'Ted Lasso' and 'Succession' Star Harriet Walter Talks New Apple TV+ Series 'Silo' (Exclusive)
Legendary British actress Harriet Walter has appeared in some incredibly popular TV shows lately, including both Ted Lasso and Succession. Now, Walter is starring in Silo, a brand new post-apocalyptic drama series coming to Apple TV+. The show, based on a series of books by author Hugh Howey, follows the story of a generations-old society living in an underground silo. PopCulture.com had a chance to speak with Walter about the new show and she offered her perspective on the series, which she calls "sci-fi with a P-S-Y."
In Silo, Emmy-nominated Walter plays Martha Walker, an elder engineer who is a mentor to Rebecca Ferguson's Juliette, the main engineer behind the silo's core. When asked what initially drew her to the project, Walter told us, "It's a combination of things always, but it was largely to do with this kind of strange new world that wasn't typical, because when you say sci-fi, I immediately think of Star Trek or something, and this does not have that kind of futuristic ... It's effort does not go into trying to imagine a world that we can't imagine now.
Walter continued, "It's all based on stuff that we recognize and clothes that we recognize and things like that. But the situation is totally unimaginable because we're all living under the ground because the earth is so polluted that we can't live in the atmosphere anymore. So the situation is sort of futuristic and weird, but there are strange, recognizable elements of our life now, and I think that's very effective because the viewer can relate to it and say, 'Oh gosh, she's wearing a jersey and a pair of boots. She's not got sort of rectangular, white, spangly something from another planet.'"
Teasing what fans are in for with Silo, Walter said, "I would say it's sci-fi with a P-S-Y. Because it's more about the psychology of these people than it is about the science, if you like. The science is fairly straightforward in some ways, but the psychology is not."
The compelling "psychological" elements of Silo are rooted in the notion that no one living in the silo was there when it began, so they simply continue their way of life based on books left to them by the "founders" who warned them to never leave over fear of death. "I think that's one of the burning questions in the show," Walter said, then posing, "Will it ever be safe to go out or are they forever trapped down here?"
Silo premieres May 5 on Apple TV+
— Apple TV (@AppleTV) May 2, 2023
She added, Because if you thought you were forever trapped down there, why would you bother surviving, really, apart from the fact that they know no different and they have their families and their children and they tick along. Actually, if you know there is an outside and there was an outside, you would want to know whether it will ever be habitable again, but maybe only a handful of them ask those questions. Most people just put their nose down and get on with it, which that's a metaphor for life, isn't it?"
Finally, addressing the lack of inquisitiveness among some silo residents, Walker noted that they "don't want to know" and "don't ask questions." She elaborated, "That's how they're kept in fear because they know there's something that is fearful out there and they fear some out there and they know enough to steer away from it. But then other people, because they've got a stronger motive, perhaps in Juliette's case, she's got a very strong motive to find out what happened to people, and that drives her beyond the fear." Silo premieres globally on Friday with the first two episodes, followed by one new episode weekly every Friday through June 30 (exclusively on Apple TV+).