Since Silo's debut, fans have been confused over why there are no elevators in the series' underground community.
The Apple TV+ sci-fi series, which recently debuted its long-awaited second season, follows a dystopian underground cylindrical city and the people that live in it.
After living below the surface of the Earth for hundreds of years, the series focuses on one particular Silo resident (Rebecca Ferguson's Juliette) who takes it upon herself to rebel against the system she has been raised in.
Why There Are No Elevators in Silo Apple TV+ Show
Fans of both the Silo book and TV series are very familiar with the franchise's signature subterranean bunker cities; however, one key sticking point about these communities has been their lack of elevators.
These underground Silos (after which the Apple TV+ series is named) descend miles below the ground as citizens are forced to live on various floors depending on their vocation and social standing.
Traversal between these floors is incredibly difficult thanks to the lack of any elevators. Instead, citizens of the Silo are forced to walk between floors by looking sets of stairs at the center of the cylindrical structure itself.
With futuristic technology that keeps the Silo citizens alive and "happy," one would expect a modern convenience like a lift to make its way into the bunker community.
It turns out there there is a pretty intentional reason behind why there are no elevators in the series' central set of Silos.
This was intentionally done by the architects of the Silo as a way of holding its people down. By limiting accessibility from floor to floor the powers behind the Silos can damper communication between the floors, preventing intermingling and spreading any sort of anti-authoritarian sentiment from spreading.
It also means those running the Silo can easily control the narrative within the underground city, as much of what people are being told at any given floor level is provided by those in power rather than word-of-mouth from other floors.
Of course, throughout the series, this idea is explored, as characters like Rebecca Ferguson's Juliette (read more about Silo characters here) beings to learn the truth behind the Silos, but for the most part, the absence of elevators is quite effective in controlling the people living within.
Seeing as it is one of the few things in the Silo that everyone on every floor is watching when Juliette launches her campaign of rebellion against her oppressors with her Season 1 finale Cleaning Ceremony, it allows a spark of resistance to spread across the entire Silo.
Silo Season 2 is now streaming on Apple TV+.
