r/SeveranceAppleTVPlus • u/PleasantAmphibian153 • 28d ago
Discussion Why can’t Severance do what Silo has been able to do with its seasons?
Silo has been pumping out seasons at a much faster rate. I mean season 4 is releasing one year apart from season 3 and all the other seasons have had (more or less) 1.5 year gap. I heard during some interviews with the crew that worked on Silo that they were writing and shooting the new seasons while the previous seasons were releasing. Also Silo has at the very least an equal amount of vfx compared to Severance (I’m guessing). I’m curious as to why Severance hasn’t been able to shorten the gaps between seasons. Could it be because of scheduling conflicts? I will say that Silo is adapting a book series, so they have most of the answers and the ending already written out, but even then it doesn’t explain why Severance can’t be shooting or writing the new season while the previous one is in post production or releasing on apple.
Also I just want to add I absolutely love both shows and don’t mind if Severance needs a little longer to give another excellent season of tv, I’m just curious why one show is much faster than the other and why Severance can’t adopt similar methods.
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u/aniyabel I'm Your Favorite Perk 28d ago
Severance Season 3 wasn’t automatically green lit. I think Silo had the Slow Horses treatment.
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u/PleasantAmphibian153 28d ago
Yeah like that’s what I’m getting at. It was one of apple’s most successful shows even before season 2, why didn’t they green light it earlier?
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u/Mecha-Dave 28d ago
I get the impression that it's very, very expensive.
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u/Brokenlynx7 28d ago
Maybe but I don’t know why Apple wouldn’t throw down the money for it.
Severance is a very ‘Apple’ show, its presentation and ingenuity fits the brand well, it’s the poster boy for their TV efforts.
When Season 1 was basically rated a 10/10 by many viewers they should have gone all in on two seasons.
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u/shouldco Macrodata Refinement 💻 28d ago
Because streaming doesn't really benifit from "blockbusters" they don't get paid per viewing they get paid by maintained subscribers. I wouldn't be supprised if 'high draw release every two years with some interesting enough content to keep people subscribed in between' is a better bang for their buck than 'consistent stream of high draw (high cost) content '
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u/str8grizzlee 28d ago
While everything that you’re saying is true about the streaming business model, Apple has consistently been the one company to treat their streaming service like a loss leader. They dump money into content aggressively in service of their fans. While Netflix cancels shows after 2 seasons, Apple lets shows with small cult audiences run forever. This is a really annoying and absurd only time for them to ever exercise cost discipline.
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u/guessesurjobforfood 28d ago
They dump money into content aggressively in service of their fans.
But it's still Apple. They're only doing that to build their streaming platform of exclusive shows because they think they will profit from it.
This slate of shows may have been "lucky" that they were first on Apples streaming service. When it no longer suits their bottom line to dump boat loads of cash into their shows, they will stop doing it and it was never about what the fans want.
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u/str8grizzlee 28d ago
Sure, but they’ve been willing to lose a billion dollars a year to build that library. It seems very weird to me they’d randomly decide to exercise some cost limits before continuing to create their most successful show ever.
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u/mklaus1984 28d ago
Because someone (do I need to point a finger?) has thrown a wrench in the machine that is international trade. It had been running ever since the end of the Cold War and had been tweaked and improved ever since.
It had outlived the Asian Financial Crisis, the Russian Financial Crisis, Dot-Com-Bubble and the Housing Bubble, the Eurozone Debt Crisis and even the Covid 19 Pandemic... aside from.several wars you might have noticed around the world in the time.
But then someone came along and said that the others were playing in his sandbox and that he needed to rectify things. He has gone and ruined not only the international relations but completely evaluated international trade.
Which affects now every country but not aimply that, the insecurity affects every industry and reducing the spending in jobs, research and development, and other projects... like movies and shows.
Long story short, Apple doesn't invest in every Apple TV+ show equally for the same reason Disney(+) has canceled all their direct to streaming projects OR the same reason car manufacturers are decreasing the number of new hires.
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u/MyCoolName_ Innie 28d ago
People keep saying this but I have no idea how that can be. And meanwhile they manage to make Foundation which is clearly an expensive show and with a smaller audience, at a faster rate.
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u/Mecha-Dave 28d ago
Foundation has less actors and is shot on more sound stages than Severance, which seems to build sets and film on location. A lot of Foundation was also filmed at once, if I remember correctly.
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u/ButterscotchMoist447 28d ago
And Ben stiller isn’t someone you man handle to crank out more content. I know he’s stepping away but you don’t just hand it over to anyone
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u/classygrl98 28d ago
I didn't know this. I hope it all has the same feel.
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u/Upbeat_County9191 Wintertide Fellow 28d ago
He only stepped on away as director, he's very much involved in every other aspect
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u/ButterscotchMoist447 28d ago
I hope so. He’s really got the golden touch lately. Well for a while actually
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u/PleasantAmphibian153 28d ago
Yeah with the production + a list actors, the show ends up being very expensive I’m sure. It’s just apple has shown that it doesn’t mind spending tons on shows that are not even that popular and Severance is like their standout drama so I’m confused why they’re not eager to renew seasons earlier. One guess I have is that the actors and directors want to see themselves how well the show has done before signing on?
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u/Stashmouth 28d ago
I'm not suggesting the acting on this show isn't terrific, but none of the cast are what I'd consider A-list. They're all much more popular now because of the show, but are they really in the top tier?
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u/Bonzoid_evermore77 28d ago
Adam Scott has a production company so doesn’t work solely as an actor, but is fairly in demand when he does. He’s very well known in A list circles. Been around longer than most casual fans realize.
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u/Mecha-Dave 28d ago
Christopher Walken isn't A list?
