While in development at TNT for over three years, the series faced numerous production issues and delays arising from creative differences between the series' producers and the network. The series remained in development hell until May 2019, when it was announced that it would instead air on TNT's sister network TBS in the second quarter of 2020 and that it had already been renewed for a second season. However, in September 2019, the decision to change networks was reversed.
Prior to studio shutdowns that occurred due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, most of the second season's production was completed. The second season premiered on January 25, 2021. In January 2021, the series was renewed for a third season, which premiered on January 24, 2022.[1][2] In July 2021, it was renewed for a fourth season.[3] In June 2022, it was announced that the fourth season would be its last and intended to be the final scripted original series to air on TNT before the production of original programming was ceased.[4] In January 2023, it was announced that the fourth season would not air on TNT and was in the process of moving elsewhere.[5]
Premise
Snowpiercer is set in 2026, seven years after the world becomes a frozen wasteland due to ecocide, and follows the remnants of humanity who have taken shelter on a perpetually moving luxury train.[6] Designed and built by the eccentric billionaire Mr. Wilford, the train consists of 1,001 carriages and circles the globe 2.7 times per year.[7] The constant motion of the train provides energy and prevents the passengers from freezing as well. Since the catastrophe, the train's population has become rigidly separated by class, caught up in a revolutionary struggle against the strictly imposed social hierarchy and unbalanced allocation of limited resources.[8] The show explores issues of class warfare, social injustice, and the politics of survival.[9]
Cast and characters
Main
Jennifer Connelly as Melanie Cavill:[10] The powerful Head of Hospitality (the department responsible for smooth relations) and the Voice of the Train (responsible for making the PA system's daily announcements) aboard Snowpiercer. To the majority of the train, Melanie is believed to be Mr. Wilford's representative relaying his orders to the passengers and crew. It is later revealed that Wilford was not initially aboard the Snowpiercer. Melanie has been facing the crushing burden of directing Snowpiercer on its global journey, managing mounting resource and class issues, having her authority and decisions challenged and maintaining Wilford's iron order throughout the train to preserve the last of humanity. She desperately tries to maintain the myth of Wilford, which is known to only a few other passengers.[11] Ultimately the secret is exposed, leading to a coup attempt by wealthy passengers from First Class. This coincides with a revolution by the Tail and Third Class sections, in which Melanie helps out in the end and saves it from certain defeat. After the revolution, Melanie officially hands leadership of the train to Layton and resumes her duties as Head Engineer, but her plans to remain indefinitely in the engine room are threatened by the arrival of Mr. Wilford and the surprise return of her believed-dead daughter Alexandra. In the second season, Melanie departs Snowpiercer to find a place that humanity can recolonize. In the second season finale, Layton and Alex discover that Melanie had sacrificed the last of her power to protect her data before seemingly walking into the Freeze to die. In season three, Melanie appears as a hallucination to both Alex and Wilford. It's eventually discovered that she had actually survived by taking a track scaler from a nearby hangar and using the suspension drug to keep herself in hibernation. After being rescued, she betrays Layton and seizes control of the Engine before agreeing to split the train, with Melanie leading those who want to stay onboard Snowpiercer.
Daveed Diggs as Andre Layton: A former detective turned leader of the Tail, a group of passengers who boarded Snowpiercer by force without tickets and are treated poorly as a result, often having their food, water, and electricity cut. As the world's only surviving homicide detective, Layton is reluctantly deputized by Melanie as Snowpiercer's Train Detective to help solve a series of murders.[12] While investigating the mysterious killings, he gathers intelligence and allies to support a revolution by the Tail and Third Class sections. After First Class has overthrown Melanie, they start to crush Layton's revolution in a series of bloody confrontations. It is saved only after Melanie teams up with Layton in the end. After the revolution's success, she officially hands the leadership of the train to Layton, but his plans to implement a democratic government are threatened by the arrival of Mr. Wilford. At the end of the second season, Layton creates his own pirate train out of the first ten cars of Snowpiercer in order to resist Wilford, taking with him several of his and Melanie's most trusted loyalists. At the end of the third season, Layton takes Big Alice and a number of people to a habitable valley in the Horn of Africa.
Mickey Sumner as Bess Till: A Brakeman and part of the train's security force, Till was a rookie officer in the Detroit Police Department and witnessed its self-destruction during the Freeze. She is in a romantic relationship with Jinju and later upgrades from Third to Second Class to be with her.[13] Tormented by the injustices of the class system, however, she ultimately decides to support Layton's revolution. Because Till is afraid to share what she knows about Layton's moves, while Jinju still wants to keep her knowledge about First Class and Melanie secret, they eventually break up. After Josie, one of Layton's allies, finds him in medically induced suspension, Till helps Josie and Layton escape. She also tries but fails to save Josie from interrogation by Melanie. In season 2, Layton promotes Till to Train Detective in order to solve a series of crimes involving members of the Tail and the Breachmen. It is later revealed that Mr. Wilford was behind them as a way to undermine Layton's credibility and leadership. Till leaves with Layton's pirate train at the end of season 2. After the trains reconnect in season 3, she resumes her role as Train Detective, investigating Pike's attempts to assassinate Layton and forming a romantic relationship with Miss Audrey, who has been Mr. Wilford's love interest. After Big Alice separates from Snowpiercer to embark on its journey to New Eden, Till becomes the new Lead Brakemen aboard Snowpiercer.
Alison Wright as Ruth Wardell: Melanie's deputy in Hospitality who looks after First Class passengers and delivers demands and punishments to the Tail. Before the Freeze, she ran a bed and breakfast in Kendal and was personally recruited by Mr. Wilford when he stayed there as a guest.[14] A friend to Melanie, Ruth feels betrayed after the secret about Mr. Wilford was exposed. She becomes Head of Hospitality and is initially thrilled by Mr. Wilford's return. When questioned by Layton, she insists that her loyalty is to Snowpiercer and its passengers. She subsequently joins Layton's leadership council with Miss Audrey, Roche, Bennett Knox, and others but he is reluctant to trust her. Ruth is inadvertently left behind with Wilford after Layton creates a separate pirate train. In season 3, she becomes the leader of a resistance movement against Wilford on Snowpiercer before resuming her duties as Head of Hospitality after Layton's return. She later chooses to join him in going to New Eden.
Lena Hall as Miss Audrey: Chanteuse and the lead madam of Snowpiercer's Nightcar, a Third Class den of (mostly) platonic prostitution and spiritual healing. She represents Third Class before the rest of the train and is very vocal about addressing the social differences on Snowpiercer and supports Layton's revolution. In season 2, she struggles with the return of Mr. Wilford; she was once an escort who served Wilford personally for years and still feels drawn to him despite fearing that renewing their relationship would make her life worse. It is later revealed that the two have a sadomasochistic relationship with Miss Audrey being the dominant party. She later defects to Wilford's side, helping him against rival factions. When Layton creates a separate pirate train, she is taken hostage by his crew in order to ensure the safety of Zarah, who was pregnant and stayed behind on Wilford's part of the train. After Snowpiercer was reconnected, Audrey is exiled to Third Class and banned from the Nightcar. She eventually forms a romantic relationship with Till who helps her move past Wilford and begin helping people again.[15]
Iddo Goldberg as Bennett Knox: One of Snowpiercer's engineers, he has inside knowledge of the initial absence of Mr. Wilford onboard and knows the deepest secrets of the train. He is fiercely loyal to Melanie, with whom he is romantically involved. When Mr. Wilford returns, he betrays Melanie as he believes that Snowpiercer would not survive without the supplies onboard Wilford's Big Alice. At the same time, he forges an alliance with Layton to protect the train together in Melanie's absence. He subsequently acts as part of Layton's leadership council. Bennett was in on Melanie's plot to steal Snowpiercer in the first place unlike his colleague Javi, another train engineer, and stressed that they had to depart the station before Wilford boards the train and more people get killed, even though Melanie's daughter had not arrived yet and would miss the train if it leaves. In season two, Bennett joins Layton's pirate train. At the end of season three, Bennett chooses to remain on Snowpiercer with Melanie rather than going to New Eden.[16]
Susan Park as Jinju Seong (season 1): Snowpiercer's agricultural officer from Second Class and a member of the train's elite. She has been in a romantic relationship with Bess and has inside knowledge of Mr. Wilford's initial absence. After the revolution, she and Bess break up.[17]
Katie McGuinness as Josie Wellstead:[18] A strong, no-nonsense Tailie, she cares for Miles and other children in the tail, and uses training from her time as a veterinarian before the Freeze to treat the sick or injured. She is Andre's love interest after Zarah's departure from the tail. She has been part of the uprisings in the tail and takes great risks on the behalf of her community. She is later thought to have been frozen to death after trying to kill Melanie who tortured her. In the second season, it is revealed that she has actually survived, albeit severely injured. Receiving treatment from the Headwoods, Wilford's scientists on Big Alice, Josie becomes resistant to extremely cold temperature like Icy Bob and receives a new prosthetic hand. She later uses her new ability to help Layton escape and joins him and others on the pirate train. In the third season, Josie has a brief fling with Bennett Knox. When the time comes to reconnect the pirate train with the rest of Snowpiercer and Big Alice, she uses her new ability to help Layton again. She later decides to join others in going to New Eden.
