From show creator Graham Yost (Justified) and based on the bestselling trilogy of novels by Hugh Howey, the Apple TV+ series Silo explores the community of 10,000 living within a giant underground silo that protects them from the toxic and deadly outside world. The strict rules they live by are presented as protection, but are really meant to prevent rebellion, with consequences that are sure to lead to the demise of anyone who disobeys.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Rebecca Ferguson (who plays Juliette, an engineer that begins to question everything she’s ever known) talks about why she loved her character arc, finding your place in a world where everyone and everything has a very specific purpose, how the truth can cause chaos, using the mistrust of others to her advantage, why it was important for her to know everything about the story they were telling, her hope for another season, and what it’s like to be a part of a world that’s created, like with Silo and Dune (where she plays Lady Jessica Atreides).
Collider: I found this character so fascinating because there are so many layers to her. What was it about this project that you found most interesting? Were you drawn in by the world building of it, or was it just something about her, specifically?
REBECCA FERGUSON: The world definitely activated my interest for it, but she’s such a cool character. The character offered up so many different emotions and feelings, and I loved the arc. That was enough.
What did you find most interesting about exploring a world like this and figuring out where you fit into it? This is a world where everybody has a place, so what was that like to explore?
FERGUSON: It’s really true, everyone has a place and they need to stay in that place, to be able to maintain the control and function of everything. What’s so great is that Juliette has found her place and she’s very good in that position. The fact that there’s one question that activates chaos, and it’s the most natural question that should be asked, but is never asked, and that’s to figure out the truth of something. It takes her out of her comfort zone and puts her in a completely unstable environment, and therein lies the movement of the journey of the series. That’s always good, isn’t it? Everything has its place, and then you move a couple of things around, you shake it about, you push them on the ground, and you yell, “Action!”
This world is made up of people that look like people we know and they do things that we understand, which is why it’s so interesting. Even though it’s unfamiliar, it’s still familiar, so we find ourselves identifying with it. That’s why I thought the journey with all of these characters was so interesting.
FERGUSON: I completely agree. Two hundred years is a long time, but it’s not long enough to change behaviors and hopes and dreams. But it’s two hundred years of being encapsulated in a silo underground, so they don’t know anything else. Yet they are curious, so once someone starts to question, and there’s already been a rebellion, there’s definitely a possibility of it happening again. It’s just the ripple effect of who’s going to start the process of it.
Juliette is such an interesting character because she has walled herself off in her own little world and doesn’t really trust anyone. What’s it like to play a character like that, and to approach every new relationship and new person that comes into her life, in that way of not trusting them, and then trying to figure out if they’re worthy of that trust?
FERGUSON: I’ve had so many interviews for the last two days, and that’s such a good question. I haven’t heard it. Thank you for that one, because it’s true. That’s exactly it. The fact is that she’s a broken and vulnerable. She's not a shell, but she just has no insight because she hasn’t looked at it. There’s no therapy in there, so she’s just pushed it all down and locked it into the lump. And then, the fact that she has to interact with people is probably the worst thing she could ever imagine. But the other side is finding out the truth, so which one is going to win? Rousseau said, “We’re born kind, and then society destroys us.” And Hopper said, “We’re born evil and society tames us.” These are two different philosophies. It’s very interesting to put up the people in the silo, like IT would be Hopper whilst mechanical is Rousseau. It’s taking her into the environment of IT and having her realize that we actually need both to be able to survive. You can’t just have uproar. You can’t just have the questioning of the status quo because there would never be calm or stillness. But you can’t just have the frame of following rules and regulations and a book. That’s the dynamic of this entire show, for all the characters, not just for Juliette.
Do you see that as an advantage for her, or is that mistrust of people a disadvantage?
FERGUSON: I think it’s something positive for us because we live in a world where we so easily and eagerly want to please and feel connected to each other, and we lean in and are agreeable, and we have stories to tell and compare. She’s just not like that. She leans back and listens, and she doesn’t relate to everything. She questions things because it doesn’t make sense. Being a mechanic, you can’t put a thing into a thing that doesn’t work. It just doesn’t make sense for her. And the same goes for human beings and for situations. I also like the fact that she realizes, on her journey, that she can’t be as forceful as she is and she needs friends. She needs people to trust her, and how are they going to trust her, if she’s not going to let them in? It’s an interesting give-and-take, quid pro quo.
Because of what could happen to anyone at any time, it feels like everyone is keeping certain things from certain people. How much did you actually know about your character and her arc and where everything was going? Did you have all of that awareness before you started, or were you still getting some of that, along the way?
FERGUSON: No, I knew everything. I had all 10 episodes before signing contracts. I need to have that. And the fact that I also was offered the executive producer role means that I was a part of the bigger picture. At the same time, I didn’t sit in the writers’ room. That’s what they do. And then, the script comes to me and I sit with people, like (showrunner) Graham [Yost], and I go, “Okay, but this doesn’t make sense. And I’d really like to do this. Do we think we can do that?” And they’d say, “Yes, but that might have ripple effects down the line.” And I’d go, “Okay, can we look at that?” All of that would have to happen prior to shooting. And then, when we started shooting, there were moments where I did tiny changes and go, “Oh, dash it, that’s going to create issues here. Okay, let’s meet afterwards and have a meeting about it.” It was just a constant fluidity of change, and that’s what’s fun. But no, I was fully aware, and should be fully aware, of everyone’s story and everyone’s journey.
This is a show that ends with a lot of questions. It doesn’t just wrap everything up. Do you feel like you have answers to some of those questions and an idea of where things could go next, or are you in the dark about what the next step might be?
FERGUSON: I’ve read all the books, so I know exactly what’s gonna happen, if we are so lucky that we can continue. I’m very well versed in this world. When I was offered the role, the first thing I did was to read all the books, Wool, Shift and Dust. I also was in constant communication with (author) Hugh [Howey] and Graham. So, people who haven’t read it should. And if Apple is not thinking about a continuation, they should. So, we’ll see. There are a lot of shoulds and maybes and woulds.
What’s it like to be a part of these projects where you’re creating these whole worlds? Is doing something like this that’s self-contained, very different from doing something like Dune, which seems huge?
FERGUSON: I really feel like I need to underline that I’m not creating, in that sense. I’m welcomed into rooms that are already created by phenomenal people. When people say, “But you’re an EP,” I have a lot of opinions and they listen to them, but I was a novice, learning from Graham. I really wanted to learn because I would love to learn to produce. So yeah, the worlds are different, but at the same time, sets are run very much the same. You have a team, a crew, a cast, sound, gaffers, camera operators, lighting, directors, 1st, 2nd and 3rd ADS, and sets, and everything is kind of the same. It’s more about how it’s run. The fact is that Denis [Villeneuve]’s set and Silo were both extremely kind sets and happy sets to be on. It very much shows the humbleness of a showrunner like Graham and a director like Denis, who sets the bar for humanity on the set.
I found the complete sense of a world creation, all inside, so fascinating to watch.
FERGUSON: The amount of effort that’s put into it is phenomenal. The sets were insane. It was so big. It’s odd because people talk to me about claustrophobia, and I was everything but claustrophobic in this environment. I just had to sell the idea.
Silo is available to stream at Apple TV+.