'Silo' Almost Revealed the Algorithm’s Secret Using Colin Hanks’ Voice

One of the biggest mysteries of Silo season three could have been revealed well before the finale because of a special guest appearance. In an exclusive interview with Omelete, creator Graham Yost revealed that Colin Hanks had actually agreed to do the voice of the Algorithm.

The idea came up when the producers were discussing what the mysterious Voice that communicates with the characters should sound like. “What you find out by the end of the season is that, for a while, Troy is the Algorithm, right? He’s the one doing the voice,” Yost explained.

According to the showrunner, however, it is not simply one person’s voice being transmitted to the silos.

“It’s an artificial intelligence voice, but one that carries some of the inflection and vocabulary of whoever is speaking. You can imagine that, over the centuries, other people have been in that room. In our case, we see Victor and Troy,” the showrunner said.

Finding a voice to conceal that mechanism became a problem. One of the first solutions considered was to use a recognizable voice: “We called Colin Hanks, whom we consider a family friend because we worked on Band of Brothers together. He agreed, but then we realized we shouldn’t use his voice because it would give it away to the audience. If they heard Colin Hanks’s voice, they would know immediately.”

And Hanks was not the only possibility.

“There was a moment when I wanted to use Douglas Rain’s voice (1928-2018), who played HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, we realized that trying to secure the rights from his estate and from Warner would be impossible, and it would also pull the audience out of the story.”

The solution was to go with a modified artificial intelligence voice, preserving the mystery until the season could finally better explain how the Algorithm works.

The revelation also adds a new layer to the series: the Voice does not necessarily belong to a single person. It can carry traits from different individuals who occupy that role over time.

Everything you need to know about Silo

Created by Graham Yost and based on the books by Hugh Howey, Silo follows Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) in an underground society whose population knows nothing about its own history or the true reason for the silos’ existence.

The first three seasons are available on Apple TV. The fourth season will be the series’ last.