Sam Otto as John "Oz" Osweiller: A young Brakeman and Bess's patrol partner as part of the train's security team. He is less scrupulous than Bess in dealing with the passengers. Oz was raised by a single mother who was a prostitute and emotionally distant from him. He references being in pain from "everything", which is also his rationale for taking Kronole, a street drug likely derived from the medication used for the suspension of life.[19] During Layton's revolution, Oz abandons his job with the Brakemen. He begins a relationship with LJ and becomes the head of janitorial after the assassination of Terence. In season three, during Audrey's absence, he and LJ run the Night Car together as a bar and eventually get married. However, LJ remains deeply committed to her own machinations in order to rise to the top again, one time even threatening Oz when he appears reluctant to support her. Oz later leaves LJ to join the colonization of New Eden.
Sheila Vand as Zarah Fahrami: Layton's ex-wife who, unable to adjust to the poverty of the Tail, left to become a bartender in the Nightcar, antagonizing other Tailies and breaking Layton's heart in the process.[20] She later becomes pregnant with Layton's child. After the revolution, she tries to build a new life with him. In the second season, she joins Hospitality in an effort to bridge the gap between Layton and Ruth Wardell. When Layton creates a separate pirate train, Zarah decides to remain behind, feeling that she is safer there and that Wilford would not dare to hurt her due to her pregnancy. She allows Wilford's scientists to perform an experimental procedure and augment her baby with resistance to extremely low temperature. In season three, she gives birth to Liana Layton.
Roberto Urbina as Javier "Javi" de la Torre:[10][18] One of Snowpiercer's engineers, he is aware of Mr. Wilford's initial absence from the train and often questions the morality of Melanie's decisions. In addition to keeping the train running, Javi uses computer algorithms and hacked satellites to predict the environment surrounding and ahead of Snowpiercer. During the coup by First Class, Javi sides with the Folgers at first but eventually betrays them and rescues Melanie. Following the aborted coup and the successful Tailie revolution, Javi, Bennett, and Melanie try but fail to prevent Mr. Wilford from taking over Snowpiercer. After Wilford joins his Big Alice with Snowpiercer and takes control of both trains, Melanie departs on a mission to collect atmospheric data and model the re-warming of Earth. During a struggle to brake the trains in time to pick up Melanie as she returns, Javi is mauled by Wilford's dog, Jupiter, and Wilford is able to prevent the trains from stopping. Javi survives but is left traumatized and under Wilford's control. Throughout the third season, Javi battles post-traumatic stress disorder with the help of Sykes. He later joins Layton in going to New Eden.
Mike O'Malley as Sam Roche: Snowpiercer's lead Brakeman who is a former police officer and Wilford's security officer before the Freeze. As the train's chief law enforcement officer, he tried to maintain the train's order, but ended up respecting and allying with Layton, and ultimately decides to support Layton's revolution. He and his wife, Anne, and one of his three children survived the Freeze. In season 2, he works with Layton and his former subordinate Bess Till to maintain order in the wake of Wilford's return. He is one of Layton's leadership council alongside Ruth Wardell, Miss Audrey and Bennett Knox following Melanie's departure from the train. Near the end of season 2, he is placed in the Drawers on Big Alice along with his family. After Layton's return in season 3, he is rescued by Till and Dr. Pelton, but they discover that Anne had died at some point during their time in the Drawers. Roche subsequently struggles to deal with his grief and anger over Anne's death. Roche and his daughter choose to join the people going to New Eden at the end of the season.
Annalise Basso as Lilah Jr. "LJ" Folger-Osweiller (season 1–3): The isolated teenage daughter of Lilah and Robert, she lives uptrain with her parents in First Class, surrounded by luxury. Appearing to be quiet and diligent, she is later revealed as a murderous psychopath and sadist, and the mastermind behind the serial murders on Snowpiercer committed by her bodyguard and boyfriend Erik Sotto. She is exposed by Layton, arrested and found guilty in a tribunal, but her acquittal on Melanie's order makes her one of the most hated First Class train passengers. Following the death of both of her parents in the revolution, the orphaned and defenseless LJ is evicted from First Class by Pike, and is now surviving in Third Class with Oz, both of them hated by the train's passengers. LJ reluctantly takes on a janitorial job and bonds with Alex Cavill. She eventually starts dating Oz. In season 3, she and Oz run the Night Car together and continue their relationship.[21] In "The Last to Go," the two get married. In "The Original Sinners," after Oz leaves her for New Eden, LJ accidentally chokes to death on her father's glass eye.
Jaylin Fletcher as Miles (season 1; recurring season 2–present): A Tailie child, whose parents and sister were left behind to die in the Freeze when their refugee group invaded the train, leaving him to be raised primarily by Andre and Josie - the rest of the Tail refer to him as "Miles and Miles" (implying no one is aware of his surname). Whip smart and talented, his brilliant intelligence wins him a coveted apprenticeship that allows him to move up the train to Second Class. He is later fast-track appointed an Engine Apprentice by Melanie. He plays a pivotal role in the revolution, revealing the truth about Melanie's deception to LJ Folger and working with Bennett, Melanie and Layton to kill the Folgers and their army by detaching seven cars from the train. In season 2, Miles is revealed to be working on engineering life systems and dreams of being one of the first people to recolonize the planet. In season 3, he visits with Josie, is revealed to have continued his apprenticeship and suggests the solution for settling the dispute between Layton and Pike. When the trains separate, Miles remains with Snowpiercer to continue training as an Engineer with Melanie and Bennett, resuming working in the Engine with them in the absence of Javi. Gabriel Jacob-Cross plays Young Miles.[22]
Steven Ogg as Pike (seasons 2–3; recurring season 1): A Tailie, who was a career convict, serving time in Cook County Jail for armed robbery at the time of the Freeze, but escaped.[23][24] He is respected as a hardened and battle-scarred leader in the Tail, and a warrior of his people, though he often acts as a renegade, out for whatever he can get and has shifting loyalties. In season 2, he starts an illicit trade between the two trains which Layton agrees to allow under his supervision. After assassinating Terence on Layton's orders, Pike suffers something of a breakdown out of guilt. In season 3, he assists Ruth Wardell in running the resistance on Snowpiercer in Layton's absence. After attempting to assassinate Layton, Pike is stabbed to death by him in a fight to the death in "Born to Bleed." He subsequently reappears as a priest in Layton's coma dream in "Ouroboros."
Rowan Blanchard as Alexandra "Alex" Cavill (season 2–present; guest season 1): Melanie's daughter and Big Alice's Engineer, who was believed to have died in the Freeze when her mother was forced to leave her behind when Snowpiercer left Chicago seven years ago. In the season 1 finale, Alex returns aboard Big Alice. She spent seven years on Big Alice as Wilford's dedicated protégée. Wilford had also manipulated her into hating Melanie, her mother, by convincing her that Melanie "stole" the train and left her behind. Upon their reunification, Alex and her mother slowly began to rekindle their relationship. Alex also starts becoming friendly with LJ Folger despite their differing loyalties. Alex eventually abandons Wilford and joins Layton's pirate train. After reuniting with her mother in season 3, she decides to join Layton in going to New Eden rather than remaining on Snowpiercer with Melanie.
