A former engineer in the Silo, Juliette Nichols is the former Sheriff of the Silo, for which she assumed the role after the previous Sheriff went "out to clean" up until she herself went outside. Juliette is a skilled mechanical engineer, and has been working in the engineering department of the Silo since a young age, when she decided that she did not wish to pursue a career in medicine like her father.
Juliette becomes weary of the Silo and its operation after she begins a secret, non-sanctioned relationship with fellow resident of the Silo George Wilkins. George shows Juliette several relics and tells her that the Silo is not what they think. After he mysteriously falls to his death in the Silo one night, Juliette becomes obsessed with finding out what he knew and what happened to him. This leads her to Sheriff Holston, whom she shares George's findings with. After he opts to leave the Silo, Juliette becomes the next Sheriff on his wishes and vows to find out the secrets of the Silo.
Eventually, Juliette realises that everything is not what it seems within the Silo, and asks to go outside to clean. Before her departure, however, she talks with the department that manufactures the tape for the suits within the Silo. They provide her with good quality tape, and she is able to survive outside where others were unable. It is through this that Juliette discovers that the Outside is truly an uninhabitable place.
Throughout the series[edit | edit source]
Early History[edit | edit source]
Born in the Mids, Juliette is the daughter of Doctor Pete Nichols and Hanna Nichols; she had a younger brother, Jacob, with the latter two dying when Juliette was thirteen years of age. Due to her father's busy schedule as a Doctor within the Silo, she was tasked with taking all of their belongings to be recycled.
Shortly after this, Juliette forged a letter from her father to allow her to study under Martha Walker in Mechanical. Martha was aware that the letter had been forged, and contacted Juliette's father. Juliette remained defiant, however, and cited that she wished to remain in Mechanical. After seeing her passion for the trade, Martha allowed this and she was assigned to be Knox's shadow.
Relationship with George[edit | edit source]
Juliette had a unsanctioned relationship with George Wilkins for an unspecified period of time. George introduced Juliette to his discovery in the down-deeps of the Silo, and shared with her several relics that he thought were of interest in discovering the true purpose of the Silo. The two would often frequent an undisclosed location within the Silo that housed a large drill—presumably the one used to core out the Earth in preparation for the construction of the Silo.
Following George's death, Juliette was the first resident of the Silo to acknowledge that she did not believe his death to be an accident, and that he was presumably murdered to stop him getting too close to the truth. Later, Juliette proceeded to investigate George's death and carry on his investigation into the inner workings and purpose of the Silo.
Eventually, Juliette learned that George was already in a relationship when he began his relationship with her and as a result, she felt deeply betrayed by George's actions. Juliette eventually found a video on the hard drive that George left behind in which George explained that he was originally using her to aid in his investigations, believing her to be the only one inquisitive enough to assist him. After spending time together, however, George revealed that he fell in love with Juliette[2]
Working with Holston[edit | edit source]
After making initial contact with Holston, a flashforward shows Juliette as she reacts to the shock of Holston's apparent death after venturing outside the Silo. Angered and disbelieving, she storms off to engineering and accidentally causes a flood by damaging a pipe in her rage.
The narrative then takes us back to an unresolved issue from Juliette's past: the mysterious death of a man named George. She suspects that he was murdered and that his death had something to do with a cryptic letter and a Pez dispenser he'd meant to give her. After his death, she tells Holston her suspicions and shares the letter, which guides them to a concealed area containing remnants of an excavation robot and other artifacts.
Among the relics they discover is a bag with instructions for recovering erased files written in Allison's handwriting, along with a computer drive. Despite Holston's warnings, Juliette's curiosity is piqued. This hidden cache of items suggests a larger mystery at play, possibly related to George's death and the true nature of their world.
Holston, seeing Juliette's determination, advises her to keep a low profile while pledging to assist her in uncovering the truth. This relationship is further complicated by Holston's interest in George's connection with Allison, and he recognizes a similar fearless spirit in Juliette.