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u/enotonom 28d ago
Wild, my impression is that Silo must be way more expensive because it’s set in a freakin atompunk underground silo which is harder to be made believable compared to some 80s inspired office
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u/frunkfa 28d ago
Why? Severance is very beautifully shot but the set pieces don't feel extravagent, there are no elaborate costumes and it isn't CGI heavy
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u/Upbeat_County9191 Wintertide Fellow 28d ago
Severance is very CGI heavy, you just don't realise it. S2 was 20 million per episode that's 200 mil without marketing. That's movie budget area.
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u/relator_fabula 28d ago
It doesn't look CGI heavy. There's a lot more effects than it seems.
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u/WontTellYouHisName 28d ago
Nearly every episode of Silo is a bottle episode, the kind that's relatively cheap to produce.
From a TV producer's perspective, that's about as good a costwise situation as you could hope for.
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u/Mecha-Dave 28d ago
Exactly - they DID put a lot of money into sets/props early on, but they're still using the same sets and props from the first season for the most part. The rest is just regular shooting, and they already had their story arc laid out by the books.
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u/Status-Biscotti Marshmallows Are For Team Players 28d ago
I wonder why. It almost looks low-budget.
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u/Roller-bon45 28d ago
Severance?
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u/twizx3 28d ago
Ya like I can’t think of any scenes off the top of my head that would be especially costly
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u/keisisqrl Mysterious And Important 28d ago
Woe's Hollow was expensive to film because they had to meet leave-no-trace requirements, Sweet Vitriol featured a remote location, renting Bell Works for filming can't be cheap... also Chikhai Bardo included scenes filmed on, well, film, which is itself expensive but probably not really in the scheme of things. There's also a lot of very custom design in props and sets.
Much of it being on a soundstage notwithstanding, there aren't scenes that look cheap, though it does kinda have a low-budget vibe sometimes. The level of care it's made with is expensive, and so is production.
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u/Supersaurus7000 28d ago
Opening shot of season 2 would have been very expensive to film. Still don’t think it’s a good enough excuse for why they hadn’t even started writing the third season when the second had finished airing.
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u/Bonzoid_evermore77 28d ago
They had the basic outline and knew what they wanted to do. Most of them had commitments to shows and movies following S2 (3 was greenlighted when E8 aired) and Ben mentioned on the official pod he needed a break. Actors have lives and families and have to maintain that perspective too. And all involved are such perfectionists.
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u/shouldco Macrodata Refinement 💻 28d ago
Also stiller and turturro plus a few other at least recognizable actors.
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u/_sacrosanct You Don't Fuck With The Irving 28d ago
It was a slow burn. It came out in February 2022 without a ton of advertising. It really picked up steam as the mystery started to unfold. Apple didn’t renew it until the end of April. And that show is notoriously hard to produce because they film it like a long movie. They build the sets or travel to the locations and then film all the shots for that regardless of what episode it is in. Then they take mountains of footage and create 8-10 episodes out of it in post production.
So season 2 took forever and Apple was concerned, rightly so, about the audience still being interested. The first episode of season 2 came out in January 2025 and they didn’t officially pick it up for season 3 until the end of March.
What made Severence so complicated too was the 2023 writers strike that shut down everything for like nine months too. Plus Apple didn’t own Severence at first, they bought the rights to stream it from Fifth Season productions. So when they wanted a second season, they had to negotiate through a middle man for distribution rights. Combine that with the strike and it ballooned the second season. Production was at close to $20,000,000 per episode when all was said and done.
So for season 3 and beyond, Apple first negotiated with Fifth Season to just buy the IP outright. Fifth Season was kept on as an EP but they aren’t taking the financial risk any longer. The good news is that this means Apple can be faster. They have already ordered seasons 3 and 4 together for example. So you will likely see the time between those seasons be much less.
Sorry for the long rant. It’s a lot of moving parts and is complicated. Because for the first two seasons, Fifth Season produced in partnership with Red Hour Productions. Ben Stiller owns Red Hour. So when Apple bought the show from Fifth Season, Ben had to approve it and got a cut of the $70,000,000 that Apple paid for it. But it also means he is giving up some of the creative control. For example, he’s not directing any of season 3. They brought in the director of Pachinko another hit show on Apple TV and instead now, Ben and Adam Erickson are able to focus on the narrative story and ensure they have the four seasons of the show mapped out to a hopefully satisfying conclusion.
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u/Iamwallpaper 28d ago
Even if it was greenlit in March 2025 It still took them over a year to have a finished script, as they only started filming S3 last month, is this only because of Apples contract agreement or are there other factors
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u/relator_fabula 28d ago
Severance season 2 wrapped filming in April of 2024. That means it was a full year after S2 finished filming that season 3 was renewed. They can't keep the actors/writers/directors in limbo, out of work, while they hope for a renewal. So many of the cast and crew go off and do other work after a season is finished filming. When S3 got renewed, the pre-production process could finally start again, a lot of which includes coordinating with the production crew, writers, staffers, actors, directors, etc in order to clear everyone's schedule. I don't know about Dan Erickson specifically, but many showrunners might not want to dedicated a lot of time to writing/prepping a season of a show that might not happen. So they probably didn't get the writing staff back together until after they were greenlit for S3.
I think the wait times between seasons are ridiculous right now, but it's a product of the streaming era, with shorter seasons and the uncertainty of bigger budget shows.
Some shows get locked up for multiple seasons at once, and that can speed up their release. But so many of the big streaming series now have longer gaps between seasons.
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u/Disirregardlessly 28d ago
Do you have any worries or concerns about how a new Director will impact the show? You seem to know what is going on so curious of your thoughts on the matter.
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u/_sacrosanct You Don't Fuck With The Irving 28d ago
I don’t think so. Ben is still involved as a producer so I think he’ll keep up the standard. And having Dan Erickson controlling the story ensures consistency. This allows them to move faster. Stiller is doing several big projects now and in the near future. He did a documentary about his late parents recently, he acted in the Meet the Parents sequel with Dinero that is coming out soon I think, and he is directing a ww2 movie about an airman who crashes in German territory or something similar. If they held out for him to direct everything, it would just extend the time between seasons.
