A 2014 sci-fi miniseries is the perfect show to watch after Apple TV+’s Silo. Silo stands out in an increasingly crowded streaming landscape. Adapted from Hugh Howey’s novels, the series benefits from strong word of mouth and critical praise for treating high-concept science fiction through slow-burn mystery and meticulous world-building, paired with confident storytelling and high production standards.
Silo is a tightly constructed mystery set inside a massive underground structure where thousands of people live under strict rules designed to preserve order and survival. The show’s strength lies in its layered storytelling, as each revelation about the true purpose of the titular silo recontextualizes what viewers thought they understood. Visually, the series reinforces this tension through industrial set design and a sense of vertical claustrophobia, which may feel familiar for fans of a certain 2014 sci-fi show.
Created by Philip Levens and executive produced by Battlestar Galactica’s Ronald D. Moore, Ascension is set aboard a massive generation ship launched in the 1960s as part of a secret Cold War experiment. Nearly a century into its journey toward Proxima Centauri, the ship’s rigid, class-based society is thrown into chaos when a young woman is mysteriously murdered. Starring Tricia Helfer, Brian Van Holt, and Gil Bellows, Ascension is praised for its ambitious premise and its suspenseful tone.
Like Silo, Ascension thrives on paranoia, as it carefully drips information so the viewer slowly realizes how the truth behind the mission is far darker than everyone could think. It raises question after question as it shows how power structures calcify over generations when people believe there is no outside world left to return to. Ascension‘s production design, wardrobe, and styling convincingly sells a lived-in, locked-in future society, but it’s the writing that shines the most, particularly around its Truman Show-like main twist.
Silo and Ascension belong to a sci-fi subgenre that could best be described as confined mystery science fiction; stories built around sealed environments where humanity survives inside strictly controlled systems. Whether it’s Silo‘s underground structure, Ascension‘s generation ship, or Snowpiercer‘s endlessly circling train, these stories thrive on a rigid social order, and the suspicion that the truth is being deliberately hidden. Movies like Stowaway, Passengers, and Approaching the Unknown explore similar territory, as they trap small groups of people in unforgiving environments.
Limited space means heightened stakes. There’s nowhere to escape, so characters are forced to play within the same well-defined boundaries with no outside help. Even when some projects are better received than others, the formula itself is consistently effective because it blends hard sci-fi concepts with mystery and social commentary. Questions about who controls information, why systems exist the way they do, and what happens when the truth finally surfaces make stories like Silo perfect vehicles for shocking twists and slow-burn revelations.
May 5, 2023
Graham Yost
Morten Tyldum, David Semel
Rebecca Ferguson
Juliette Nichols
2014 – 2014-00-00
Nick Copus, Rob Lieberman, Stephen Williams, Vincenzo Natali
Philip Levens, Adrian Cruz
Tricia Helfer
Viondra Denniger
Gil Bellows
Harris Enzmann
Brian Van Holt
Captain William Denninger
Andrea Roth
Dr. Juliet Bryce
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