonist we want to see as the hero. You are simply lying in wait for the "real" Jules to come back. Nothing much happens for a lot of the first episodes. It almost feels like it could have been consolidated into half as many episodes to leave room for more intensity.
The main reason Season 3 ranks in the middle, however, is because it finally answers a lot of questions that have remained core to the show for its first two seasons. It flips back and forth between present day and 300+ years ago with Daniel (Ashley Zukerman) and Helen (Jessica Henwick) just prior to the silos being built. It finally explains the context of the Season 2 post-credits scene that introduces both characters and eventually explains what they have to do with this project. We finally learn who created the silos and why (according to their reasoning), and what role Daniel has in it all. The origins of everything from The Pact to the forgetting drugs as well as the identity of The Algorithm are finally revealed, which is worth the wait once you get to the latter episodes of this season. We also learn more about what really happened with the Silo 17 rebellion thirty years prior to present day, a particularly jarring reality.
Bernard's character arc in Season 3 is especially compelling. It's beautifully acted and wonderfully prophetic. His story allows us to finally see not only what the silo has done to those who live in it, but what it has cost those who have given everything, and done horrible things, to protect it, even without even truly understanding why. In fact, in this season, several characters, including Sims (Common) and Camille (Alexandria Riley), take tremendous and in some cases unexpected journeys.
For Season 3, Collider reviewer Tania Hussain praises how the show still finds new ways to surprise us, with every revelation deepening the "characters and the world around them." She even goes so far as to say that the show, which leans more heavily into sci-fi this season, "sets a new standard for what prestige sci-fi can be." It shifts genres in a way, dividing time between this post-apocalyptic underground world and a pre-apocalyptic one that looks far more familiar to today's society above ground.
The explosive final episode combined with the equally gripping Season 4 trailer is what finally catapults the story forward. Since this season is filled with so many revelations and finally brings the timelines together, it grows to become one of the best, even if it is off to a slow start. In fact, it has the highest critics' Rotten Tomatoes score at 96%. That number, however, dips to 69% from the audience, partly because of the slow-moving first half. But mostly, it's because the show was hit with mass review bombing that brought this number down. Why? Diehard book fans don't like that the season takes the story in a different direction from the source material. On IMDb, fans are much kinder with this season securing an 8.0 average score so far.
1 Season 2
There's something especially intriguing about Season 2. It's the first time we get to see a story outside of Silo 18, even if it's predominantly in another silo. Steve Zahn is one of the best new characters the show has seen throughout its run to date. He plays Solo/Jimmy, a child-like man Jules meets in Silo 17 once she successfully makes it there. The season builds on the massive revelation that Silo 18 isn't alone: there are other silos and presumably other survivors out there, too. While we learn this at the end of Season 1, it really comes into focus in Season 2.
The season flips back and forth between Bernard trying to stop a rebellion in Silo 18 and Jules trying to navigate this new setting and figure out how she can help her people. The question of whether it's safe to go outside looms, along with who Solo is, how he ended up in this silo, presumably alone for all this time, and what information and resources he might have that can help. There's a level of panic and frustration as Jules tries to be patient with him while also understanding that the clock is ticking to get back to her silo and save everyone. Since we see what's going on in Silo 18, the same level of panic is felt as you watch, too.
The season is the most intense of the bunch, with Bernard and Jules both trying to defuse massively dangerous situations. In this episode, some details slowly come into focus before the big reveals in Season 3. But we're still far from really, truly understanding what's going on. Like Season 3, this season has a high Rotten Tomatoes critics score at 92% but a lower audience one at 68%. On IMDb, it has a 7.6 score. Collider reviewer Tania Hussain believes this season represents a "masterful exploration of isolation and survival," describing it as a "tapestry of tension." She adds that she's confident this season "affirms the show's greatness," and I'd have to agree. Season 2 will have you at the edge of your seat feeling such love for Jules, sympathy for Solo, and anger towards Bernard. But mostly, it leaves you wanting more, especially with the massive cliffhanger ending that sets up the events for Season 3.
Silo
- Release Date
- May 5, 2023
- Network
- Apple TV
- Showrunner
- Graham Yost
- Directors
- Morten Tyldum, David Semel, Michael Dinner, Aric Avelino
-
Juliette Nichols
-
Robert Sims
- Writers
- Graham Yost, Hugh Howey, Jeffery Wang, Lekethia Dalcoe
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Seasons
- 4
- Producers
- Aric Avelino, Jessica Blaire, Matthew Bird, Ben Brafman, Katherine DiSavino, Joanna Thapa
- Creator(s)
- Graham Yost
- Story By
- Hugh Howey
- Streaming Service(s)
- AppleTV+
- Executive Producer(s)
- Graham Yost, Joanna Thapa, Rebecca Ferguson, Remi Aubuchon, Fred Golan, Hugh Howey, Nina Jack, Morten Tyldum, Michael Dinner, Ingrid Escajeda
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.