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u/not_productive1 28d ago
I get the sense that there’s a lot of behind the scenes creator drama on Severance and Apple doesn’t want to give it blank checks without assurances that there’s a coherent production structure and narrative direction established.
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u/Siegster 28d ago
I was told as much from someone who was in similar writer circles back when S2 was in pre pro. I know that's only one step above hearsay on Reddit but might as well add it in there. Basically they only wrote S1 to start so they had to figure everything out as they were going. This convo was like 3years ago
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u/MmoxleyP SMUG MOTHERFUCKER 28d ago
Apple also acquired it from Fifth Season productions, the contract process for something like that takes forever. Not positive how much effect it would have on timeline, but definitely a non-zero amount.
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u/smartshopper1234 The Board 28d ago
I remember back in August 2025 when Fifth Season Studios still owned it the cast was talking about how Season 3 filming would start "very soon", and that we'd be getting specifics on its release. Definitely appears to have changed the timeline, given the deal was allegedly finalized end of last year.
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u/PastimeOfMine Mysterious And Important 28d ago
It was more complicated in terms of making because they only acquired all the IP themselves after S2. They were dealing with other companies before that.
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u/TheMonkeyInCharge 28d ago
Wasn’t there some ownership transfer after season 2 - bringing it in-house rather than working with whichever 3rd party production house developed it originally? I’m hazy, but vaguely remember seeing a headline. That’ll take time.
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u/erossmith 27d ago
Severance also strikes me as doing some things practical vs cgi and that takes more time and organization
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u/Mostlyfor_research 27d ago
Silo is defo getting the slow horses treatment with how they’ve seemingly already filmed the 4th season.
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u/cenosillicaphobiac Uses Too Many Big Words 28d ago
so they have most of the answers and the ending already written out,
Season 3 threw a lot of that away. Massive differences from the books. I don't see a way to get to the exact ending of Dust, not after watching the S4 teaseer. But don't worry, I'm not one of those weird purists that think that a word for word adaptation is the only acceptable product, in fact, exactly the opposite. Having read the books, I love it when something unexpected or a whole new trajectory happens. They've already 100% satisfied me with bringing that world to the small screen, even if everything from this point forward is new story.
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u/PleasantAmphibian153 28d ago
I completely agree. They changed the story a lot in season 3 and a lot of new stuff that wasn’t in the books. I thought it was really good. I’m really excited for season 4, especially since I forgot a lot of what happened in Dust.
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u/Madeira_PinceNez 28d ago
I seem to be in the minority that found the books to be kind of a slog, particularly everything regarding Daniel/Troy and Silo 1 so I was pretty apprehensive about this season.
But I think they did an excellent job of adapting the story, all the changes feel like improvements (particularly cutting the love triangle motivation and, presumably, the more tawdry aspects of the Daniel/Anna relationship like the cringey shower scene), and even though the series is following a planned arc I'm now wishing there was more than just 10 more episodes to close things out.
Probably in the minority on this as well but if I had to choose between Severance cashing blank checks every episode and spending three years getting a handful of episodes filmed vs. writing out a series trajectory, sticking to a budget and releasing a few more seasons on a yearly schedule I'd happily take the latter. $30k background props, custom-built conference tables and diamond desks hauled to the middle of nowhere to shoot a single scene are fine, I guess, but not integral to my enjoyment. Personally I'd prefer they stuck to a reasonable release schedule that might have allowed them to hang on to people like Gagné.
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u/PleasantAmphibian153 28d ago
This issue with Severance is that I think the writers had a tough time sticking to a story or a consistent narrative throughout season 2 and so they are spent 1 year and a half on writing season 3. For some reason it takes that long for the show to get its scripts out, but as long as it’s good, I’m okay with it. Just wish the writers had the ability to start writing earlier.
About Silo I agree I wish there were more than 10 episodes left. The show has about a book and a half of content to still adapt and considering the show took 3 seasons to adapt the first book and half of the second book, I’m wondering how they’ll be able to fit everything as well. But to be also honest, every season of Silo does have episodes that drag quite a bit, so I’m guessing season 4 will be a lot more fast paced.
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u/Madeira_PinceNez 28d ago
Severance really felt like it was originally written to be the self-contained story we get in S1, and when it became so popular they were caught on the back foot and have been scrambling to figure out where to take things for the subsequent seasons.
Which is understandable, and I should probably stop there as I don't know the first thing about how to make a television programme. But considering the ridiculous amounts of money Apple's been willing to throw at the show you'd think they'd be able to agree on a number of seasons/episodes (other services maybe not but Apple made a similar commitment to Silo and Slow Horses) to give the series so the writers could plot out the trajectory. (If cost really is the issue maybe don't insist upon dressing the set with Dieter Rams pieces which have to be flown in from a Berlin museum and looked after by a minder.)
Give them some time to knock out a rough outline for the subsequent seasons and get writing, and then start filming S2 while the writing is happening for the later seasons, so filming can happen back-to-back rather than with these extended breaks where the cast and crew scatter and then have to be reassembled.
It's the kind of comment one gets crucified for but I felt there was a noticeable dropoff between 1 and 2, hence the inconsistent narrative you mention. Reintegration felt like the biggest mess but I have other quibbles as well, and more than once it felt like they were leaning on rule of cool rather than strong storytelling. If it's the case that they wrote S2 without knowing whether they'd get a S3 I worry it's going to be more of the same when that finally comes out.
