Silo Season 3: Why So Many Major Characters Are Missing In Episode 1

The following post contains spoilers for the Season 3 premiere of "Silo."

"Silo" is one of the most underrated sci-fi shows on AppleTV. The post-apocalyptic story of the remnants of humanity living inside an underground silo is thrilling, constantly introducing new mysteries that add up to exquisite world building. There is a sense of history in every scene, in every new set that adds up to a compelling story of secrets, conspiracies, and revolution.

But at its core, the show understands what made "Lost" the biggest show on the planet in the '00s — it's all about the characters. While the mystery of the silo, its origin, its many nonsensical rules are intriguing, what makes the show worth watching week after week is the fleshed out characters that populate the silo with their own problems, goals, and flaws. 

Season 3 starts off with quite a shocking new status quo, with Rebecca Ferguson's Juliette Nichols as mayor, a new council made up of several department heads, and also several major characters missing. From Bernard Holland and Martha Walker, to Lukas Kyle and Patrick Kennedy, and the entire cast from silo 17, we are missing some of the most interesting characters and storylines from Season 2. What happened?

Well, for one, "Silo" has A LOT of plot to resolve this season, as Season 2 ended with a multitude of reveals that change everything for the show, like an AI machine that can kill the silo residents at will. That means Season 3 is doing things a bit differently now.

The new episode picks up 3 months after the events of the Season 2 finale. The revolution ended in peace thanks to Juliette, who is now mayor because Bernard Holland, the former one, is dead — though the public doesn't know the truth of how he died. Martha Walker, who had been actually helping the rebellion in the past, doesn't show up, but we hear she's sealed off access to the space at the very bottom of the silo (you know, the space with the scary computer that warns about the killer Safeguard Procedure). Patrick Kennedy, who was helping the uprising against Bernard, has gone missing, but apparently there are sightings of him throughout the silo.

Then we have Lukas Kyle, a former systems analyst in the IT department. Kyle learned the truth about the Safeguard Procedure and was seen being absolutely terrified out of his mind in the finale. We don't see Lukas, the only one who knows and remembers about Safeguard, but Sheriff Billings believes Lukas is probably dead and his body was misidentified. Of course, we don't see Solo and the rest of the silo 17 people because the action stays firmly in the main silo.

In addition to there just being way too many characters to include them all in a single episode, the Season 3 premiere introduces a new format straight out of "Lost." Throughout the episode we flash back to the past, before the apocalyptic event in the world of "Silo." There we follow Jessica Brown Findlay's Charlotte and Ashley Zukerman's Daniel on the eve of an operation against Iran, a retaliation for a previous attack on U.S. soil. This is the biggest change for this season of "Silo" and its most exciting.

One of the most intriguing new aspects of "Silo" Season 3 is that the premiere splits its time between past and present, slowly adding to the larger worldbuilding of how the silos came to be and how the world ended.

It is a narrative structure straight out of "Lost," the revolutionary TV show that changed the medium forever. Even before the polar bear in the jungle, the smoke monster, the time travel and the immortal beings, "Lost" captivated audiences with a perfect pilot episode that split its time between past and present. The flashbacks allowed the audience to get to know the characters in fascinating ways, with the writers using them to radically reshape our understanding of certain characters. John Locke's flashback twist remains one of the best moments in the entire show, but it wasn't just him. Kate's criminal past, Sawyer's tragic backstory, Hurley's hilariously sad string of freak accidents. The flashbacks allowed to blow the audience's minds with big reveals, to show how much these characters change when they get to the island, to add context to and enhance the island storylines and much more.

It's something every lousy "Lost" imitator tried but failed to replicate, because they didn't understand that the flashbacks weren't just about mystery and lore, they were about the characters. So far, "Silo" is prioritizing character over lore in its flashbacks. The premiere follows Daniel, a guy we met in the Season 2 finale, but there's no talk about silos, and he doesn't even seem that well connected. It's just a small story about him and his sister. If the show can keep this going, it will succeed where countless others have failed and actually replicate the success of "Lost."