[This story contains spoilers from the season two penultimate episode of Silo.]
When Silo fans first saw Steve Zahn onscreen in season two’s premiere, it was only his eyes. Curious and child-like, the sliver of face through a vault window was all we needed to understand the character’s soft side.
But then came his first line: “You tried to open the door,” he tells Rebecca Ferguson‘s Juliet. “You do that again and I’m going to kill you.”
After surviving her trip outside Silo 18 in the season one finale, Juliet stumbled on the abandoned Silo 17, where Zahn’s character, Solo, has survived on his own (mostly) for decades. Socially awkward and over-enthusiastic about mundane tricks and toys, Solo endears himself to Juliet, who is trying to figure out how to get back to Silo 18 and save her friends. But push him too far on where he comes from, and he’ll snap.
Friday’s episode — the season’s penultimate — saw the character finally reveal his true identity as the orphaned son of Silo 17’s Head of IT. The fate of his father and Silo offer an ominous blueprint for the story playing out across the wasteland in Silo 18, and time now ticks faster than ever for Juliet’s return.
Below, Zahn (clean-shaven when he appears on Zoom) speaks to The Hollywood Reporter about Solo’s impressive facial hair, the character’s special disposition and his unique dynamic with Ferguson’s Juliet.
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How’d you first find out about Solo?
I knew of the show because of Rick Gomez [who plays Silo‘s Patrick Kennedy]. Rick and I are actually partners, we have a production company together and we’re best friends. When they approached me with this role, season one had not come out yet. But they pitched me the character and that alone was like, “Yeah, of course.”
What did the pitch look like?
It just said, “Here’s this guy who’s been living on his own since he was a boy, is stunted socially… he’s lived. He’s survived.” And then they explained the situation, and I was like, “Oh, wow. I feel like I’m doing a [Harold] Pinter play.” And then I saw the show, they sent me the series and I binged it. I really liked it. It was so well-acted, and it was fascinating. Sci-fi isn’t something that I gravitate towards, but this was somewhat different. It was something I could access, something that was real.
Then Rick told me what an amazing environment the show was — and Graham Yost is notorious for this, he attracts really great human beings, which makes work that much more insanely great. I mean, it’s such an interesting job to go put on costumes and grow beards. It’s insane. Then to be around awesome people? It’s great.
It’s interesting to hear you say sci-fi isn’t your thing, because Graham Yost told me a few weeks ago he sees Silo as more of a mystery than anything else.
He’s right. I refrain from saying “sci-fi” even for people that are really into [the genre]. It’s more psychological, kind of microhistory on society — how we all function and what we gravitate toward. It’s fascinating to me.
Have you read the books?
No. I’ll read them after.
That’s exactly what Graham told me to do! After saying yes to the project, how much of Solo’s mystery backstory did you know?
I read the season, I read the 10 episodes, so I knew everything. And I understood the show and what was happening elsewhere, although the interesting thing is, they shot Silo 18 and then they had a wrap party. And I went to the wrap party, but I didn’t know anybody. So I’m at the wrap party, and I haven’t even worked yet. And then the strike happened. So I go home, and when I came back, my beard — it was even too much for them. And everything was dressed differently. It was really amazing.
Are Silo 18 and 17 the same sets, dressed differently?
Some things are. The main [center staircase], it takes a long time to turn around. That’s one set. I’ll tell you, there’s only been a couple of sets in my life where I entered the space, whether it was outside or inside a studio, and went, “Whoa.” It’s just really something.
How big is it?
I’m going to say three stories? And then really wide. It’s massive. It’s just an entire army of builders and welders and painters. It’s just insane.
You had even more time to prepare than expected, with the delay from the strikes. What did that look like?
It was hard. It was hard to work [on prep] because I was like, “How long is this [the strike] going to go?” I gardened.
And you had time to grow the beard.
