Silo’s Tim Robbins Pays Off a Career-Long Curiosity in New Series

Over the course of his impressive career, Tim Robbins has taken on a number of challenges and delivered audiences several memorable characters, having crossed various archetypes off the list of possible roles throughout the years. Even after all of those experiences, there are some characters he hasn’t gotten to fully immerse himself in, though that all changes with his Bernard in Apple TV+’s Silo. In the post-apocalyptic scenario, Bernard seemingly has benevolent intentions for the human survivors, only for his true motivations to become clear over the course of the debut season. Silo premieres on Apple TV+ on May 5th.

When discussing the background of the character in the source novels from writer Hugh Howey, Robbins confirmed to ComicBook.com, “You have to start with the script. The book can provide insight, and information, and depth of character, but can also mislead you. You have to be careful because your main function is the story being told in the script, and so we would have discussions about character, but instinctually, I felt like I knew how to play Bernard. I’ve always been curious about playing a character like this, someone that is in a position of power.” 

He continued, “He runs the I.T. Essentially, if I.T. fails, the whole society fails, so it’s a tremendous burden, a tremendous responsibility on his shoulders. I’ve always been curious about what that does to the human being, what compromise does to a person’s character, and how and when you have to make decisions for the benefit of society, how often are you compromising your own integrity and morality.”

Silo is the story of the last ten thousand people on Earth, their mile-deep home protecting them from the toxic and deadly world outside. However, no one knows when or why the silo was built and any who try to find out face fatal consequences. Rebecca Ferguson stars as Juliette, an engineer, who seeks answers about a loved one’s murder and tumbles onto a mystery that goes far deeper than she could have ever imagined, leading her to discover that if the lies don’t kill you, the truth will.

The ensemble cast starring alongside Ferguson includes Academy Award-winner Tim Robbins (Mystic River), Common (The Chi), Emmy-nominee Harriet Walter (Succession), Chinaza Uche (Dickinson), Avi Nash (The Walking Dead), Critics Choice Award and NAACP winner David Oyelowo (Selma), and Emmy-nominee Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation). 

The impressive ensemble also meant Robbins got to share the screen with compelling performers, with the actor reflecting on those collaborations.

In regards to a performer he wished he could have had more scenes with, the actor detailed, “I’m trying to figure out how to answer without giving anything away, but I’ll just say it was always a pleasure to work with Rebecca. I would love to do more scenes with her. And I got to work with Common a lot. That was awesome. We became good friends. All of the actors were fabulous. And my world in the Silo is up top. There are a lot of characters in the down deep. I’m convinced they had the better parties.”

Silo premieres on Apple TV+ on May 5th.

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