In the present timeline, Holston's final letter is revealed, endorsing Juliette as his successor and leaving her his personal belongings. This unexpected inheritance, paired with her prior suspicions, seems to cement her resolve to investigate further. The episode ends with Juliette preparing to descend down a suspended metal beam, likely following a clue related to the mysteries surrounding them.[3]
Becoming the Sheriff[edit | edit source]
Following on from Holston's death, Juliette spirals out of control and begins drinking. One morning, she is awoken to an emergency as the generator at the bottom of the Silo begins to malfunction. She briefly assaults Cooper who was trying to fix the generator, citing that he broke the only rule she set: only she goes into the generator. Juliette tells Knox that they have no other option but to shut down the generator temporarily whilst they carry out repairs—this could be dangerous for the Silo, however, as a failure to start it again would mean they have no power. Knox refuses, citing that he will not be the first mechanic to shut down the generator when the Silo depends so heavily upon it.[4]
Juliette is surprised when Mayor Ruth Jahns visit Mechanical to discuss Holston's last wishes that she become the next Sheriff of the Silo. Juliette initially refuses the position, but is given Holston's Sheriff badge anyway as Jahns honours his last wish. When Juliette examines the badge, she finds the words "truth" engraved into the back of the badge, and sees this as the message that she was waiting for. Juliette agrees to take on the post of Sheriff on one condition: they are given authorisation to shut down the generator whilst they carry out essential maintenance. Jahns eventually agrees and gives them the authorisation to shut down the generator so that it can be repaired before Juliette leaves Mechanical; the Silo is placed onto reserve power and the inhabitants are told to stay indoors until the generator is back up.
Shutting down the generator proves to be a difficult task, however, involving closing the steam valve which cuts off the power; due to the pressure build up, however, they would have a thirty-minute window to carry out the repairs and release the pressure before a catastrophic explosion would occur, likely killing everyone in the Silo. Once the generator is shut down, Juliette and Cooper removed the faulty fan blade and made other repairs, but Juliette was forced to deal with the pressure problem by going into the machine and using a water hose to cool the valve manually. The plan worked, and the two are able to fix the issues with the generator and power it back up.
Juliette immediately leaves Mechanical after the generator is fixed, and is called to the Mayor's Office. During the time that the generator was being repaired, Mayor Jahns has been poisoned and died as a result. Juliette is shocked to find that Bernard Holland has been called to the post of interim Mayor until an election can be held. Juliette is introduced to the Sheriff's office and begins settling in, and also moves into Holston's old apartment. Shortly after, she begins looking for George's file, in an attempt to ascertain the location of the hard drive that George had found prior to his death, but she is unable to find either the file or the hard drive.
Tensions begin to rise for Juliette when she must stop Deputy Marnes from beating up Franky Brown, with the former believing that he was responsible for the death of Jahns. Juliette and Marnes eventually agreed that the two of them would work together to find Jahn's killer. Juliette would help Marnes solve Jahns' murder, if he helped with solving George's. Back in Holston's apartment, Juliette eventually realises that there was a strange noise coming from the vent. She investigates and eventually finds George's file hidden inside the vent.
Juliette finds it difficult to understand why Holston would hide George's file within the vent, since at first glance it seemed to contain no information that would make him a target within the Silo. She is unable to dwell on this for too long, however, and is called away shortly after when Deputy Marnes is found to have been murdered, and that Paul Billings has been given the role of Deputy without Juliette's approval or consultation. The pair began a murder investigation, questioning suspects until Juliette tells Billings to go home for lunch. With Billings gone, Juliette breaks into the apartment she believes to belong to Patrick Kennedy, and finds incriminating evidence implicating him in Marnes' death.
Juliette decides to leave the evidence alone, however, and instead she tracks down Patrick Kennedy and realised that the Silo's records were out of date. The records did not show that his wife, Doris Kennedy, had died, or that he had since moved apartments. Realising that Patrick was being framed, she set things up to catch a Judicial agent in the act by issuing an arrest warrant for Patrick. Douglas Trumbull later arrives outside of the old apartment, and Juliette confronts him, resulting in a chase down the Stairwell. The two fight and Juliette is thrown over the railing, but is rescued by other residents. Trumbull is able to get away, but is found dead shortly after, having seemingly committed suicide.[5]