Sean Bean as Joseph Wilford (season 2–present; uncredited season 1): An eccentric billionaire and genius inventor, Mr. Wilford is the powerful creator of Snowpiercer, worshipped as a Messiah-like figure who used his company, Wilford Industries, to refit his luxury liner train, "Wilford's Dreamliner" and its global railway into an ark, Snowpiercer, to save a small population from the Freeze (though in truth Melanie performed the engineering work to do so, and he claimed the credit). Initially believed to be the mysterious and reclusive Head Engineer of the train represented solely by Melanie, it is later revealed that he was not actually aboard Snowpiercer, with Melanie only maintaining the illusion that he was. After the secret was revealed, wealthy passengers from First Class attempted a coup, and the Tail and Third Class began a revolution. In the season 1 finale, after the revolution, Wilford returns in control of a secondary supply train, Big Alice, and docks with Snowpiercer. With his new technology and a master plan, Wilford intends to resume command of both trains and reunite with Audrey, who was his personal escort before the Freeze.[25][26][27]
Chelsea Harris as Sykes (season 3;[28] recurring season 2): Mr. Wilford's head of security aboard Big Alice, Sykes keeps her secrets and is loyal to Wilford. At the end of the second season, Sykes is captured by Bennett Knox and remains a prisoner onboard Layton's pirate train. In season 3, she has joined the crew, stating that she is doing her part as a prisoner of war. However, her loyalty to Wilford appears to be wavering and she is left to roam free by Layton after he retakes Snowpiercer. She later bonds with Javi over their mutual trauma from dealing with Wilford, revealing that her scars also come from an attack by Wilford's dog Jupiter. When the trains separate, Sykes joins Layton in going to New Eden.
Archie Panjabi as Asha (season 3)[29] A survivor discovered by Layton in a nuclear power plant in North Korea. In "Born to Bleed," Asha tells Pike that she's Indian and had lived in England. In "Setting Itself Right," she sacrifices herself to save Snowpiercer from a cloud of toxic volcanic gas.
Recurring
Aaron Glenane as the Last Australian (seasons 1–2): A Tailie, and scrappy charmer from Perth with an intense desire to survive and have children because, as far as he knows, he is the last Australian. It's revealed that his real name is Murray, although no one calls him that. In season 2, Murray learns that he is not in fact the last Australian as there is another Australian aboard Big Alice, Emilia, who had also believed herself to be the last. In season 3, it's mentioned that he had died of influenza during the six months that Layton was away.[30]
Karin Konoval as Dr. Pelton: Snowpiercer's physician who lives in Second Class, a friendly doctor who finds herself caught up in the politics and machinations aboard the train. She later supports Layton's revolution, hiding him and Josie and treating the wounded. In season 2, she remains one of Layton's most trusted supporters and is often seen representing Second Class in discussions. In season 3, she helps the revolution in Layton's absence as well as treating Layton's injuries and delivering his daughter Liana, leading her to clash with Mrs. Headwood over her unethical experiments. When the trains separate, she chooses to remain on Snowpiercer and is seen holding hands with Miss Gillies, suggesting a possible relationship between the two women.
Aleks Paunovic as Bojan "Boki" Boscovic: The leader of Snowpiercer's Breachmen, one of the most dangerous jobs on the train, he has a large and fearsome appearance; with frostbite scars and stumped ears, but is upbeat and jokes about the cold and the hazards of the job.[31] His loyalty to Mr. Wilford becomes a problem for Layton and his fragile democracy after his return. Boki reveals that he has been working for Wilford since he was fourteen years old and has a hard time believing Wilford would betray his trust, even after the other Breachmen are murdered. After repairing Wilford's sabotage to the train, seeing Wilford's betrayal with his own eyes, he defects to Layton's side completely. He is apparently killed in the second season finale when the Aquarium Car is destroyed. At the end of the third season, he's revealed to have survived the explosion and has been nursed back to health by Mrs. Headwood as Wilford's new cold man with the added effect that he is now impervious to pain. However, he appears to be mute and brainwashed into serving Wilford again. When the trains separate, both Boki and Mrs. Headwood join Big Alice in going to New Eden.
Happy Anderson as Dr. Henry Klimpt (season 1): A research scientist-turned-doctor living in Second Class. He oversees those unfortunate enough to be sentenced to the coffin-like Drawers. He later supports Layton's revolution.[32]
Timothy V. Murphy as Nolan Grey (season 1; guest season 2): The commander of Snowpiercer's Jackboots security force, he is a brilliant tactician and a hardened Special Forces leader, who commanded men in the British SAS before the Freeze. He relishes keeping things in order and getting his hands dirty in combat.[32] He is presumed dead after the penultimate episode of season 1 when Layton, Melanie, Bennett and Miles cut seven cars loose. In the second season, he reappears in flashbacks to the night the train was boarded.
Kerry O'Malley as Lilah Folger, Sr. (season 1): A First Class passenger who knew Mr. Wilford before the Freeze, and a former corporate lawyer from old money, who is fiercely protective of her own, particularly her daughter LJ and the rest of First Class, with whom she shares a vested interest in maintaining their security and privilege.[33] Matriarch of one of First’s leading families, she regularly makes complaints to Hospitality about things like etiquette in the sauna, and questions Melaine’s authority when things don’t go her way, though won’t go so far as to challenge Wilford himself. When it is discovered Wilford is not aboard, Lilah is amongst those who position themselves to lead the new regime governing the train. She, along with her husband, are both presumed dead after the penultimate episode of season 1 when Layton, Melanie, Bennett and Miles cut seven cars loose.
Vincent Gale as Robert Folger (season 1): A First Class passenger who knew Mr. Wilford before the Freeze, who is convinced that First Class is essential for the wellbeing of Snowpiercer, and that Third Class and the Tail Section are dispensable. He takes advantage of the revelation of Melanie's impersonation of Wilford to lead a coup attempt to remove her from her position, an act leading to Leyton's revolution. He, along with his wife, are both killed in the penultimate episode of season 1 when Layton, Melanie, Bennett and Miles cut seven cars loose. Robert has a glass eye stemming from his daughter poking out his real eye during a temper tantrum which LJ accidentally chokes to death on at the end of season 3.
Jonathan Lloyd Walker as Big John (season 1): A Tailie who works in Sanitation along with others from the Tail; work that is harsh slave-like labor. He is killed in the revolution.[32]
Brent Stait as Jakes Carter: A Tunnelman in Snowpiercer's undercarriage.
Shaun Toub as Terence (seasons 1–2): The head janitor aboard Snowpiercer who lives in Third Class, he is a charming, conniving, and ultimately dangerous janitor-turned-gangster who rules the Black Market with an enigmatic power, inspiring fierce loyalty in his army of minions. He is killed by Pike under Layton's orders for threatening Josie's safety.[34]
Fiona Vroom as Mary-Elizabeth Gillies: A primary teacher aboard Snowpiercer who lives in Second Class, she is an encouraging and well-rounded school teacher who is responsible for educating Snowpiercer's next generation.[30] A juror on the LJ Folger tribunal, she later supports Layton's revolution. She chooses to remain onboard Snowpiercer when the trains separate and she is seen holding hands with Dr. Pelton, suggesting a possible relationship between the two women.
Kwasi Thomas as Z-Wreck: A Tailie who is imprisoned in the Drawers following the failed revolution. He is later rescued by the Last Australian and comes to Layton and Roche's rescue along with Strong Boy. In season 3, he is shown to be running a speakeasy in the Third Class market.
Miranda Edwards as Lights: A Tailie and electronics expert.[35] Following the revolution, she runs her own shop in the markets which is seen several times in season 3.
Kurt Ostlund as Strong Boy (seasons 1–3): A Tailie, a mute young man who takes part in the failed revolution. As a result, he is locked in the Drawers. Strong Boy is later rescued by the Last Australian, and inexplicably can speak Mandarin upon revival. He aids Layton against Commander Grey in the revolution and survives to enjoy the benefits. In season 2, he begins regaining the ability to speak English. In season 3, six months later, he has regained the ability to speak English completely and serves in Ruth's resistance. He is tortured to death by Kevin McMahon in "The First Blow" but he reappears in the form of Pike's nightmare in "Born to Bleed."
