‘Silo’ is a science fiction series set in a dystopian world where people live inside underground silos. Based on the ‘Wool’ novel series by Hugh Howey, the Apple+ show follows a group of survivors living in Silo 18, where generations upon generations of people have lived and died with no contact with the outside world because of the toxic environment that they believe exists out there and would kill them immediately if they so much as breathed the air outside.
The only proof of this toxicity that the residents of Silo 18 have are the “windows,” giant screens which provide a live feed of the dead and barren world outside. Created by Graham Yost, the series features the talents of Rebecca Ferguson, Rashida Jones, David Oyelowo, Tim Robbins, Harriet Walter, Avi Nash, Rick Gomez, and Chinaza Uche. If you enjoyed the premise of ‘Silo,’ then we have a few recommendations that we believe you might like.
8. The Stand (2020-2021)
In ‘The Stand,’ a man-made strain of influenza known as “Captain Trips,” which was meant for military use, accidentally releases and wipes out most of the human population. The remaining group of survivors flock together and try to piece back their lives under the leadership of Mother Abagail Freemantle (Whoopi Goldberg).
However, humans being humans, envy and anger travel hand in, threatening to divide the leftover population, fuelled by the enigmatic Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgard), also called ‘The Dark Man.’ The series, created by Josh Boon and Benjamin Cavell, is based on the eponymous novel by famed storyteller Stephen King. Much like ‘Silo,’ the main cause of the human population’s sudden and drastic decline is a weaponized product whose original purpose was modified.
7. The Rain (2018-2020)
‘The Rain’ takes place in a world that is decimated by a virus spread across the world through rainfall. The series revolves around Simone (Alba August) and Rasmus (Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen), who were locked inside a bunker by their father, a scientist, when the crisis first began. Having survived for six years underground, the siblings finally emerge to a changed world, trekking across the empty streets with a few more survivors in search of their father.
The Danish-language series was created by Jannik Tai Mosholt, Esben Toft Jacobsen, and Christian Potalivo for Netflix. Just like how in ‘Silo’ all the people living underground don’t know why the outside world is toxic – mainly because centuries have passed since the planet became uninhabitable – the survivors in ‘The Rain’ don’t actually know where the virus that caused the planet to fall came from and who released it.
6. Snowpiercer (2020-2023)
Created by Josh Friedman and Graeme Mason, ‘Snowpiercer’ follows a group of survivors living inside a perpetually moving train that circumnavigates a frozen tundra that used to be Earth. Having lived on the train for seven years, the people themselves have fallen into old societal norms and have divided society on the basis of class.
Those who were better off before the Earth turned into a frozen landscape and bought their way onto the train are afforded most of the very limited resources on board, and those who stowed away barely have anything to eat. Both ‘Silo’ and ‘Snowpiercer’ see a social “upper class” ruling over the rest of the people in the tightly enclosed space in order to maintain a semblance of peace and order.
5. The Peripheral (2020-)
Set in the year 2032, ‘The Peripheral’ follows Flynne Fisher (Chloe Grace Moretz), who works part-time at a 3D printing store and occasionally helps out her brother, Burton (Jack Reynor), win games in Virtual Reality simulations to earn money for their terminally sick mother’s medication. Opportunity strikes for the siblings in the form of a new, advanced model of a VR headset that Burton is being paid to test out, but he asks Flynne to do it instead as she is more adept with the technology. But what starts off as a simple hardware test in a simulation turns more real and dangerous quickly, as Flynne finds herself embroiled in a war between different factions in the future.
‘The Peripheral,’ created by Scott B. Smith, only alludes to the apocalyptic event that takes place in Flynne’s immediate future but doesn’t actually show it. Though it is somewhat similar to ‘Silo,’ the true similarity between the shows is in the character’s perception of reality – Flynne thinks that she’s in a simulation, when in fact she’s walking in the future; the citizens of Silo 18 see the outside world as a barren landscape through the windows, but in actuality it’s a lush green environment which is being kept from them.
4. Raised by Wolves (2020-2022)
‘Raised by Wolves’ revolves around two androids, simply called Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim), who crash land on the planet Kepler-22b with a collection of human embryos. The two of them have been programmed to create a human atheistic colony on the Earth-like planet after the real Earth is made uninhabitable by war between the atheist militants and the Mithraic religious order. But the arrival of a Mithraic ship and the discovery of humans already inhabiting the planet complicate things for Mother and Father, who constantly find themselves lacking in resources.
Created by Aaron Guzikowski, ‘Raised by Wolves’ is set in a world where the survivors of Earth have had a somewhat functioning society for some time now, with clear hierarchical and ideological structures in place. The conflict that arises from the clashing of different ideologies is the central theme of both the series and what pushes the story forward.
3. The 100 (2014-2020)
‘The 100,’ based on the eponymous science fiction novel series by Kass Morgan, revolves around 100 juvenile prisoners who are sent to the Earth’s surface to determine its habitability from the Ark – an orbiting, habitable satellite in space. The residents of the Ark fled Earth 97 years ago when nuclear warheads were suddenly launched across the globe, leading to the destruction of the planet and its environment.
With the Ark’s life support systems and resources coming close to an end, the people have no choice but to hope that their home planet is liveable again. Created by Jason Rothenberg, ‘The 100’ is similar to ‘Silo’ in the way that humanity, after a man-made disaster ruins the entire planet, believes that it is no longer inhabitable, only to later find out that the opposite is true.
2. The Handmaid’s Tale (2017-)
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ introduces the viewers to an alternate history, where after a civil war a more totalitarian government took over the United States. Ruling through the word of the Old Testament, this oppressive government creates new social classes under which women are heavily subjugated. The world is also plagued by infertility due to STDs and environmental pollution, so childbearing women are relegated to the position of slaves called Handmaids, only meant to birth the children of their “masters.”
The series, created by Bruce Miller, explores this tragic society and its consequence through the eyes of June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss), a Handmaid. Much like ‘Silo,’ ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is based on the eponymous novel by Margaret Atwood, published in 1985, and presents a society where a person’s position depends on whether they are born into an elite household or not.
1. Jericho (2006-2008)
‘Jericho’ centers around the residents of Jericho, Kansas, in the aftermath of consecutive nuclear detonations across the United States. Cut off from the rest of the world with no electricity, the townspeople start to piece together whatever resources they are left with. But encounter with other surviving towns around Jericho and a new, more militaristic government taking over the country, puts everybody’s life in jeopardy more than a nuclear bomb ever could.
Created by Stephen Chbosky, Josh Schaer, and Jonathan E. Steinberg, ‘Jericho’ showcases the immediate effects of an apocalyptic event. Much like ‘Silo,’ the series depicts how those in power are more concerned with staying in power rather than the well-being of the people in a time of unprecedented crisis.
Read More: Where is Silo Filmed?
