How Is Bernard Alive? Tim Robbins Explains That ‘Silo’ Twist

Is this man impervious to death?!

Now that we know Bernard Holland (Tim Robbins) didn’t actually die from his injuries in the fiery airlock with Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) at the end of last season, this week’s Silo (which keeps getting better and bolder, btw) revealed how the nefarious head of Silo 18’s IT Department and one-time Mayor escaped his demise. Warning: Spoilers for Silo Season 3 Episode 5 ahead!

Rescued from the torched airlock and armed with a truth about the outside world that could doom the entire Silo, his former ally Sims (Common) supposedly suffocated the burn victim and disposed of his body in the incinerators. What he actually did, however, was stage Bernard’s murder and recruit Martha (Harriet Walter) and Carla (Clare Perkins) to stash him down in Mechanical.

Sims’ secret act of mercy (mostly done to protect Juliette from his increasingly genocidal wife Camille, played by Alexandria Riley) and Bernard’s clearly altered worldview marks a major change in the direction of the show’s two biggest antagonists. And that has been the plan all along.

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“Graham [Yost, showrunner] told me in the beginning, ‘He’s gonna look like a bad guy, but he might not be,’ and this was at the beginning of the series,” offers Robbins, adding that he has spent the last two seasons playing the villain “with the knowledge that he’s not exactly how you think it is. I’m holding onto secrets and information that no one else can know.”

He adds, “I was aware that things would change. I was aware that there would be a different Bernard in the third season.”

Similarly, Riley also knew that her character would be undergoing a bit of a change. “I was petrified, immediately,” she confesses. “Can I do this? I don’t want to get it wrong, I didn’t want to let people down… but I was so supported and it was so fun!”

So, while she is having a blast embracing Camille’s more malevolent side, Robbins is reveling in the redemption arc that’s been designed for Bernard.

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“That’s why I did it! That’s what I was playing,” he continues. “I believe everyone is capable of change. You have to be willing to allow it to happen and you have to be humble and you have to be able to say… So many people have difficulty saying, ‘I was wrong,’ and I think [that’s] what Bernard realizes.”

Adds Robbins, “There’s a complete shattering of his worldview. Everything he thought was true turned out to be a lie and what happens when you go through that kind of change? That’s what I found so fascinating and interesting about playing this arc because Bernard chooses to tell the truth and chooses redemption and that, I think, is always, for an audience, inspiring to see.”