Emma Oliver as Winnipeg "Winnie": A Tailie child, the daughter of Suzanne and the sister of Patterson. Winnie takes part in the failed revolution by using a severed hand to open a door, resulting in her mother being punished by having her whole arm frozen off. Winnie ends up losing both her mother and brother as a result of the revolutions. In season 2, she has been adopted by Lights and often helps by running messages and other small tasks for Layton, something that she continues doing during Layton's absence in season 3. It's mentioned in the third season that she was born on the train and that she was named after the closest city as part of a Tailie naming tradition.
Bryan Terrell Clark as Pastor Logan (season 2): A priest on Snowpiercer who counsels Bess Till over her struggles following the revolution. He is eventually revealed to be a Wilford supporter and his mole on Snowpiercer. After being exposed, Pastor Logan commits suicide by purposefully exposing his head to the outside air.
Tom Lipinski as Kevin McMahon (seasons 2–3): Big Alice's Head of Hospitality, and his loyalty to Mr. Wilford knows no bounds. Briefly captured and held as a POW by Layton and the rebels after being captured during a failed raid on Big Alice, he is released in exchange for Melanie, and is apparently compelled by Wilford to commit suicide as an act of loyalty after giving up information on Big Alice's crew. It's later revealed that he's actually still alive. After Layton retakes the train, he is stabbed to death by LJ Folger for his murder of Strong Boy so that she can be on the winning side of the revolution.
Damian Young as Mr. Headwood (season 2): An eccentric scientist on Big Alice alongside his wife, working on illicit experiments regarding the Freeze. In "The Last to Go," he is mentioned to have died of influenza.
Sakina Jaffrey as Mrs. Headwood (season 2–present): An eccentric scientist on Big Alice alongside her husband, and often debates with him about Mr. Wilford's agenda as they work on secret experiments on his behalf. After Wilford's defeat in season 3, she continues her work, but she clashes on several occasions with Layton and Dr. Pelton over her experiments upon Layton's unborn daughter Liana. Alongside Boki, she accompanies Big Alice to New Eden at the end of the third season.
Andre Tricoteux as Icy Bob (season 2): A hulking brute aboard Big Alice, Icy Bob is Mr. Wilford's greatest and most fearsome weapon. However, he does not appear to be unsympathetic to Snowpiercer's plight, keeping quiet about Josie's spying. After sabotaging Snowpiercer's water intakes in "The Eternal Engineer," Icy Bob suffers injuries from the cold beyond even his ability to survive and he dies.
Georgina Haig as Emilia (season 2): A seamstress and Alex's friend aboard Big Alice, Emilia is Australian-native of Perth who thought she was the only Australian until she met Murray on Snowpiercer. In season 3, it's mentioned that she had died of influenza during the six months that Layton was away.
Esther Ming Li as Carly Roche (season 2–present): Sam and Anne's teenage daughter who later befriends Alex. Alongside her father, she accompanies Layton to New Eden at the end of the third season.
Guest
Manoj Sood as Rajiv Sharma (seasons 1,2): A First Class passenger and chair of their committee (though he has no real authority).[36]
Ian Collins as Tristan: A First Class passenger and Ruth's assistant. After Ruth joins the journey to New Eden in season 3, he becomes the new Head of Hospitality.
Renée Victor as Mama Grandé (seasons 1–2): A Tailie who speaks almost no English, and is Santiago's grandmother. She survives her grandson's death in the revolution, and chooses to remain in the Tail. In season 3, it's mentioned that she had died of influenza during the six months that Layton was away.
Michel Issa Rubio as Santiago (season 1):[37] A Tailie, Mama Grandé's grandson and one of Layton's friends. He dies in the penultimate episode of season 1 when Layton, Melanie, Bennett and Miles cut seven cars loose; Layton not having enough time to rescue his imprisoned friends.
Tom Kirk as Clay (season 1): A Third Class passenger and bartender working in the Nightcar beside Audrey and Zarah. He dies in the penultimate episode of season 1 when Layton, Melanie, Bennett and Miles cut seven cars loose; Layton not having enough time to rescue his imprisoned friends.
Stephen Lobo as Martin Colvin (season 1, 3): A First Class passenger who warns Melanie about the Folgers' planned revolution. He later supports Layton's revolution, by secretly providing them with a gun, as Martin does not want the Folgers or Commander Grey to take over the train. In season 3, he is a part of the crew of the pirate train, having inadvertently stowed away aboard. He later betrays Layton and the others onboard, but is seemingly killed after Bess hits him over the head as he is not seen again afterwards.
Yee Jee Tso as York Lam (seasons 1–2): A First Class passenger and Martin's husband.
Dylan Schmid as Patterson (season 1): A Tailie young man, Suzanne's son and Winnie's older brother. After the failed revolution, his mother gets her arm frozen off and ultimately dies of infection, leaving Patterson to lead the family. He dies in the Nightcar battle in Layton's revolution.
William Stanford Davis as Mr. Riggs (season 1): A Tailie and devout religious man, and one of Layton's friends. He dies in the penultimate episode of season 1 when Layton, Melanie, Bennett and Miles cut seven cars loose; Layton not having enough time to rescue his imprisoned friends.
Madeleine Arthur as Nicolette "Nikki" Genêt (season 1): A Third Class passenger who was believed to be behind the first Snowpiercer murder and was locked in the Drawers as a result. With the new round of murders, she is released as a witness, but remains in a catatonic state. She is later murdered by Erik Sotto, but she appears in one of Layton's nightmares while Layton is in the Drawers.
Ellie Harvie as The Notary: A woman whose job is to oversee the recording of all events on Snowpiercer. As part of this job, she oversees the executions of captured revolutionaries, but apparently aids Jinju's plan to rescue Melanie by buying her and Javi time to get Melanie out.
Amanda Brugel as Eugenia (seasons 1–2): A First Class passenger who initially invested $400 million to build Snowpiercer. She is later one of the assassins who murders the Breachmen. After taking control of Snowpiercer, Wilford executes Eugenia and the other assassins by having them breathe in outside air.
Sarah Strange as Suzanne (season 1): A Tailie and the mother of Patterson and Winnie, whose arm is frozen off as punishment for her daughter's role in the failed revolution. Despite her son and Josie's efforts, Suzanne later dies of an infection from her lost arm.
Gary Hetherington as Walter Flemming (season 1): A Third Class passenger and papermaker aboard Snowpiercer. A juror on the LJ Folger tribunal, he later supports Layton's revolution and is executed for his actions.
Jane McGregor as Astrid: A former Tailie who was able to move uptrain years before, as she was chosen for an apprenticeship. Now living in Third Class, and working in Snowpiercer's Food Processing, she maintains her loyalty to the Tail, and aids in preparing for the revolution. In season 2, she is now assisting Dr. Pelton in treating the wounded after the revolution. In season 3, she acts as the head of food processing after Layton retakes the train and she joins the journey to New Eden.
Matt Murray as Erik Sotto (season 1): A First Class private security officer and former Marine, who was hired to be the bodyguard of the Folger family during the Freeze. He is LJ's boyfriend, and acts as the muscle of the Snowpiercer serial killing team before being killed himself by Jackboots.
Mark Margolis as Old Ivan (season 1): A Russian Tailie, the oldest person on Snowpiercer, Layton's mentor and a longstanding, respected member of the Tail. After celebrating his 84th birthday (possibly making him the oldest man left on Earth), he hangs himself, causing the Tail to revolt.[38]
Elaine Kao as Anne Roche (seasons 2–3): Sam's wife, who is ambivalent about supporting Layton, and considers supporting Wilford. She is later discovered to have died in the Drawers during her six months trapped there.
In an attempt to reverse global warming, chemicals were released into Earth's atmosphere to make the planet cooler. The plan backfires and freezes most of the inhabitable world. Seven years into the Freeze, the last remaining humans live onboard the train Snowpiercer, constructed by a mysterious Mr. Wilford with funding from a small group of elites and hundreds of ticket buyers. Some passengers have forced their way aboard the train without tickets, however. Called "Tailies", they now live in the tail end of the train where constantly deteriorating conditions have prompted them to rebel several times. One Tailie named Andre Layton is called by Melanie Cavill, the public announcer or Voice of the Train, to help solve a murder because Layton used to be a homicide detective. Layton, while trying to negotiate better conditions for his class, is reunited with his ex-wife Zarah who is one of the suspects. After the suicide of a Tailie, the rest of the group revolt but are talked down by Layton who agrees to help solve the murder. He also plans to infiltrate the front of the train to recruit more allies and plan for the next rebellion. At the end of the day, Melanie takes over driving the train and is revealed to be acting in Mr. Wilford's place.
