‘Silo’s Syndrome Illness Is Nowhere to Be Found in the Books

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• What Is The Syndrome in ‘Silo?’

• How The Syndrome Sets up ‘Silo’ Season 2

With AppleTV+’s original sci-fi series Silo Season 2 premiering on November 15, 2024, all eyes turned to Juliette Nichols’ (Rebecca Ferguson) mysterious fate. When Season 1 dangled viewers on a cliffhanger, Juliette’s momentary hopes were dashed with the crushing realization that several Silos have been constructed below multiple planetary craters, meaning more human survivors have been held underground.

Although Silo adapts story beats from the Hugh Howey novel trilogy, a strange illness known as The Syndrome has been created specifically for the TV adaptation. To prepare fans for the rest of Season 2 and how the illness will tie into the story events, it’s only right to examine The Syndrome’s biological origin, dramatic impact, and how the cryptic illness will inform the events of Season 2.

4.5/5

Silo – Season 2

Release Date November 15, 2024

Main Genre Sci-Fi

Streaming Service(s) AppleTV+

Read Our Season 2 Review

What Is ‘Silo’ About?

Created by Graham Yost for Apple TV, Silo is a dystopian sci-fi thriller TV series set in the future following a cataclysmic event that wiped out most of Earth’s population. Based on the Silo novel trilogy by Hugh Howie, the story follows 10,000 human survivors driven underground, where they dwell in massive subterranean bunkers (Silos) that go 144 levels deep.

The protagonist, Juliette Nichols (Ferguson), is a power generator engineer dwelling at the Silo’s bottom level, where the most dire and downtrodden live. With the wealthier living in the higher levels, Juliette is assisted and advised by Martha Walker (Harriet Walter), a parental figure with a long history of working on the Silo’s power generators.

Other key characters in the acclaimed hard sci-fi TV show include Sheriff Holston Becker (David Oyelowo) and his IT expert wife, Allison (Rashida Jones), Allison’s IT boss Bernard Holland (Tim Robbins), security guard Robert Sims (Common), data analyst Lukas Kyle (Avi Nash), maintenance-working smuggler Patrick Kennedy (Rick Gomez), and newly minted Deputy Chief Paul Billings (Chinaza Uche). Along with minor character Charles Martin (Andrew P. Stephen), Paul Billings contracts The Syndrome in Silo Season 1.

What Is The Syndrome in ‘Silo?’

Although Silo is based on Hugh Howie’s sci-fi novels Wool, Shift, and Dust, the mysterious illness known as The Syndrome was fabricated specifically for the TV series. Therefore, fans of the books tuning in to watch the TV show might be confused. First mentioned in Season 1, Episode 3, “Machines,” The Syndrome is a mysterious illness contracted by inhabitants of Silo 18’s Mechanical Division.

Following verbal allusions in Episode 3, The Syndrome is first seen in Season 1, Episode 5, “The Janitor’s Boy.” While performing tests on Level 62 following the death of Sheriff Sam Marnes (Will Patton), low-level engineer Charles Martin became sick after being exposed to The Syndrome. Once Juliette learned that Martin’s erratic behavior was caused by The Syndrome, she ruled out his involvement with Marnes’ murder.

Related Silo Cast and Character Guide

Meet the characters of Apple TV+’s Silo and the actors who play them.

The Syndrome later spreads to Paul Billings, the former judicial employee and new Deputy Sheriff whose tremorous symptoms threaten the main characters but also helps the survivors understand what the illness is, where it came from, and how it can be prevented. Given the dramatic cliffhanger ending in Season 1, it’s easy to see how The Syndrome sets up Season 2’s events even without being part of the novels.

How The Syndrome Sets up ‘Silo’ Season 2

Once The Syndrome is discovered within Silo 18, efforts are made to warn survivors about how to prevent the illness. Large posters are hung on the Silo walls, giving specific directions about The Syndrome, its symptoms, and what to do if one contracts the illness. The poster reads, The Syndrome: Do You Know the Signs?

1) Involuntary twitching is the first sign, leading quickly to 2) Shaking of the extremities, 3) Flashes of pain and muscle spasms are next. 4) Balance and movement is severely impaired. 5) If untreated infection will attack the brain, resulting in reduced cognitive function and finally, 6) A shut down of the entire nervous system.

For those who are infected or think they may be advice and treatment are free at any Medical Level. You must report your symptoms there to receive the necessary treatment.

Don’t be afraid. Be Honest. There is help.

Clean living is the real safeguard

Apart from knowing The Syndrome causes debilitating tremors, the most significant take away is how those who contract it are now afforded free medical assistance. In Silo’s economically divided populace, almost nothing is free, and only those who enjoy power, privilege, and influence at the higher levels enjoy perks free of charge.

Therefore, depending on how far the Syndrome spreads in Season 2 and beyond, the illness could reshape the Silo’s entire socioeconomic stratosphere. It already affected an inferior engineer and a superior law enforcer, with plenty of room in between to infect more people in Season 2. If nothing else, The Syndrome ensures Wool, Shift, and Dust readers that Silo will have an unpredictable storyline to follow without the novels spoiling what’s to come. While it’s a bold move to add a substantial plot point absent in the source novels, Silo’s survivors will have to reckon with the Syndrome in Season 2 for better or worse. Silo is available to stream on AppleTV+.

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