There’s a common complaint for TV viewers. Game of Thrones had it and now Silo has had it. People are done trying to watch dark shows. Not dark in terms of content, but dark in terms of lighting.
The second season especially was on the darker side. There’s a power issue in Silo 17, and that means very little light in the place. A show needs to feel authentic, and if a place has no light, then that needs to be shown on screen. The problem is that it makes for difficult viewing.
There’s more time outside in Silo season 3
There is some good news for fans. Silo season 3 won’t be as dark. There will still be moments in Silo 17, where the power issue is, but there will also be scenes outside. In the brightness!
That’s because part of Silo season 3 will be set 300 years in the past. The second season introduced the past storyline at the very end. We jumped to a time before everyone was living underground. Like in the second and third books of Hugh Howey’s series, the show is going to delve into the creation of the silos.
According to TVLine, showrunner Graham Yost shares that he wanted to make sure the past was bright. He wanted to show what the world has lost through the need for the silos. The best way to do that is to make the world as bright as possible so that everyone can easily see it play out on the screen.
Why is it so hard to see Silo on the screen?
While some of the darkness was due to the location, there’s also a problem with viewer technology. Yost explained that when the first episode aired on the big screen in London, everyone could see everything. It was clear, despite being dark. He—and so many other showrunners—doesn’t understand why some viewers have an issue.
It’s likely linked to the quality of their screens. The more modern and the bigger the TV screen is, the easier it is to see the darker material. I’ve watched on phone, tablet, computer, and various models of TV, and I’ve seen stark differences in the darkness of the episodes.
"When we showed the first episode on a big screen in London, it looked fantastic, because motion picture screens are very bright. So I just encourage everyone to crank up the brightness [at home], and you’ll see a difference."
It’s not an excuse, though. Yost can’t change the past, but he can look at things to do in the future. And one of those is going to mean brighter scenes outside when the story allows.
Silo is available to stream on Apple TV+.