Melanie opens up a cabinet and looks at an old picture of her holding a baby. As she goes on about her day, the train starts shaking because of rough tracks, triggering avalanches. One engineer recommends that throttling back the engine, but because it is also used to generate electricity, slowing down would cause rolling blackouts throughout the train. Melanie does not want to risk exacerbating the already tense situation. Meanwhile, the leaders of the Tailie rebellion are put into stasis, and Ruth oversees a little girl's punishment for her involvement. However, her mother stands up and offers her own arm instead. The enforcers wet her arm and put it through a hole in the train's car to the outside, where the temperature is minus 100 degrees. It freezes instantly and is then smashed by a hammer as punishment. In the Drawer car, Nikki is removed from stasis but has trouble waking up. With the help of Till, Layton begins investigating the latest murder, theorizing that the train's butchers have been cannibalizing the dead and serving them as food to the passengers. As the train passes through a rough set of mountainous tracks, a massive avalanche hits it. Although Snowpiercer survives, the windows of the cattle car were shattered, freezing the last cows on Earth and some of the butchers. The damage and losses led to a series of supply chain shortages and rolling blackouts. Till suggests pinning the murder on the dead butchers, but Layton is convinced that the murder and the cannibalism are two separate crimes. At the same time, he continues to prepare for another rebellion and realizes that the murder victim was an informant for Mr. Wilford. Melanie and others who knew about Mr. Wilford's absence become concerned about what the informant might have revealed under torture before he was killed.
As unrest grows, Melanie organizes a fight night as distraction with a promise to upgrade the winner to Second Class, but the fight turns into a riot that must be broken up. Layton learns that the murder victim, Sean, was investigating the black market drug Kronole, which has been present in the tail for some time. He discovers that the drug is a street variant of the suspension drug used to put people into stasis. It is supplied by the train's doctor. With the help of Zarah, Layton arranges a meeting with Terrence, the head of janitorial and the black market, who descrbies to him a First Class passenger in close contact with Sean right before the murder. Layton later visits and kisses Josie, secretly passing her an implant that grants access to many parts of the train. The still-recovering Nikki is visited by a man matching Terence's description of the killer.
Nikki is murdered by the man who had visited her. He is now on the loose. With the border between different parts of the train closed due to the riot, he is trapped in Third Class. Layton tries to enlisting Third Class into his revolution while the killer is identified as Erik, the bodyguard for the Folger family. Layton fears that First Class will shield Erik from legal proceedings and punishment. Melanie, who is revealed to have also come from humble beginnings, appears willing to help Layton bring Erik to justice. As Layton investigates Erik's connection to the Folger family, he realizes that LJ Folger is the true mastermind behind Erik's actions. After a chase, Erik is killed by the Jackboots while LJ is arrested. At the same time, Josie uses the implant Layton gave her to sneak her way from the Tail forward and make contact with Astrid, a former Tailie, to ask her for help. Layton deduces Mr. Wilford's absence during his interactions with First Class and Melanie. As a result, Melanie drugs him and has him secretly placed into stasis.
Till moves to Second Class after she and Jinju marry. In the Drawers, Layton has nightmares about stopping the cannibal gangs that used to terrorize the Tail. LJ's tribunal begins. Audrey successfully petitions Melanie to make the jury include a representative from the Third Class in addition to those from First and Second. The Folger family plots a mutiny against Mr. Wilford, but a loyal first class passenger warns Melanie. At the tribunal, LJ paints herself as a victim of Erik and hints that she has learned about secrets regarding the stasis Drawers from the murder victims. Though the jury unanimously finds LJ guilty, "Mr. Wilford" intervenes to commute her sentence. LJ promises Melanie that since Mr. Wilford has intervened to help her, she will keep the secrets she has learned. Meanwhile, Josie enlists the help of Terrence to search for Layton. Terrence abandons her after stealing drugs from Medical, but Josie finally locates Layton's drawer. Till and Oz find Josie during their patrol, but at the last minute Till betrays Oz and helps Josie and Layton escape. The two seek out Zarah for help.
A recovering Layton is taken to Dr. Pelton by Josie. Dr. Pelton reveals that there is a blacklist for the Drawers, people she believes to be enemies of the state targeted for imprisonment, a list which contains Layton, Josie and the doctor. A short-circuit damages Snowpiercer's hydraulics and places the train in danger of derailing on a canyon bridge; Melanie manages to fix the problem just in time, saving the train from destruction. During these events, Layton confronts Melanie with the intention of killing her, but she reveals that the Drawers are not a prison, but a lifeboat for four hundred specially selected people in case order breaks down and stasis is the only chance of the human race surviving. Layton is forced to let Melanie go so she can save the train and he ends up having sex with Josie to whom he reveals the truth about Melanie. Oz blackmails Till into giving him free rein to abuse the passengers, but their near-death experience causes her to refuse to follow his demands further; after the death of Suzanne, the Tail sets up a projector to see the outside world. Melanie takes an interest in Miles's developing skill as an engineer and states that Mr. Wilford needs a favor from him.
Melanie promotes Miles to Engineer Apprentice to replace the man killed stopping the derailment and he is taken by Melanie to work in the Engine itself; when Josie makes contact with him, Miles promises to do his part in the upcoming rebellion. The Folgers and Commander Grey enlist Ruth in their own revolution; though Ruth tries to warn Melanie, Melanie brushes her off, causing Ruth to seemingly change her mind. Melanie embarks on a brutal campaign to find Layton, threatening Zarah into revealing that Josie helped Layton escape. Melanie brutally tortures Josie for information before she escapes her bonds with the help of a sympathetic Till; during the fight that follows, Josie freezes to death when outside air fills the room while Melanie escapes and is shown to be struggling with her ruthless actions. Layton reveals the truth about Melanie to the leaders of Third that Audrey trusts, although Terrence refuses to help either Layton or Melanie. After learning of Josie's death from Till, Layton approaches LJ for help, offering to tell her the dirtiest secret on the train.
8
8
"These Are His Revolutions"
Everardo Gout
Tina de la Torre Television story by : Hiram Martinez & Tina de la Torre
Miles shows LJ the truth about Melanie; after LJ informs her parents, Ruth turns on Melanie and imprisons her to await execution. Miles and Bennett are forced to lock themselves in the engine while Javi joins the Folgers and Melanie admits to Ruth that she abandoned the real Mr. Wilford to die at boarding, believing that due to his selfish nature, the human race wouldn't survive with him in charge. Layton's revolution begins with Till and Henry Klimpt joining while Roche and the Brakemen, shaken by the truth, are convinced to stand down without a fight although Commander Grey and the Jackboots continue to oppose them. In the revolution, particularly a massive battle in the Nightcar, both sides suffer heavy losses, including Big John and Patterson, before being left at a stalemate. The Last Australian and Klimpt begin setting free the people from the Drawers, only to find Pike gone, having been freed by the Folgers. Pike states that due to Layton's kind nature, with enough continuing pressure, his revolution will ultimately crumble.
First begins executing captured revolutionaries while offering Layton an ultimatum through Pike: surrender or they will kill everyone; after learning that Zarah is pregnant with his child, Layton agrees to take the deal. With the help of Jinju and Javi, who defects due to First's ruthless tactics, Melanie escapes execution and offers Layton a plan to defeat the Folgers and their army of Jackboots by disconnecting part of the train at a switch track. With the plan requiring safety switches to be released on either side, Layton infiltrates the front of the train with the help of Roche and then escapes Grey's custody with the help of the Last Australian and the revolutionaries rescued from the Drawers. However, Layton discovers that disconnecting the train will also sacrifice the people who have been captured; with no time to rescue them, Layton disables the safety, allowing Bennett and Miles to disconnect seven cars, sending the Folgers, aside from LJ, Grey, the Jackboots and the prisoners to their deaths. Melanie reveals that she knew that Layton would have to sacrifice the prisoners, stating that such hard choices are what they have to live with for every second of their existence.