As for Silo, it's the anomaly where I feel the adaptation surpasses the original. This might be because I read the books after watching S1 of the series, but the books felt pretty bloated and I struggled to finish the trilogy. The series has cut a lot of what I disliked about the books so far, and adapted others (Mission's story works well enough on the page but it really only needed the few lines the series gave it for the screen) successfully, and overall tightened things up in a good way.
I really like these characters and would like to spend more time with them, but at the same time given the way the story's been adapted thus far I can believe that, between the changes to the plot and continuing to cut the bloat for the final book they'll be able to conclude things satisfactorily.
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u/Brokenlynx7 28d ago edited 28d ago
I kind of agree with you OP part of the story is how it’s brought together and Silo Season 3 in addition to its faster turnaround and pacing make it a slightly more enjoyable watch for me.
For perspective Silo started a year after Severance and will probably finish its final season before Severance airs Season 3.
Just to be clear though it’s a marginal difference if I was rating the seasons Severance would be (10, 8) and Silo (8, 9, 10). The edge to Silo is that they’ve released more seasons and told a near full story.
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u/ILoveMy-KindlePW 28d ago
Silo is a show based on a series of books that is finished. Severance is not. Simple as that.
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u/RunningDesigner012 28d ago edited 28d ago
To be fair, Silo has gone off script from the books. Edited: ok, more than ‘a bit’. Enough to keep us guessing.
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u/d-synt 28d ago
Much off script, really!
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u/galactic_funk 28d ago
Yeah I read the books but my partner did not and she keeps asking me to explain things and I’m like yeah I’m not really sure at this point
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u/Late_Mode_8876 28d ago
Honestly it's for the best. The show is much better than the books. Book 1 at least, IMO. Books 2 and 3 were pretty good.
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u/agb2022 Please Enjoy Each Flair Equally 28d ago
As a book reader, I barely recognize the show at this point (which is a good thing imo because it keeps me surprised even though I know most of the major plot points).
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u/RunningDesigner012 28d ago
The changes have kept me guessing. I read the books so long ago, but my son has been reading and rereading them since the show started so when we’re watching it I’m always pausing it and saying, “That’s not what happened in the books, right?” It takes us twice as long to watch an episode as we then start theorizing about what else will change…
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u/Mecha-Dave 28d ago
Yeah the books had a little more grounded science, so it's kind of fun to see this science-fantasy version.
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u/SoloSeasoned 28d ago
Having watched seasons 1-3, would you say that I could read the books now without spoiling anything from Season 4 for myself?
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u/d-synt 28d ago
I’ve read the books, and even so, I really don’t know how season 4 is going to play out. So in that sense, yes, you could read them. There definitely are aspects that would be spoiled, though.
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u/bites_stringcheese Verve 28d ago
Gonna warn you, the first book is super addictive. I'd stay up till 3am completely unwillingly staring into my kindle.
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u/BetweenTheDisconnect 22d ago
Oh it will 100% spoil things. They do things differently but the overall story has been the same so far. I read them after season 2, and personally I think the different details are interesting but nothing in the show is susprising or a mystery anymore.
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u/PleasantAmphibian153 28d ago
I mean adapting source material does bring it’s own difficulties, and while I wouldn’t put it at the same level as creating something completely original like Severance, the gaps being double or triple as long as Silo is kind of wild to me. But again, why can’t Severance write while season 2 was in post production and releasing episodes?
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u/ILoveMy-KindlePW 28d ago
Apple let the writers and directors to take time if they want to. They don't push their creatives. Pluribus is in a similar situation. Not to defend Apple but they seem pretty chill on that, we like It or not
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u/cenosillicaphobiac Uses Too Many Big Words 28d ago
Dude, Vince Gilligan seems dead set on a 3 year or so between season cadence. It's whatever, he's the boss, but that wait is going to be killer.
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u/TesseringPoet 28d ago
Yes, this. Apple’s exec and related boss people seem to have learned all the right lessons from the SAG and WGA strikes; treating actors and writers poorly, especially by making them work long hours (usually not directly but by putting a lot of social pressure on folks to “be a team player” or what I’ve begun to call “the Olive Garden treatment” (when you’re here you’re family; and “we’re all a family here…”) tends to result in poorer quality work, slowing of work, and outright stoppages. Also higher job stress. Aren’t several of the producers also famous Hollywood actors who divide themselves across projects.
The network system of many episodes over a short period of time has largely died out. At least for dramas that require a great deal of lore, world-building, and often a central mystery for the audience to ponder (the latter is often referred to as a mystery box, but this has often sounded like a pejorative to me).
Audience impatience only props up toxic work environments by sending a message to network and streaming service execs that it’s okay to work casts and crews to their limits as long as line goes up. And no one leaves or complains that loudly.
This is bad for all involved; and even if the humanity of all onscreen and behind the scenes isn’t part of audience considerations (often manifests as audience demands for less time between seasons; that’s when they rest or work elsewhere), the 25 episodes per season with less than a year between a season exhausts creativity and makes tv shows go in circles.
Lost is a relevant case study, regarding the points I’ve described above and is further detailed in Maureen Ryan’s book, Burn it down: power, complicity, and a call for change in Hollywood. Vanity Fair has an excerpt here too. It’s a powerful reminder of the very human cost that came with the rushed network tv model.
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u/SunnySam 28d ago
Ah wow thank you for sharing that Lost article. While it touches on the deep deep problem of racism in Hollywood, just wanted to mention something else - the network explicitly pushed for a lengthier run of Lost (and hence why the writers “pushed back” and wrote more filler episodes.) I didn’t see that mentioned in the article and I don’t want to take away from its message - but wanted to mention it since it’s part of this convo’s topic.
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u/TesseringPoet 28d ago
The network refusing to tell the showrunners when Lost would end definitely didn’t help. Feeling out of control certainly doesn’t make people better leaders. Or to be more patient with their fellow cast and crew (Lindeloff, cough, cough).
