Silo season 2: Apple TV Plus release date, likely cast, story rumors, and more news about the sci-fi show's return

Silo season 2 is one of the most anticipated Apple TV Plus shows of the year. The dystopian sci-fi series' first outing was met with critical and award-based acclaim upon its mid-2023 debut, so it wasn't a huge surprise to see the Rebecca Ferguson-led project renewed for another installment ahead of its season 1 finale.

With the Apple-developed show set to re-emerge from its underground bunker soon, you'll want more details on what to expect from Silo's second season. In this guide, we've rounded up everything worth knowing about one of the best Apple TV Plus shows' next entries, including its official release date, potential plot points, cast details, and more. It goes without saying, but full spoilers follow for Silo season 1. Potential season 2 spoilers are also discussed, as are story threads from Hugh Howey's 'Wool' book trilogy, which the series is inspired by.

Silo season 2 release date

Silo season 2's official release date was one of nine big Comic-Con 2024 announcements that delighted us earlier this year, with news of the Apple TV show's return – it'll debut on Friday, November 15 – coming in late July.

Before then, we only knew that Apple TV Plus had renewed Silo for another season, with that confirmation coming in June 2023 ahead of season 1's final episode. One month later, lead star Rebecca Ferguson told TechRadar that season 2 was a long way from making its debut on the streaming platform, with its development being heavily impacted by the 2023 Hollywood strikes that brought the industry to a standstill for much of last year.

With that industry action now a distant memory, we can look forward to Silo season 2, which will arrive with a one-episode premiere on launch day. The following nine episodes will stream weekly until the finale airs on January 17, 2025.

Silo season 2 trailer: is there one?

If you jump over to YouTube and search for a Silo season 2 trailer, you might be surprised to find that there are several different ones, but hold your horses! All of these are fan made – and in some cases, created with artificial intelligence (AI).

Apple is yet to release an official teaser but, with the series returning in less than two months, we predict one will be released before the end of September. We'll embed it in this guide once it's revealed.

Silo season 2 cast: confirmed and rumored

Full spoilers follow for Silo season 1.

Here's the confirmed cast for Silo season 2 so far, as revealed in an Apple press release:

• Rebecca Ferguson as Juliette Nicholls
• Common as Robert Sims
• Tim Robbins as Bernard Holland
• Harriet Walter as Martha Walker
• Chinaza Uche as Paul Billings
• Avi Nash as Lukas Kyle
• Alexandria Riley as Camille Sims
• Shane McRae as Knox
• Remmie Milner as Shirly Campbell
• Clare Perkins as Carla
• Billy Postelthwaite as Hank
• Rick Gomez as Patrick Kennedy
• Caitlin Zoz as Kathleen Billings
• Tanya Moodie as Judge Meadows
• Iain Glen as Doctor Pete Nichols
• Steven Zahn as Solo

Of the above contingent,  the only new cast addition 2 is that of Steve Zahn. Last seen as the angsty dad Mark Mossbacher in The White Lotus, he'll be appearing as the character called Solo. Apple hasn't provided any further insight into this individual, so he's an enigma for the time being.

As for main season 1 cast members who won't return, Rashida Jones and David Oyelowo won't be back as Allison Becker and her husband Holston, who was the titular silo's sheriff. The pair perished after leaving the underground bunker whilst wearing defective suits, so don't expect to see this duo again next time.

Silo season 2 plot speculation

Full spoilers follow for Silo's first season.

Apple hasn't provided us with an official story brief for Silo season 2 yet. Indeed, the only things we’ve been given so far are the aforementioned X/Twitter release date post, which comes captioned with an ominous sentence reading "'In the event of a failed cleaning, prepare for war’ – The Order", and some first-look images.

Based on what we know about Howey's novels, plus what transpired in the season 1 finale, we have a vague idea of where things could go.

Season 1's ending was incredibly bleak. After Juliette discovered the hidden conspiracy hidden within the Silo, and believing that the outside world was a beautiful and verdant place, rather than the barren hellscape shown to those who live inside it, she managed to escape and learn the truth once and for all. Unfortunately, when she finally emerged, the idyllic world was all an illusion to deceive cleaners (individuals who, upon breaking the law, are forced to venture outside and clean the silo's exterior). The world, in fact, is a fat lot of barren nothingness – well, apart from the many craters lining its surface, each with their own hundred-plus storied silos. 

So, where can the series go from here? It's unconfirmed, but we suspect season 2 will likely be based on 'Shift', the second novel in Howey's 'Wool' book trilogy, which tells the origins of the silos, as well as that of young congressman Donald Keene who's ordered to design and build them by Senator Thurman. 

How much of this original storyline is going to be used in the show, though, is very much being kept under lock and key. However, showrunner Graham Yost has provided a couple of telling details about how Silo season 2 will begin – and it sounds like she'll be forced to find safety in a new silo to escape the toxic environment surrounding her. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly (EW), Yost said: "Juliette has a very difficult time getting into this other silo, and she's looking for safety 'cause her suit is running out of air. The wondrous tape that Walker [Harriet Walter] arranged for her to have her suit wrapped in, that's going to fail. A lot of the episode is about Juliette just trying to survive and the engineering stuff she has to do to try to stay alive."

Season 2's opener won't just focus on its titular character, however. Expanding on what viewers can expect, Yost also told EW: "The premiere [follows] Juliette, but we actually don't start with her. We're going to start back an undetermined – at least at first – amount of time ago, in another silo. We're going to see a rebellion going very wrong.

"They [the rebels] run up and we cut from them just as they're going outside to seeing that same flag sticking up out of the ground, out of the hand of a skeleton, and it's God knows how many years later. In the distance is this person in a cleaning suit walking toward it, and it's Juliette, who will follow the trail of bodies that will lead her into a dead silo."

Sounds like we're going to go deeper (if you pardon the pun) into the mythology and lore surrounding the silos, then. Not only that, but Silo season 2 will also tell concurrent storylines – one that follows Juliette, and the other taking place at her original home. "Juliette knows [what] could happen to her silo," Yost added during his EW chat, "And is there any way she could get back to them to help them to stop that from happening? Stuff’s starting to get really, really scary". Roll on November, we say. In the meantime, learn more clues about where Silo season 2's plot could go, based on its literature.

Is Silo season 2 going to be the sci-fi show's final entry?

No. It looks like we’ll be getting at least two more seasons of Silo, with Ferguson telling Collider (in April 2024) that the show’s future was already written in the books: "I believe that the show has an ending, and I know when that is, so that's the answer. You will find out when the show is done. To be honest, I don't think it's a secret. The books are the books. It's three books, and the three books are divided into four seasons. 

"So, I believe…I think we're absolutely fine with saying season 1, we've done. Season 2 is shot and coming out, and we're now looking at green-lighting seasons 3 and 4. And I think we would film them maybe together and that would be the end."

It's unclear if the final two seasons would be shot back to back, or if it'll be a few years before this series is wrapped up. Regardless, Silo season 2 isn't too long from launching, so we can take comfort from its impending arrival – oh, and the fact that we don't live in a post-apocalyptic world where the very air we breathe can kill us.

For more Apple TV Plus coverage, read our guides on the best Apple TV Plus movies, Foundation season 3, and Severance season 2.