In the aftermath of the revolution, Melanie officially hands over control of Snowpiercer to Layton who plans to set up a democratic government. The Tailes go wild enjoying their new freedom while Pike takes over the Folgers' compartment for a never-ending party and evicts the orphaned LJ who bonds with Oz. As Snowpiercer approaches Chicago, the Engine picks up a mysterious signal suggesting possible survivors; the signal turns out to come from Big Alice, a supply train running on a prototype of the Eternal Engine. Melanie fears the train is being run by Mr. Wilford; something that Bennett says they can't be sure of. Big Alice clamps onto Snowpiercer and begins taking control of it while Bennett is revealed to have purposefully slowed the train in order to gain access to everything aboard Big Alice. Melanie heads outside to cut the uplink, but is thrown from the train when Big Alice brings it to a stop in the middle of Chicago. A young woman emerges from Big Alice to demand Snowpiercer's surrender on Mr. Wilford's behalf; to everyone's shock, she identifies herself as Alexandra Cavill, Melanie's believed-dead daughter.
Melanie manages to cut Wilford's uplink to Snowpiercer's systems and discovers that it is snowing outside despite the temperature being too cold for it. Snowpiercer, now too low on power to simultaneously maintain life support and enough power to restart movement causing rapidly falling temperatures is forced to turn over a list of supplies to Wilford before the trains start moving again, and Layton works to maintain order onboard by reluctantly declaring martial law while Melanie is captured and reunited with Wilford and Alexandra; Wilford demands that Melanie surrender Snowpiercer but she refuses to cooperate. Layton leads an invasion of Big Alice that is repelled, but they manage to capture a hostage, Kevin, who claims that Wilford can restart everything even if everybody else dies in the process. Wilford decides to disconnect from Snowpiercer and let the passengers die with Alex complying after a moment of hesitation. However, Melanie had planted a bomb on the connecting mechanism, destroying it and permanently linking Snowpiercer and Big Alice much to the admiration of Alex; Wilford is forced to start the trains moving again.
Layton and Roche learn from Kevin that there are only around a hundred people on Big Alice and that there is a food shortage; Wilford later trades Melanie for Kevin, but he seemingly compels Kevin to commit suicide for revealing secrets. Lights is attacked and two of her fingers amputated, prompting Layton to promote Till to Train Detective to investigate; Till eventually realizes that Lights' fingers have been amputated to match Wilford's three-fingered salute. Melanie reveals that she believes that CW-7, the compound that froze Earth, is breaking up in the atmosphere, resulting in the planet starting to warm up again; Snowpiercer launches a weather balloon into the upper atmosphere that confirms this theory. Layton and Melanie hold a scientific summit with Wilford where he has Alex make an aborted assassination attempt on Layton. Melanie proposes a plan to exploit the planetary warming to find a place warm enough to recolonize, but the mission requires her spending a month at a research station alone. In the Third Class clinic, Zarah discovers that Josie is still alive, albeit in a severely-frostbitten state. After contemplating killing Josie, Zarah informs Layton, who rushes to Josie's side as she regains consciousness.
At the end of the episode, a title card urges those who are suffering from feelings of depression or suicide or know someone who is to seek help by contacting the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or the Crisis Text Line.
Layton suggests a trade of food for much-needed supplies to repair Snowpiercer and forges an alliance with Bennett to keep the train safe in Melanie's absence. Till and Roche continue to investigate the attack on Lights and come to the conclusion that the Breachmen, loyal to Wilford, are responsible; Miss Audrey shows signs of cracking and a possible descent into alcoholism. Josie, while bitter about her condition and the loss of Tailies in Melanie's plan to win the revolution, recognizes that Layton's child and Melanie's plan represent hope and the future and agrees to support Layton. Pike finds himself at odds with his illicit trade between the trains shut down; Layton agrees to allow him to reopen it under his supervision. In order to reach the research station, Snowpiercer and Big Alice are forced to cross a dangerous section of track. While preparing for Melanie's departure, she and Alex bond, leading to a tearful goodbye; Melanie reassures her daughter that she is better than Wilford's manipulations and that Alex has people on Snowpiercer who she can trust and rely on should she choose to.
Wilford offers to treat Snowpiercer'sfrostbite patients so Layton invites Wilford and his crew for a night out on Snowpiercer; Josie's frostbite proves to be severe enough that she requires a more dedicated treatment on Big Alice, however. Till is shown to struggle with the losses the train has suffered and attacks Bojan Boscovic despite his insistence that he's innocent in the attack on Lights. Miss Audrey, a former paramour of Wilford's, is revealed to have a sadomasochistic relationship with him where she is the dominant party. Layton continues to resist trusting Ruth so Zarah joins Hospitality to contribute and to try to bring the two together. During the party, Alex and LJ bond as does the Last Australian and Alex's friend Emilia who is revealed to also be Australian. Snowpiercer launches the first of their weather balloons and after a tense moment, Melanie makes contact, proving that she had survived her journey to the research station.
At the end of the episode, a title card urges those who are suffering from feelings of depression or suicide or know someone who is to seek help by contacting the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or the Crisis Text Line.
As the trains prepare to turn around, Melanie fails to make contact with the latest weather balloon, sparking fears that she has perished; the crew decide to keep this a secret in order to keep hope alive. Wilford invites Miss Audrey to spend time with him on Big Alice and, apparently without success, she attempts to make it so that Snowpiercer can spy on Wilford's communications. Still recovering under the Headwoods' care, Josie manages to send messages to Layton through Pike's illicit trade network; although Icy Bob finds out, he keeps quiet and warns Josie not to trust the Headwoods and to be careful. Till continues to struggle and lets off some steam through sparring with Pastor Logan who suggests that Layton's reign is falling apart and that they need a new leader; after Terence threatens Josie's safety, Layton has a reluctant Pike assassinate him. From Josie, Layton learns that Wilford is planning something with the Breachmen just before all but Bojan are assassinated by disguised figures. Wilford offers both Audrey and Ruth to join him on Big Alice as the border is sealed which Audrey accepts but Ruth does not.
In flashbacks, Melanie and Wilford argue about which people to save as the Freeze gets worse; after Wilford has the Jackboots kill innocent people trying to board the train, Melanie reluctantly decides to steal Snowpiercer and leave Wilford behind. In the present, Melanie reaches the research station, but most of her supplies are wiped out in an avalanche. Alone, Melanie experiences hallucinations of Wilford, Layton and Alex while discovering the bodies of three scientists who had resorted to cannibalism in order to survive and some rats who managed to survive seven years due to a geothermal vent opening up. After a falling antenna nearly causes Melanie to lose her data, she fails to make contact with the train which becomes overdue. When Melanie returns to the tracks, Snowpiercer and Big Alice rush by with fire coming out of the underside of Big Alice and Alex yelling for her as alarms blare in the background, suggesting that something has gone terribly wrong; unable to reboard the train, Melanie is left alone at the side of the tracks.
Alex finds herself excluded by Wilford due to her divided loyalties; Miss Audrey is enlisted by Wilford to treat a still-alive but traumatized Kevin, turning him into a fully-brainwashed follower of Wilford. The attack on the Breachmen leads to riots and attacks on the Tailies; while hiding with Winnie, Ruth is confronted with how her own actions under the old regime led to Suzanne's death. In an effort to defuse the situation, Layton offers to allow his arm to be frozen off, but Ruth stands up for him, urging people not to make the same mistakes she did; the approach of the Brakemen forces the rioters to retreat without further injury, but promising to exact more retribution later. With the help of Oz, Till manages to track down one of the Breachmen's killers, a First Class passenger and realizes from her comments that Pastor Logan is the mastermind behind the attacks; he commits suicide after being confronted. As the trains pass through a multi-layered bridge, passengers light lanterns all throughout Snowpiercer, calling for Wilford; Wilford orders Sykes to have Icy Bob prepared.
At the end of the episode, a title card urges those who are suffering from feelings of depression or suicide or know someone who is to seek help by contacting the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or the Crisis Text Line.