It’s interesting. If you change your look, there’s something about that which also really helps. You look in the mirror every day and you’re reminded of a character. I would have nightmares. Rick Gomez [Patrick Kennedy also has a beard] has this too — it’s like the [actor’s nightmare] of you walk out onstage and everybody’s like, “You’re so good!” backstage, and you walk out and you go, “I don’t know what I’m doing.” Our actor’s nightmare was that I’d shaved my beard. I would wake up going, “Ahh!”
That’s hilarious. How did this prep compare to other things you’ve done?
Everything is different, everything is really different and that’s what makes it so great. My whole thing, I tell young actors this: Over-prepare. Show up early. Don’t be a dick. And it’s kind of true. My daughter’s an actor now, and I go, “You need to over-prepare.” If you think you know it, you don’t know it.
Back to Solo, what’s your theory on how he passed all that time alone?
I think if he was in school, he would be diagnosed with something. Whether he’s on the spectrum in some way, or it’s his inability to concentrate on one thing. I’m kind of like that. I think that “flaw” is his Achilles heel. The only reason he survived is because of his curiosity and his ability to go down rabbit holes. Like, “I’m going to study elephants to the point where…” — you know what I mean. “I’m going to figure out mathematical problems and why they…” — whatever it is. He’s a really smart guy. And I think one thing that helps [us all] in general, and him individually, is art. Art is so important: Creating stuff, knowing stuff, having puppets, his airplanes.
This role also seems interesting because you work almost exclusively with only one other actor: Rebecca Ferguson. What was that experience like?
So fun. So unique. It was great. It was ideal. We mess around and joke constantly, and then drop into it and then come out of it and then drop into it again. We don’t stay int the zone. That’s how I work, and how she works. And it was inventive. We trusted each other, we were constantly coming up with stuff. It was just a blast.
What kind of stuff did you come up with?
It’d be like, physical things [that the characters did]. We were so connected sometimes that we wouldn’t even say the lines in particular. It became emotional. It was written like that, but while we were doing it, we both were like, “Oh, this is it.” It’s the great thing about when you read something and then you put it on its feet, so it’s completely different. And sometimes you’re just blown away by what someone brings. Like, “Oh, angry! I never thought about that. Well that’s going to change the way I do this completely.” So we played all the time.
It’s interesting to watch how your character changes Rebecca’s character. Juliet becomes a bit more soft, more parental, when she’s with Solo. Was that something you talked about?
I think it just came about. I guess we talked about some of this stuff before, it was just so long ago. (Laughs)
Do you feel like Solo picks up on the effect he has on Juliet?
Not necessarily. I think that would be kind of like hindsight.
When did you and Rebecca first meet?
I basically met her right here on Zoom. Do you see that fireplace [he points to a video stream of a crackling fireplace playing on the TV behind him]? I had that fireplace on, and Graham and Rebecca were on Zoom and in the middle of our conversation I put a marshmallow on the end of [a stick] and I had a candle down below the camera the whole time. And then I pulled it out like I was holding the marshmallow to the [fake fireplace]. It was the dumbest joke ever. It was the perfect thing to do, especially for Rebecca.
The nice thing about Apple is they like to prep, which is great. You don’t just fly in and then three days later you’re having a scene with your onscreen wife. We had time to hang out and break bread.
Do you think Solo will be in season three?
What do you think?
My other plot question has to do with the row of dead people that Juliet found at the beginning of this season. Was he part of that?
[Zahn smiles, and says nothing.]
We’ll leave it up to seasons three and four I suppose! Are there questions you have about the plot that you’re waiting for Graham to answer?
We got a general pitch. It was like, “Do you want to know or do you not want to know?” At first I was like, I don’t want to know. It’s really fun for me to read it. And then it was toward the end of shooting season two where I said, “Can I have a general [outline]? I’m just curious.” And Graham launched into this thing, I can’t remember half of it because it was so intricate and I was so mesmerized by the masterful way of pitching.
Graham is the pitch master. He doesn’t miss a beat and he’s so engaging. It’s incredible to witness. He’ll be in the middle of it and just start crying. And then the person sitting next to him, his assistant, will go, “OK, [and keep explaining for him].” And then he gets his composure and starts again. It’s really fun.
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The Silo season two finale releases Friday on Apple TV+.
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