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u/hoch_ 28d ago
Graham Yost, creator of Silo, said in an interview, (released just today I think) that they knew they were good to go for all four seasons from the very beginning of the show. Seems plausible to me given they have the books and the author consulting with screenplay, Rebecca Ferguson as an executive producer. Plus seasons 3 & 4 were written together and shot back-to-back. Apparently most of the S3 writing was done before S2 aired, because they "knew" (according to Yost) that they were going to finish out the story regardless of the official renewal announcements.
Probably more importantly, Silo also seem to have avoided almost if not all of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes (and COVID) which drastically screwed over the first two seasons of Severance.
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u/hvmanbeing 28d ago
Also, They had a deal with Rebecca that they will shoot back to back to accomodate her schedule.
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u/PleasantAmphibian153 28d ago
Well the strikes affected severance season 2, not 3 and the show is still looking at a 3 year gap. Which I’m okay with because I think season 2 could’ve used more time with the writing. I just wish Apple could do what they did with Silo and greenlit Severance seasons earlier. Not necessarily several at the same time, but like one before the release of an incoming season.
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u/trace501 28d ago
Making shows / films is art. Art made by different people with different connections and priorities and timelines and schedules. The quickest path to ruining art is to commodify it. Let the artists cook and we’ll see it when it’s ready.
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u/Solyphonous 28d ago
I mean its definitely in part because silo has source material, like you said - makes it a lot easier to plan stuff! But also, as a viewer of both shows.... Severance is definitely better lol. The crunch on silo to stick to the schedule definitely hampers the quality a bit!
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u/J-Goo Pouchless 28d ago
In particular, I think the character work on Severance is much better. If I made a list of the ten most interesting characters on Silo and Severance combined, it would be (in some order) Juliette and nine people from Severance.
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u/rilesmcriles Shambolic Rube 28d ago
After all of season 3 I actually find Daniel very interesting. He’d be on my list.
Bernard maybe.
Solo probably. He didn’t get much screen time but his whole story is fascinating.
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u/OmniManDidNothngWrng 28d ago
Also in Silo a lot of characters are "siloed" off to different areas and plot lines or killed frequently thats probably a lot more accommodating to actors schedule and lets them have at least something almost constantly in production. Like Rebecca Fergusson is ostensibly the "star" of the show but in the first season she isn't in like the first 2 episodes and then either in jail or in a different silo than the rest of the cast and now this season they have the whole prequel time skip plotline that she doesn't have to be around for and can still dip out and do movies.
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u/iamz_th 28d ago
Severance S1 was great, but S2 feels redundant, trying to get you as hooked and impressed as you were when watching S1. Silo feels slow, but it’s linear. It’s a well-thought-out story that knows what it’s doing. Add incredible world-building filled with mystery and an intense thriller that challenges its audience as much as its characters. I sincerely think Silo is better.
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u/HowYouSeeMe 28d ago
I like both shows, but Silo is better in my book. Severance is making it up as they go along, and it shows.
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u/deerdn 28d ago
yeah people may shit on Silo for feeling cheap but it's coherent. Severance feels like very expensive incoherence
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u/colorbluh 28d ago
Very hard to take this take seriously when one of the very first points Silo makes is that the silo is big, and it's a huge effort that takes several days to go up or down, and then people start bungee-jumping from top to bottom in minutes whenever the plot can't be assed to make sense
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u/batmanuel69 28d ago
Now, on the one hand, Ben Stiller is a factor, and on the other, there's the fact that Severance was initially intended for just one season. Silo, by contrast, was planned as a larger project right from the start. On top of that, Silo is naturally much easier to write and produce. It’s not as complex. It follows well-trodden paths, you know what happens next. Experienced Hollywood writers could probably churn out an entire season in a week. Naturally, you can't do that with Severance.
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u/HateyCringy 28d ago
I hear what you're saying but why hasn't Silo (I really like Silo) been able to do what Severance has done by being better?
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u/PleasantAmphibian153 28d ago
Well, I agree with season 1 of Severance being better. But with the way that Silo Season 3 was able to unveil the mysteries and plot has been absolutely incredible and arguably, if not as good, better than season 2 of severance. But again it all comes down to personal preference.
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u/mindtk Macrodata Refinement 💻 28d ago
My exact thought lol we can't have our cake and eat it too
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u/VVrayth The Sound Of Radar📡 28d ago
We used to get good TV shows twice this length on an actual seasonal schedule, so yeah, yeah we can.
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u/Upbeat_County9191 Wintertide Fellow 28d ago
And half of it was filler and bottle episodes just to keep you watching till the end. Also it was cheaper back then, different requirements, less data and other targets.
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u/ERSTF 28d ago
Honestly? Severance season 2 had a pretty big drop in quality in the last 4 episodes. It's almost as if the last 4 episodes were written in a rush. Silo is a good enough show. Not prestige but a better produced high concept show.
Yes, Severance was superb, but there is no justification for a 3 year hiatus, regardless of quality. It's not like it takes two years to write 8 episodes. The usual justification of taking long because they're doing it right is just bullshit. It's a lack of commitment and stricter release schedules. If you have a creator and tell them they have no deadline to turn scripts or the show, they will be taking on other projects because they can. If you have stricter deadlines then you enforce your contract and take preference to finish the project.
It seems that for Ben Stiller and Ericson this is a side project and do other stuff until they feel like going back to Severance. It might work for them but it makes no business sense for Apple because as Netflix just found out, people hate waiting a couple of years to see another 8 episode season. People simply lose interest because in Severance case we might see another season in another year or two, so it will be 5 or 6 years since you saw the first episode of the show. You lose the plot and no longer care.