LJ and Oz continue to work in janitorial and begin forming a romantic relationship; Josie continues to recover and begins displaying a resistance to cold temperatures similar to Icy Bob who Wilford has sabotage Snowpiercer's snow intake, but Icy Bob dies as a result. Bojan fixes the problem and defects to Layton's side after realizing that Wilford really had betrayed him and the Breachmen; however, the sabotage damages Snowpiercer's main computer forcing Layton to allow Wilford into the Engine to fix it, something that Layton tries to hide from the rest of the train. Although Wilford repairs it, due to Melanie's modifications to the Engine, complications arise forcing Wilford to manually restart the Engine, revealing his presence to the train. In the aftermath, Layton signals the Tail that things have gone badly with a flare before surrendering and is taken aboard Big Alice while Roche, who was struggling with his loyalty, is placed into the Drawers on Big Alice with his family. A pleased Wilford resumes his place in Snowpiercer's Engine, having successfully retaken control of the train.
In the aftermath of Wilford taking control of Snowpiercer, Layton is forced to work in Compost on Big Alice while Javi works in Big Alice's Engine under guard with Bennett doing the same on Snowpiercer. Wilford opens a carnival on the train and begins rooting out those who will be valuable to him; in an effort to get Till to become his moral advisor, Wilford personally executes the Breachmen's killers and has the Headwoods test Josie's new abilities. Completely disillusioned with Wilford, Alex reveals that he killed half of Big Alice's crew to save resources and plans to perform a similar culling on Snowpiercer. Having learned that Melanie has lost contact, Wilford refuses to go back for her and Ruth turns on him completely and is sent to Compost to work with Layton. Javi picks up a transmission from Melanie that he hides from Wilford, he manages to send a message to Layton and Ruth who begin plotting their escape together.
Layton and Ruth manage to escape and take over the Engine with Alex's help while Bennett subdues Sykes but the plan goes awry after LJ warns Wilford; Javi is mauled by Wilford's dog Jupiter and Wilford is able to prevent them from picking up Melanie. Escaping to Snowpiercer, Alex proposes creating a ten-car pirate train by breaching the Aquarium car, allowing them to go back for Melanie and plan how to stop Wilford, however, Zarah chooses to remain behind so Layton keeps Audrey as a hostage. An attempt by Bojan to disconnect the cars is foiled by the Jackboots, but Josie is able to destroy the car from the outside, successfully separating the train. With Layton, Bennett, Till, Josie, Alex and the captive Miss Audrey and Sykes onboard the pirate train, Ruth is inadvertently left behind after being delayed by Kevin. Layton and Alex reach the research station only to find Melanie gone and her data preserved by the last of her power; that reveals that several areas of Earth are warming while a final message from Melanie reveals that she walked into the Freeze to die after expending all of her resources.
In the six months under Wilford, everyone on Big Alice is forced to work in harsh, freezing conditions due to the limited power. With the help of Pike, Ruth leads the resistance in hiding. Javi is revealed to still be alive and working as Big Alice's engineer. On Snowpiercer, Layton's group has not found a habitable location despite Melanie's data. While searching in North Korea, Bennett falls through a roof in a nuclear power plant, forcing Layton and Josie to rescue him. Due to problems with the Engine, Till and Alex are forced to depart and return later, but Miss Audrey and accidental stowaway Martin Colvin attempt to force Alex to meet back up with Big Alice. Sykes, who has become cooperative while a prisoner, shows wavering loyalty to Wilford; refusing to help Audrey and Martin in their actions. Till subdues them and convinces Alex not to give up hope. While waiting for Josie to return, Layton discovers a survivor in the building and after passing out from a lack of power, has a vision of a living tree in Africa. After recharging his suit in the bunker, Layton returns to the train with the survivor that he found.
On Snowpiercer, Layton's crew decides to reconnect with Big Alice before heading to the final location shown by Melanie's data: the Horn of Africa. Layton discovers that the tree in his vision is the dragon blood tree, something that only grows in the Horn of Africa which he takes as a sign that it's the right location. The rescued survivor, Asha, explains that she is the last of a group of scientists and their families that had taken shelter in the nuclear power plant using its residual power to survive. On Big Alice, during LJ and Oz's marriage ceremony, Ruth discovers Kevin, Javi and Wilford setting up an EMP weapon to disable Snowpiercer when the train returns. Ruth rallies Pike, Lights and Strong Boy to disarm the weapon, sacrificing herself to buy them more time. The accidentally activated device is thrown off the train and reveals Big Alice's location to Snowpiercer. As Wilford prepares to freeze off a defiant Ruth's arm in punishment, Snowpiercer suddenly returns on a parallel track and Wilford and the resistance both prepare for battle.
Snowpiercer lures Big Alice into a rail yard, losing four cars to an attack by Wilford while Strong Boy and several other revolutionaries are captured and tortured by Kevin. With the help of a signal from Pike and Ruth, Snowpiercer manages to cut off Big Alice's escape route and Layton sneaks aboard the Engine with Josie and Javi's help, forcing Wilford to surrender the train to him. Wilford is imprisoned while Snowpiercer and Big Alice reconnect, although Wilford expects that Layton's leadership will eventually fail again. After Strong Boy is tortured to death, LJ kills Kevin in order to be on the right side of the revolution and Layton has Miss Audrey exiled to Third by Sykes. In the aftermath, Till and Doctor Pelton rescue Roche and his family, only to discover that Roche's wife had died in the Drawers. Layton decides to put going to the Horn of Africa to a vote, but Layton has Asha lie that he had found her at New Eden in order to get the passengers to agree. With the vote in favor, Snowpiercer sets course for the Horn of Africa which is stated to be along the worst part of the rail network.
Snowpiercer comes across three disconnected Big Alice cars that Alex and Bennett must board and detach the clamps; the cars contain the bodies of the people that Wilford had culled years earlier, including Alex's friend Shilo. During this time, Alex and Wilford are haunted by hallucinations of Melanie; Javi, driving the train, is haunted by hallucinations of Wilford's dog. When a problem crops up, Layton is forced to turn to Wilford for help, but Roche tries to kill Wilford in revenge for his wife's death. Confronting her mixed feelings over Wilford, Alex uses the things that he taught her to solve the problem herself; she later visits a recovering Wilford. At the same time, Asha struggles with survivor's guilt while Ruth and Pike begin forming a romance. Layton learns from Doctor Pelton and Mrs. Headwood that Wilford had the Headwoods perform gene therapy on his unborn child so as to give her a cold immunity similar to that of Josie; Layton is furious when Zarah admits that she had consented to the procedure, but he returns to their shared carriage at the end of the day.
As Zarah goes into labor, a series of terrorist attacks occur targeting Layton; it's revealed that Pike is behind them and trying to assassinate Layton due to his preference of Ruth as a leader and his blaming Layton for the people that they've lost. Despite some complications, Zarah successfully gives birth to Liana Layton. At the same time, Bennett has Javi and Sykes work together on engineering life support systems for the new colony and they bond over their mutual trauma from working for Wilford. Josie experiences an increased dulling of pain across her body as a side effect of her cold treatment and she and Bennett bond over losing the person that they love while Bennett gives Josie training as a Snowpiercer Engineer; the two later have sex. Audrey continues to struggle with her new position in life while Wilford experiences nightmares of his past sins while under the effect of the suspension drug. During this time, Alex reads to Wilford and takes him to watch cartoons to help stimulate Wilford's mind.
With the help of LJ, Miss Audrey sneaks in to see Wilford who is left a broken man from his experiences under the suspension drug; now believing in the possibility of New Eden, Wilford studies the dragon blood tree and the Horn of Africa. Alex bonds with Carly Roche and helps Carly get in to see her father; Carly is able to convince Roche to come home. Till's investigation into the bombing identifies Pike as the culprit, sending him into hiding; Pike encounters Asha and he deduces the truth about Layton's New Eden lie. At the suggestion of Josie and Miles, Layton calls upon Pike to settle their differences via an old Tailie ritual; after Layton is unable to talk Pike down and after he threatens to expose the lie, the two men engage in a fight to the death, ending with Layton killing Pike. Afterwards, while standing vigil over Pike's body, Layton collapses due to the fight aggravating the concussion that he'd gotten in the bombing despite Doctor Pelton's warnings that he needs to be careful.
