When it came time for Silo Season 3, Episode 6 to accelerate into something reminiscent of Speed, stars Ashley Zukerman and Jessica Henwick felt confident knowing that creator Graham Yost was guiding the storyline.
Warning: This contains spoilers for Silo Season 3, Episode 6.
The previous episode concluded with Daniel (played by Zukerman) and Helen (portrayed by Henwick) facing disaster as their van spiraled out of control. Episode 6, aptly titled “The Drive,” picks up with the pair ensnared inside the mysterious, hacked vehicle. Hurtling along the road at 70 mph without operational brakes or steering, Silo evolves into an unexpected action thriller.
“We discussed the episode’s thrilling elements,” Zukerman shared with Decider via Zoom. “The irony was not lost on us that Graham Yost, who conceived this show, also wrote Speed. It became our running joke—this episode is basically Speed.”
In a desperate attempt to reclaim control, the resourceful Daniel and Helen retreat to the back seat, hoping a passing driver might report the abandoned self-driving van to authorities. Although their plan goes awry, the situation provided an intriguing filming challenge for both the actors and the camera crew.
“What I remember most from filming that episode was us just trying to figure out how and where in the car to move so that not every shot was the same,” Henwick recalled. “They kept cutting back to the car scenes, so we kept moving around the vehicle.”
Since Daniel and Helen spend the majority of the episode trapped in the van, they share some serious heart-to-hearts, and the romantic tension between them reaches an all-time high. Sparks fly when Helen touches Daniel’s hand to tend to a wound. Daniel’s heart flutters when he sees Helen still carries the Pez dispenser he gifted her on “the world’s worst blind date.” And when Helen finally opens up about the incredibly honorable incident that negatively impacted her journalism career, Daniel apologizes for judging her. In between nervously laughing over how “fucked” they were, the two take comfort in each other’s company as their feelings for each other silently swell. Even Yost thinks the budding romance between the two passionate truth-seekers is one of Silo‘s most compelling storylines.
“We got to tell another love story. I remember watching stuff in the second or the third episode and going, ‘I’m not really feeling this chemistry that I was hoping for.’ And then I realized, ‘Oh, they’re just doing their job,’” Silo‘s creator told Decider. “If you want a love story, you have to want them to be together. And then there’s a moment in the fourth episode where [Daniel] makes a joke about her name being like Nancy Drew, and she says, ‘Say it again. See what happens. I’ll kill you in your sleep.’ And I was like, ‘Wait, here we go!’ The biggest compliment I can make to anyone is that they’re really good at their jobs. And they’re really good at their jobs. It was fun for us to work with that environment, and as writers, to construct that story.”
Since Season 3 scenes were shot out of order, bringing Daniel and Helen’s evolving dynamic from page to screen required a bit of a game plan. “I think we intentionally tried to delay gratification on their relationship for as long as possible. We didn’t want to play into the romantic comedy of it, because that would feel far more real,” Zukerman explained. “On that day [in Episode 6], I think they’ve known each other for three days. Well, they met like at the bar like two weeks earlier. We [tried to] make sure that these characters were always as full and as big as they possibly can be as they challenge and come up against each other.”
In developing the real-life chemistry that enhanced their on-screen portrayals, Henwick revealed that she and Zukerman “played a lot of tennis, and we did the New York Times crossword together.” And Zukerman recalled feeling the immense potential back when they filmed their first Season 2 finale scene.
“We knew going in that we were going to tell this two-and a-bit-season story together, and we didn’t know each other beforehand. We had one day of rehearsals [before] we filmed that scene from Season 2, and I think it was still my favorite day of shooting, because you just don’t know,” Zukerman shared. “You’re coming with a lot of ideas. And we were prepped, and we were excited, because the stakes were pretty high that day. But as soon as we started shooting, everything just worked.”
Silo Season 3, Episode 6’s Speed-inspired road trip ends with Helen and Daniel arriving at an airplane hangar where Henry (Reed Birney) is waiting for them, and Senator Thurman (Laura Innes) says, “Daniel. Helen. How’d you like to help save the world?” Daniel and Helen’s adventures have only just begun, and we can’t wait to see what else Silo has in store.
Stay tuned for more Silo Season 3 coverage from Decider.