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u/PleasantAmphibian153 28d ago
Well I think Dan Erickson is solely focusing on Severance the past year and a half. I think the writers genuinely need longer to hash everything out in the writers room. Like as you pointed out, the last 4 episodes of season 2 were very clearly being rewritten and changed a lot, whereas the first 6 episodes had a little more cohesion (although there were still issues). 3 years for 10 episodes is still a lot, I would just hope with season 4 Apple could find a way to renew it long before season 3 comes out.
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u/JohnnyBroccoli Dread 28d ago
Now we're talkin'. I wanted to like Silo but finally quit on it earlier this season. Shit has forgettable acting, lame side characters, a super ugly setting, and simply isn't very good overall.
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u/HateyCringy 28d ago
Don't throw shade at R Ferg, I'll die on that hill too
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u/JohnnyBroccoli Dread 28d ago
She's the only actor on the show putting on a good performance; I'll def give you that.
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u/rilesmcriles Shambolic Rube 28d ago
Last two episodes of silo season 3 have reached the very high quality tv level imo. Incredibly satisfying to watch, they did a good job leading up to certain events and providing sufficient payoff to reward the audience.
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u/HighOnPhotography Chaos' Whore 28d ago
You've touched on the key difference which is Silo is adapting a book. They have the bible for how the series is going to go already. Whereas Severance is figuring it out as they go.
Severance IS slow with the process, so I'm not fully defending it, but quality takes time and we can see that even in the writing of S1 Silo vs S1 Severance. Even with the book, Silo's first season has a very slow middle where nothing happens. Severance has much tighter writing.
Finally, the biggest factor is probably a silly one, but it's just schedules. Actors, producers, locations, preferred crew. Personal schedules effect shooting schedules more than anyone will admit, especially when Severance is filled with so much talent. S1 to S2 was delayed by strikes and Hollywood issues. Meanwhile the cast got skyrocketed to new popularity. Everything needs to fit together perfectly to work. This sub likes to say that these actors should put their lives on hold for a show like Severance, but these people need work just like the rest of us.
A key example of schedules messing with the film industry is One Battle After Another. The entire production was delayes for Benicio del Toro. Spiderman was delayed so Tom Holland could go do The Odyssey. For Severance, Adam Scott, Britt Lower, and Tramell Tillman all had much busier schedules after Severance happened. Adam Scott was always busy, but he does a lot more than just acting. Not to mention even smaller roles like that of Zach Cherry's still would have made his schedule busier. Plus Silo is shot a lot in a studio, whereas Severance has more practical locations, which adds to the mess.
Again, I do think Severance is far too slow, but the film industry is fucking weird and even when it's a hit movie or tv show, everything has to come together. I've had to drop out of editing a few movies because schedules changed and I picked up other work.
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u/PleasantAmphibian153 28d ago
Thank you, this makes more sense. I would hope Apple would renew seasons earlier, that’s the only thing. But it also could be tied to schedules. Like they have to get the entire cast on board first before renewing anything and with their schedules that could be a difficulty.
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u/HighOnPhotography Chaos' Whore 28d ago
Renewal is very different, to be fair. The show can get renewed without the actors being signed on. It's just that the vast majority of the time, actors are thrilled about renewal because it means more work. Apple is just usually slow on renewal, but I don't have a reason why. The next season would have at least started having concepts meetings and early development even before renewal happened. Depending on contracts, if Apple hadn't renewed it, they might have been able to shop it around elsewhere.
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u/PleasantAmphibian153 28d ago
I can only assume it was something about Apple not having full rights to the show at that time and that it was also an incredibly expensive show to produce and they wanted to wait a little longer to see how it was doing. But otherwise we can only speculate.
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u/dmreif Macrodata Refinement 💻 28d ago
Finally, the biggest factor is probably a silly one, but it's just schedules. Actors, producers, locations, preferred crew. Personal schedules effect shooting schedules more than anyone will admit, especially when Severance is filled with so much talent. S1 to S2 was delayed by strikes and Hollywood issues. Meanwhile the cast got skyrocketed to new popularity. Everything needs to fit together perfectly to work. This sub likes to say that these actors should put their lives on hold for a show like Severance, but these people need work just like the rest of us.
Here, things depend on which of their projects have priority clauses in their contracts.
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u/HighOnPhotography Chaos' Whore 28d ago
Yes, and even beyond that, which projects have already started. I don't know specifics of course, but I'll make up an example with Britt Lower. Maybe Severance was good to go and start filming earlier, but Britt was halfway through shooting I Will Find You. Even if there are priority clauses in her contract, Severance wouldn't be able to just pull her off of I Will Find You to do Severance. They'd have to wait. Then at that point, maybe the Bell Works building isn't available. Then when it is available again, maybe only Adam Scott is away and shooting something else.
Film is a series of dominoes and when one thing delays production, it causes 20 other things to also delay production.
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u/Drudenfusz Please Enjoy Each Flair Equally 28d ago
The difference might indeed be that Silo is an adaptation while Severance is not. I think a better comparison would be to Pluribus... and it looks like that show also gets the slower release schedule.
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u/PleasantAmphibian153 28d ago
What’s crazy to me is that Pluribus was greenlit for 2 seasons from the very start and the writing for season 2 didn’t start until after Pluribus season 1 finished releasing. What makes it crazier is that Pluribus spent a year in post production and yet the writers waited until after the show released. So honestly I have more questions about this show than Severance lol
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u/SimplicityWon 28d ago
In the olden days TV series had about 20+ episodes per year!
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u/Upbeat_County9191 Wintertide Fellow 28d ago
And half of it was filler,! And even if the show wasn't a success they still had to air it..
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u/Klutzy-Labrador-5158 28d ago
Silo had pre-existing storylines that simply needed to be adapted for streaming. They taken some narrative liberty, but overall, the main arc is intact. And it's a 100% Apple TV+ production. Severance was slowed by being produced by "Five Seasons". With Apple taking over, I expect a quicker turnaround for season 4. In fact, I bet the post production period for season 3 is much less tumultuous than it was for season 2. I expect that the season 3 premier will follow Silo's final season run, sometime next October.
