Warning: This article contains spoilers for Apple TV+'s Silo and Hugh Howey's Silo Book Trilogy.
While Apple TV+'s Silo stays true to the foundational ideas and concepts of its source material, it makes several changes to its storyline and characters. Based on Hugh Howey's book trilogy, Silo takes its time to remove the tapestry around its overarching mysteries while introducing mini-narratives and exciting plot twists in each episode to keep viewers engaged. With its slow-burn approach, the Apple TV+ series allows viewers to become armchair detectives and coerces them to deduce intriguing theories and predictions for its future storylines.
Given how Apple TV's Silo is ranking high in popularity, its snail's pace approach toward unfolding its grand conspiracies is working incredibly well. The fact that it has a fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating affirms that it is also in the critics' good books. Even Silo's book comparisons with the original Hugh Howey novels favor the series since they reveal how it does not make unnecessary changes to its source and, instead, only alters the books' content to make it more suitable for the audiovisual medium of storytelling.
12 Bernard's Motives Are Not A Mystery In The Silo Books
Apple TV+'s Silo introduces Tim Robbins' Bernard as a morally ambiguous character. While he initially came off more as an antagonist, the series later tries to misguide viewers by portraying how he is willing to help Juliette. Unlike the show, Hugh Howey's original Silo novels waste no time establishing that Bernard is the big bad. Instead of shrouding his ulterior motives with red herrings, the books make it evident that Bernard is not only the head of IT but the leading force of the Silo. This development significantly shifts the story progression of the books as it does not leave readers guessing whether he murdered Mayor Jahns and Deputy Marnes.
11 The Silo Novels Make George Wilkins Less Significant Than The Show
Although George Wilkins gets murdered in Silo's episode 2, the show has made him a significant figure in Juliette's journey through flashbacks. He becomes the primary driving force for her to take up the sheriff's post and unravel the Silo's mystery. However, in the Hugh Howey books, George Wilkins is more of a distant memory for Juliette. While the novels' storyline establishes that Juliette and George were once in a relationship and even reveals how he was killed, he is not as significant to Juliette's development as in the series.
The reason behind his murder in the Silo books also varies from the show. In the original novels, he does not cross paths with Allison and, as a result, never gets killed for possessing a harddrive relic. Instead, the Silo's authorities only kill him after they realize that he has been planning to laterally dig the Silo's mine, which is illegal according to the Silo's rules.
10 Apple TV's Silo Focuses More On Juliette & Holston's Collaboration
Before following in his wife's footsteps and stepping out of the Silo, Holston leaves several clues for Juliette to unravel in the TV series. One of these clues is his Sheriff's badge, with "Truth" inscribed on its back. Apple TV+'s Silo also invests an entire episode into portraying how Juliette and Holston worked together before he decided to leave the Silo. The novels, in contrast, hardly delve into the details of Holston's and Juliette's interaction before his departure and only briefly mention it a few times.
9 The Syndrome Does Not Exist In The Silo Books' Lore
Silo's The Syndrome is an original concept from the Apple TV+ series. Introduced through a mechanical department signboard, the health condition could become a major plot point in the series' future, given how Deputy Billings has it. The books, on the other hand, do not mention the health condition or anything similar to it even once. Recalling how and why he came up with the original concept, Silo's creator, Graham Yost, quoted (via SFX Magazine) "Human beings weren't meant to live like this. Talking about that with Hugh, we came up with something called 'the syndrome'."
8 Flamekeepers Are Not A Part Of Silo's History In The Books
"Flamekeepers" is another term not included in the Silo books' lore. While Hugh Howey's books mention past rebellions and tales of citizens who protested against the Silo's authorities, it does not use the word "Flamekeepers" to refer to these defiant citizens. By establishing that Juliette and George Wilkins' mothers were Flamekeepers, Apple TV+'s Silo is not only adding more heft to Juliette's ties with Wilkins but is also trying to raise the stakes for Juliette's arc by showing that she is the Silo's last Flamekeeper. It emphasizes that the Silo's fate rests on her shoulders and only she can solve its mysteries.
7 Juliette's Demeanor Is Way Less Cold In The Silo Books
In Apple TV+'s Silo, Juliette is a tough-as-nails protagonist who can be a little too assertive sometimes. For instance, she mindlessly punches one of her co-workers in the mechanical department and even rudely responds to nearly everything Billings says. While the show justifies her cold demeanor by highlighting her traumatic childhood, these aspects of her personality make her slightly different from her book counterpart. Although she is resilient and rebellious in Hugh Howey's Silo novels, she is not as rude and impulsively hot-headed as her TV show version.
6 The Books Reveal Holston's Real POV Of The World Outside Silo
When Holston leaves the Silo in the Apple TV series, he first sees the outside world through the screen on his suit's helmet. The show even highlights his first-person perspective to establish that he observes what Allison saw: a green and habitable world. However, as soon as he removes his helmet, Apple TV+'s Silo refrains from showing his perspective. Owing to this, Silo's viewers are left wondering whether the outside world is toxic or Holston's suit killed him. The Hugh Howey books, on the other hand, do not hold back from revealing how the outside world is toxic and the view on Holston's screen is nothing but a VR simulation.
5 Shirley Appears Much Later In Hugh Howey's Silo Trilogy
Although Shirley is not a primary character in the Silo TV show, the show introduces her as one of Juliette's closest friends in the first few episodes itself. This sets up a solid foundation for her characteization. In contrast, Hugh Howey's Silo novels, introduce Shirley much later in the story without establishing the basis of Shirley and Juliette's relationship. Considering how Hugh Howey initially wrote the books in a serialized format (via Radiotimes) without foreseeing how Wool's success would lead him to writing two sequels, it is understandable why he introduced a few character beats much later in the novel series.
4 Silo Books Have A Different Overarching Genre
Apple TV+'s Silo unfolds like a puzzlebox that initially makes viewers ask more questions than it can answer. Its nagging overarching murder mysteries and police procedurals make it a typical who-dun-it, while the shrouded secrets of the Silo's power dynamic and the outside world make it a gripping sci-fi mystery drama. This mystery-driven narrative seems more suitable for the Apple TV+'s Silo because it follows a weekly release format. While the Hugh Howey novels have a few central mysteries, they do not dwell on subplots surrounding the murders or power divides in the Silo.
3 Marnes & Mayor Ruth's Murder Is Not A Mystery In Silo's Books
While the original Hugh Howey books do not conceal the details of Deputy Marnes & Mayor Ruth's murder, Apple TV+'s Silo takes more than half a season to reveal who murdered them. Since the first Silo novel establishes in its opening arcs that Bernard is pulling all the strings from behind the scene, it does not have to wait for a big reveal to show that Bernard plotted Marnes and Ruth's murder. Apple TV's Silo, on the other hand, intentionally misguides viewers about Bernard's true motives and his involvement in Marnes and Ruth's murder to heighten its mystery and intrigue.
