Apple TV is the streaming home of a dystopian masterpiece, which will seemingly rewrite its original lore in its upcoming season. Book-to-screen adaptations often have to introduce major changes to their source material, and understandably so. However, when these changes take a given show significantly away from the original stories, it becomes hard not to be a little concerned.
Something similar seems to be happening with Apple TV’s Silo. The show is easily one of the most popular post-apocalyptic sci-fi shows on streaming right now and is set to return with season 3 on July 3, 2026. While Silo‘s return is exciting, several details from its premise and recent trailer suggest it is changing its source material’s story in more ways than one.
It may be a little too soon to judge Silo‘s next installment. However, considering how the Apple TV sci-fi show‘s season 2 experienced some major storytelling hiccups, the upcoming installment is starting to seem a little too risky. Some book changes in the show make sense, but a few others already seem unnecessary.
Silo Season 3 Will Significantly Change The Story From The Original Hugh Howey Books
The new trailer for Silo season 3 clearly establishes that Juliette will experience memory loss after being rescued from Silo 18’s decontamination chamber. This will prove to be a major turning point in the show’s story since, in season 2, Juliette had found a way to save her people from the Safeguard Procedure.
In the original Silo books, no such plot line exists.
As the new trailer suggests, Juliette’s arc, at least in the early moments, will revolve around her trying to recover her memory. Without her memory of everything that has happened in recent history, she would neither remember her purpose nor have the drive to lead her people as Silo 18’s new mayor. This, in turn, will allow characters like Camille Sims to rise in the ranks and take over Silo 18.
Some details from the trailer also suggest that Juliette’s memory loss might have less to do with the incident from the contamination chamber and more to do with the higher authorities trying to hold her back. Previous seasons have hinted at the existence of a memory loss drug, which might have been secretly used to silence Juliette.
While this could prove to be an intriguing development in Silo season 3, it seems to slightly negate everything that has happened in the series so far. Apart from focusing on Juliette’s conflicts in the present timeline, Silo season 3 will also unfold events from the past and reveal why and how the central silos were built in the first place.
Considering how Juliette’s narrative will likely stall because of the memory loss plot, Silo season 3’s primary appeal might come from its exploration of the origins of the silos. The book changes are still a little concerning because they suggest season 3 is repeating its predecessor’s mistake.
Silo’s Big Story Changes In Season 3 Are Concerning
In Silo season 2, the political drama inside Silo 18 remained intriguing. Some aspects of Solo’s backstory also add a layer of suspense to the show’s overarching storyline. However, one of the biggest reasons why season 2 was considered an inferior follow-up to the opening installment was that it struggled to consistently move the plot forward.
Almost midway through season 2’s runtime, Silo barely progressed Juliette’s story and kept delaying her return to Silo 18 by introducing one forced conflict after another. For the most part of the season, Juliette’s narrative remained the same until she finally found a way to return home to her people.
The memory loss plot seems to stall her development all over again by diminishing everything that has happened in her story so far. If Silo season 3’s entire runtime focuses on Juliette’s pursuit of recovering her lost memories, it could seriously harm the show’s pacing.
Hopefully, the memory loss storyline will only be the driver of Juliette’s early chapters in Silo season 3. Unlike the Apple TV show’s season 2, the upcoming installment will be packed with many intriguing developments all the way till the end.