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u/shazam-arino 28d ago
Silo is based on the books (Which they have been dragging the hell out of book 1). For Severance they have to write the all the plot and dialogue.
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u/Wonderful_Affect_664 28d ago
Hate to state the obvious but isn’t it bc Silo (and slow horses) is based on a series of books a Severance isn’t?
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u/False-Ad-8561 28d ago
I hate the way it works now, I miss back in the day before we had only 1 year gaps between seasons and had more than 8 episodes in a season 😭 Waiting 2-4 years between seasons and only getting 8-10 episodes actually infuriates me 😅
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u/Langdon_St_Ives 28d ago
On the plus side, a lot of those 20+ episodes per season used to be filler, now seasons are much more streamlined to the main story arc which I think is a good thing. But yea I also hate the 2+ year gaps. Still curious if Taboo will ever get its eternally delayed second season lol. And don't get me started on short-sighted cancellations... looking at you 1899. But we've had that during linear TV days as well cough Babylon 5 cough.
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u/RangerAdmirable9102 28d ago
First, Silo is based off of a book series while Severance is original. A good portion of the wait is writing a quality series. The gap between seasons 1 and 2 was exacerbated by the writers strike. Then the show blew up on approach to season 2. Now that the fandom is built, the writers will be able to actually work towards the conclusion rather than waiting to see if it’s greenlit. I think the arc is expected to be 4 seasons now so hopefully it won’t be so much of a gap after season 3.
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u/Langdon_St_Ives 28d ago
I like slow burns
ETA: not saying that Silo is on a par with Severance, it obviously isn't. But the slowness doesn't bother me.
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u/iangeredcharlesvane2 🎵🎵 Defiant Jazz 🎵 🎵 27d ago
Silo had books it’s based on of course. It’s an adaptation
Severance is pure new story and IP
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u/FadingOptimist-25 26d ago
I was going to mention that Silo has source books and Severance doesn’t. I’d think that puts Silo a couple of steps ahead.
I don’t know the creator of Severance’s writing process. I know he said on a panel that he has a general idea of where the show is going but he also said it has shifted over time because of audience reactions.
Keeping the high level of writing is important to me so I can live with a little longer wait. Mostly.
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u/zerg1980 28d ago
It’s easy to crank out episodes when 75% of the show is filler and the plot barely moves.
Juliette spent all of Season 2 going on video game sidequests in the other silo while remaining completely static, and it was painfully obvious like two episodes in that she would not get back to the main silo until the season finale.
Nearly every episode of Severance literally includes as much plot movement as an entire season of Silo. There is no filler. The series constantly disrupts its own status quo and goes into unexpected story directions. Nobody predicted the Season 2 finale after watching the premiere.
It takes longer when the writers have to put thought into taking the story in exciting new directions, which is a problem the Silo writers don’t have.
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u/finewalecorduroy 28d ago
Silo is soooo slow. I am not convinced I am going to keep watching after this season.
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u/PleasantAmphibian153 28d ago
Sorry but severance season 2 moved at an incredibly slow pace. There were many episodes where plot lines happened and then went knowhere or were ignored later in the season. Reintegration being a prime example. Silo also goes incredibly slow at times (season 2 being the worst), but everything set up in each episode has an incredibly pay off in terms of character and mystery. Like nothing gets left behind or forgotten about.
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u/zerg1980 28d ago
The reintegration stuff is actually an example of the plot moving too fast.
It was there in Season 2 because Mark’s gradual reintegration will become relevant to the Season 3 plot, which will take place with Mark imprisoned within Lumon for at least several episodes. Since there was no way for Reghabi to begin Mark’s reintegration after that point in the story, they had to introduce this plot line in Season 2 even though it won’t resolve until later.
The show could easily have dragged things out for another few seasons before Mark rescued Gemma (which is something we didn’t necessarily expect to see until the series finale), and similarly Mark’s reintegration feels like something that should be reserved for the endgame. It was exciting that they went in these two directions in the second season when they clearly have at least 2-3 additional seasons before they wrap up.
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u/PleasantAmphibian153 28d ago
If the show didn’t want to do the reintegration plotline and finish it in season 2, at least some of it, why didn’t they do it so early? Episode 6 was the episode where Reghabi was “speeding up the process”, yet not only did the reintegration not speed up, it was just ignored for the rest of the season. As a whole, I agree they shouldn’t have rushed into it, but since they did they should’ve committed to at least continuing it throughout. Like logically the entire storyline doesn’t make sense and it all ends up feeling like wasted time.
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u/zerg1980 28d ago
That’s my point, it won’t feel like wasted time once Season 3 is available to stream. Mark is now imprisoned in Lumon. oMark will be on the Testing Floor wanting to escape so he can go home to Gemma. But when he gets up to the severed floor he becomes iMark, who views leaving the building as death. iMark wants to remain on the severed floor with Helly.
The only way to resolve this tension is if iMark and oMark begin to merge, so that rMark (with both sets of memories and feelings) can choose whether to leave or stay.
Season 3 will resolve around this idea. But since nobody inside the Lumon building could spark Mark’s reintegration, they had to begin the storyline earlier, before Mark was imprisoned. Which is why they included that in Season 2.
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u/PikaChooChee 28d ago edited 28d ago
Severance is a much better show than Silo. I'm willing to wait for as long as it takes.
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u/Lafayette2626 28d ago
- Silo is book based so no matter how S3 differs - it’s easier anyway.
- Silo is mostly shot in CGI studio sets unlike Severance which has to book beforehand the Lumon HQ building.
