Snowpiercer (TV Series)

Snowpiercer is an American, post-apocalyptic dystopian-thriller television series created by Graeme Manson for TNT. A reboot of the earlier 2013 movie of the same name, the series follows the passengers of Snowpiercer, a gigantic train circulating the globe carrying the last survivors of humanity after the world becomes a frozen wasteland.

The series is set seven years following the mass-extinction event on Earth, but eight years before the Snowpiercer movie.

After numerous delays in production — arising from creative differences between the writers and network, TNT — the series' development was extended until May 2019, where a change of network (to TBS) was announced by parent company WarnerMedia. Months later, in September 2019, WarnerMedia reversed the network changed whilst revealing that the series had been greenlit for a second season. Following the increase in consumer demand and the global uncertainty regarding COVID-19, TNT brought forward the release date of the series from May 31, 2020, to May 17, 2020.

The second season premiered on January 25, 2021 on TNT and on Netflix January 26, 2021. On January 19, 2021, it was announced that the series was renewed for a third season ahead of the its second season premiere.^[1] The third season premiered on January 24, 2022 on TNT and on Netflix January 25, 2021.^[2]^[3]

On July 29, 2021, the series was renewed for a fourth season as the third season wraps up filming. Daveed Diggs made the renewal announcement on the set of the show at the tail end of production.^[4]^[5]

Synopsis

Snowpiercer picks up seven years after the world becomes a frozen wasteland and follows the remnants of humanity who inhabit a gigantic, perpetually moving train that circles the globe. The show questions class warfare, social injustice, and the politics of survival.

Cast and Characters

Main

Guest

Rowan Blanchard as Alexandra Cavill
Miranda Edwards as Lights
Benjamin Charles Watson as Brakeman Fuller

Recurring

Trivia

The series launched on Sunday May 17, 2020 at 9p m. It was previously planned to launch on Sunday, May 31.
The network was responding to the growing appetite for content as the majority of Americans are in lockdown.
It took a journey of five years across three networks and multiple showrunners before Tomorrow Studios was able to shepherd “Snowpiercer” to its May 17 debut on TNT.
The second season of the show, halted production due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The show has had a long gestation.
TNT ordered the Snowpiercer pilot back in November 2016 and picked it up to series over two years ago.
The show was given an early Season 2 renewal in May and moved from TNT to sister channel TBS.
- Five months later, and Snowpiercer was returned to its original network.
The show debuted to 3.3 million total viewers across TNT and TBS.^[6]
- Among them 607,000 tuned in to the 9 p.m. telecast who were in the key 18-49 demographic.^[6]
- The total viewers represents the largest debut for a TNT show since “The Alienist” in 2018.^[6]
- The series premiere tallied almost exactly 1 million viewers in the demo.^[6]
Across the Atlantic, the show is not airing on Netflix
- The first two episodes dropped on Monday 25 May on Netflix, with one coming every Monday from then on.
Though in the story Snowpiercer is 10 miles long, with 1,001 cars. ^[7]
- Production designer Barry Robison and his art department built 18 cars on four stages.^[7]
  - Including the engine; a hydroponic gardening car; first- , second- and third-class dining cars; a sushi restaurant with an undersea element; and the “chains” car, which resembles an Asian night market.^[7]
For the interiors, Robison looked to Japan and China for clues as to where locomotive design technology is headed.^[7]
- He and art director Tom Wilkins also contacted Canadian railway companies, which offered insights and solutions for the problems of a vehicle moving through hostile environments like the one Snowpiercer travels through — notably information about snowplows, debris diverters and warming elements to keep the train moving.^[7]
The Snowpiercer Season 2 trailer was released on October 8, 2020 as part of the show’s appearance at New York Comic-Con, alongside the news that the TNT series will return for its second season on January 25th at 9pm ET/PT.

Development

Much of the series is based on the original 2013 film, Snowpiercer. Tomorrow Studios filed for rights to develop the series in 2015, and the series was ordered to pilot in November 2016; Josh Friedman would serve as showrunner with Derrickson directing the Pilot. Friedman would later be removed from the series by network TNT, who cited creative differences with the network.

Despite a new showrunner being hired, Graeme Manson, Derrickson refused to return to shoot a new Pilot, citing that the original script was the best he had ever read and sequentially, his directing was some of his best—if not his best—work. The Pilot was later reshoot, with nothing but the special effects from the original being used.

Netflix picked up international streaming rights for the series outside of the US shortly after.

In 2020, TNT released a timeline for the Snowpiercer saga, citing that the series took place seven years following the extinction event, but the movie took place fifteen years post-extinction. This revelation means that, despite the show being loosely based on the movie, the events of the show predate the movie by eight years.