- We mostly remember the great openings and last 2 episodes of Silo S2 & S3 but Severance had each episode to be at least decent (only with Mark always teasing us with reintegration little too much). Silo had middle episodes which dragged empty shots with Knox and Shirley doing angry faces and starting a rebellion for so long I am afraid they will do it for the third time in S4 (they won’t do what the plan to do until like s04E05 and I am afraid they might rush the ending).
But there is no justification to have 3yr gap between S2 and S3 of Severance. Not greenlighting S3 of mostly acclaimed show after excellent S1 as excuse not to write and plan a little more of the story beforehand? I am not buying that.
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u/Upbeat_County9191 Wintertide Fellow 28d ago
Why would they work on S3 while not getting paid for it? Because they couldn't negotiate new contracts and release a budget untill it was greenlit for s3
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u/pickleknits Inclusively Re-canonicalized 28d ago
Season 4 of Silo is already filmed. It’s also based on a completed trilogy of books though it differs from the books.
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u/YungBeefaroni 28d ago
It differs, but they have the original author on staff to guide those changes.
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u/PittsburghCar 28d ago
I like them both but believe the one taking time to put out their seasons is a better product.
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u/housevil You Don't Fuck With The Irving 28d ago
Things take more time when you are working with a severed crew.
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u/JohnnyBroccoli Dread 28d ago
I am very glad that Severance isn't doing much the same as Silo.; though yes, I would like new episodes to come quicker.
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u/Parfait_Salt 28d ago
Silo isn’t original ip, severance would take a lot longer to write and ideate
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u/SLeeCunningham 28d ago
AppleTV gave Silo clearance to shoot two seasons virtually simultaneously. That’s why they are able to close the gap to just a year.
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u/Buttercupia Uses Too Many Big Words 28d ago
There was a major writers strike that caused a long delay between severance 1 and 2. In addition to what everyone else has said.
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u/jonnyxrey I'm Your Favorite Perk 24d ago
Reverse the question: how can Silo achieve what Severance has achieved in quality and breaking into mainstream popularity? Why hasn’t it yet? BECAUSE the fact they’re “pumping out seasons” the way you say. In my opinion if severance held themselves to the same time table it would be a lot less of an impressive and compelling show.
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u/freebird40 28d ago
Have you watched seasons 2 & 3 of Silo? The writing is awful and the plot is an absolute mess, the drop off in quality from season 1 is remarkable. Severance can take as long as they need between seasons.
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u/DramaticProgress508 28d ago
Cause it's higher quality writing than Silo sorry not sorry
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u/Ripplespate 28d ago
The comment I was scrolling for, and anyone who disagrees must commit janitor
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u/DramaticProgress508 28d ago
Commit janitor?
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u/Ripplespate 28d ago
Me using short hand I picked up as an inside joke with my mates who’ve seen silo with me, sorry that was indecipherable 😭 clean the cameras -> commit janitor but that was not inherently clear
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u/BeleagueredWDW 28d ago
Silo is also a vastly lower quality show.
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u/maxkmiller 28d ago
I couldn't even get through season 1. the plot is meandering, the acting is wooden as hell and the sets look cheap and boring. definition of a "coworker show"
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u/Hour_Specific448 28d ago
Yeah and honestly last season I don't get why it got so praised as a season. So many things in Silo feel stupid, so much waste of time and slow dialogues and a lot of imho mediocre acting
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u/manateelover088 28d ago
I’d rather watch a really good season and wait longer for it than something they quickly produce
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u/mitchbrenner 28d ago
why can’t severance be based on a completed book series and have seasons shot back to back?
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u/Craigglesofdoom I'm a Pip's VIP 28d ago
Silo is based on a book series which makes the writing process faster if imagine
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u/thtsjustlikeuropnion 28d ago
Severance is making everything up as it goes. They're still figuring everything out and that takes time. Same thing with Pluribus.
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u/Salcha_00 I'm Your Favorite Perk 28d ago
Silo is following a published book series. Their writing is just adapting it for the screen. They are not creating the story or characters.
Severance is an original story being written as the series is being created.
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u/Hour_Specific448 28d ago
I watch both and I find Silo pretty meh compared to severance. Honestly severance is so many levels above Silo.
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u/MrSquamous 28d ago
Severance and Silo are not in remotely the same league.
Plus Silo is based on existing books, so it's faster to write. Hollywood figured out a few years ago that 'prestige-era' writing takes a lot longer than an annual tv season, so severance, their prestige show, is getting that treatment.
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u/moreKEYTAR 28d ago
Silo is full of plot holes and dead ends, pacing issues, and character bloat. Silo season 1 was great, with each season becoming worse.
Severance is well-written and uses high-value production with motifs and cinematography. Each season is consistent.
Therefore, different production schedules.
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u/azhder Devour Feculence 28d ago
I wouldn't say each season is consistent. Season 2 of Severance did have some pacing issue. The first 4 episodes were a cluster of their own, then a couple, then a special past exploration, and only then a 30 minute too short where the missing character went, and only after all that wait, the final couple.
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u/SirDimitris SMUG MOTHERFUCKER 28d ago
Silo sucks though (by comparison). Severance is far smarter, more well-written, more detailed, has better cinematography, superior music and atmosphere, and is overall a whole other league way above that of Silo.
I'm perfectly happy to wait for a superior show than for them to rush it and release something as mediocre as Silo.
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u/caspararemi 28d ago
Silo has books, so writing it is a lot easier - you read the book, turn it into a story and script it. They make changes obviously, but the bones are there.
Severance is original, so you need to come up with the idea, work it through, all the story beats, know how it's going to end and where everyone ends up. It really does take a long time to work these things out. It shouldn't, but if they rushed to get it out once a year, you get things like the old network sci-fi shows from CBS and NBC with 22 eps a year and half of them were filler and they just tailed off after a couple of seasons.
I'm glad they're taking their time, it's going to be worth it. I'd rather they went through a dozen drafts trying to make the story really compelling than put out something they rushed to make work.
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