Comatose from his head injury, Layton dreams that he is part of a resistance led by Wilford on a dystopian Snowpiercer. Layton's various friends and enemies push him to confront what is keeping him trapped. In the real world, Till enlists Miss Audrey's help who reaches out to Layton, urging him to fight his way back. Reaching the Tail, Layton discovers that the boss is his now adult daughter Liana. He then is transported back to the bunker in North Korea where he discovers that his vision of the dragon blood tree came from a picture on a calendar that he saw when near death. Layton awakens with his faith in his leadership shaken by this revelation. Zarah and Josie make peace and Zarah encourages Josie to pursue a romantic relationship with Layton, acknowledging that she and Layton are better off as co-parents. An invigorated Wilford enlists Alex's help in charting out the course of Snowpiercer across the world while it was on the run before revealing that he had picked up a signal in France while Snowpiecer was a continent away. Wilford believes that the signal was from Melanie and that she is in fact still alive.
Bennett and Alex discover the trail of a small autonomous track maintenance vehicle leading back to a hanger on the track where they had left Melanie, supporting Wilford's theory. However, the vehicle is not designed to support life, meaning that Melanie may still have perished. Snowpiercer is diverted from its course to intercept the vehicle, but it has to pass through a cloud of toxic volcanic gas. While everyone shelters in place, Roche spends time with his daughter, Till and Miss Audrey grow closer and Zarah visits Wilford, suspecting that his motivations are to use Melanie to sow chaos amongst the passengers. A broken scrubber lets the toxic air into the train, threatening all of Snowpiecer. Asha sacrifices herself to close the air intake, saving the train and with her last words, she urges Layton not to give up, renewing his sense of purpose. Worried about the implications of Melanie's return, LJ visits Mrs. Headwood who takes blood and skin from her and is shown to be secretly working on someone. After passing through the gas, Bennett and Alex pick up the signal from Melanie's vehicle nearby.
Over the course of six months, Melanie keeps herself alive in a track scaler by using the suspension drug for the Drawers. Snowpiercer manages to catch up to Melanie's vehicle and rescues her, discovering Melanie to be still alive. However, Melanie becomes concerned about Layton's plan to take the train to the Horn of Africa after checking on the data and talking with Wilford who reminds Melanie that the track is unsafe in that area. As the passengers throw a party to celebrate passing the Pyramids of Giza for the last time and Till and Miss Audrey begin a romantic relationship, Melanie betrays Layton, making a public announcement revealing his lie to everyone and seizing the Engine with the help of an enraged Javi. Layton, Bennett, Zarah, Liana, Till and Josie retreat to Big Alice's Engine where Layton vows to fight Melanie for control of the train once again with whoever is still left on their side. In the midst of all of the chaos, Wilford poisons his guards with the help of his supporters, including LJ, and escapes.
Melanie and Layton prepare for war over control of the train. Wilford's forces, including Bojan who is revealed to be still alive and Wilford's new coldman, take control of the Night Car and revel in the chaos. Melanie eventually makes a deal with Wilford, but finds herself conflicted over her actions, as does Layton. Rather than allowing things to escalate any further, Melanie and Layton reach a deal where they exile Wilford together on the track scaler and then give the people a choice between continued life with Melanie on Snowpiercer, or the chance of New Eden with Layton. The separation of the trains forces loved ones to say goodbye as they make their choice about where to go; after Oz leaves her, LJ accidentally chokes to death on her father's glass eye while Till decides to remain with Audrey on Snowpiercer at the last minute and Bennett stays after Melanie commits herself fully to their relationship. The rough track to the Horn of Africa derails Big Alice, but everyone survives and they find outside to be warm and habitable. Three months later, aboard Snowpiercer, Melanie spots a rocket exploding on the horizon sending several mortar shells heading towards the Snowpiercer.
Season 4
Filming for the fourth season has been completed, but the episodes have not aired as of January 2024[update]:[68][5]
In November 2015, Marty Adelstein's Tomorrow Studios optioned the rights to develop a television series based on the 2013 film Snowpiercer. The film had been adapted from the 1982 French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand, and Jean-Marc Rochette. The film's director Bong Joon-ho was attached as an executive producer alongside Adelstein and Josh Friedman, with the latter also set to write.[69] A year later in November 2016, the project was ordered to pilot along with backup scripts by TNT with Friedman to serve as showrunner.[9] In May 2017, it was announced that Scott Derrickson would direct the pilot written by Friedman.[12] The pilot was picked up to series in January 2018.[70][71] Later that month, Friedman was removed from the project by TNT due to "creative differences" with the network.[72]Graeme Manson was appointed to replace Friedman as showrunner the following month.[73] That June, Derrickson refused to return for reshoots on the pilot due to creative disputes with Manson, explaining via Twitter:
"The 72-page Snowpiercer TV pilot script by [Josh Friedman] is the best I've ever read. The feature-length pilot I made from that script may be my best work. The new showrunner has a radically different vision for the show. I am forgoing my option to direct the extreme reshoots."[74]
Less than two weeks later, James Hawes joined the series in July as a co-executive producer and a director to oversee the reshoots for the pilot.[75] According to Manson, nearly nothing of the original pilot's footage was used outside of one special-effect scene, and this reshooting was the primary cause for the year-long delay in the show's premiere.[76] Later that month, Netflix picked up the international distribution rights to stream the series outside of the United States and China.[77] In May 2019, it was announced that the series would air on TBS instead of TNT for a spring 2020 release, and that a second season had already been ordered by the network.[78] That month, it was also announced that Huanxi Media Group had signed on to broadcast the first two seasons exclusively in China.[79] Manson will return as showrunner for the second season.[24][80] In September 2019, the decision to change networks was reversed, with the series once again set to air on TNT.[81] On January 19, 2021, ahead of the second-season premiere, TNT renewed the series for a third season.[1] On July 29, 2021, TNT renewed the series for a fourth season.[3] On March 28, 2022, it was announced that Paul Zbyszewski is taking over as
the showrunner and added as an executive producer for the fourth season.[82] Following the formation of new parent company Warner Bros. Discovery in April 2022, original scripted content development was cut at TNT and TBS[83] and in June, it was announced that the fourth season will be its final season.[4] On January 13, 2023, it was reported that the final season won't air on TNT, instead, it is being shopped alongside potential prequel and sequel.[5]
Writing
The series is designed to be a reboot of the original 2013 film's continuity. The story takes place seven years after a climate catastrophe rendered the outside world uninhabitable, forcing the remnants of humanity to live confined inside of a massive train that constantly circles the globe. The series investigates class struggle, as the passengers of the train are segregated by wealth.[84] The series star Daveed Diggs said that the show would "broaden exponentially" the world established by the film and the 1982 graphic novel. "That's one of the advantages of TV, you have time" Diggs said, "so the politics that are hinted at in the film are explored in much more depth and the mechanism of the train [is explored further] — just the little things that create a world, world specificity".[85] At the 2017 Television Critics Association press tour, TNT and TBS president Kevin Reilly revealed that the Snowpiercer series would be akin to a "space ship show" due to its contained setting and that it would feature a mystery during the first season.[86]
Casting
In May 2017, Daveed Diggs was cast as Andre Layton.[12] The following month, Jennifer Connelly and Mickey Sumner landed the other lead roles of Melanie Cavill and Bess Till, respectively.[11][13] Casting continued throughout the month of June with Annalise Basso as LJ Folger, Sasha Frolova as Pixi Aariak, Alison Wright as Ruth Wardell, Benjamin Haigh as Fergus McConnell, Roberto Urbina as Javi, and Katie McGuinness as Josie McConnell.[21][14][18] That August, it was announced that Susan Park had joined the main cast as Jinju.[17] In September, Lena Hall was cast as Sayori.[15] The series order in January 2018 also revealed that Sheila Vand and Sam Otto had been cast in then-undisclosed roles as series regulars.[70] Vand was reported to be playing Zarah, while Otto will play John "Oz" Osweiler.[20][19] In August 2018, Iddo Goldberg and Jaylin Fletcher were added as series regulars in the roles of Bennett and Miles, respectively.[16][22]
Casting for a number of recurring roles were also announced during the month of August, including Steven Ogg as Pike, Timothy V. Murphy as Commander Grey, Happy Anderson as Klimpt, Jonathan Lloyd Walker as Big John, and Aleks Paunovic as Bojan Boscovic.[23][32][31] The following month in September, Shaun Toub and Kerry O'Malley were added to the recurring cast as Terence and Lilah Folger, respectively.[34][33] In October 2018, Aaron Glenane was cast as The Last Australian alongside Fiona Vroom as Miss Gillies, both in recurring capacities.[30] In March 2019, Rowan Blanchard was cast as Alexandra for a guest role with the option of becoming a series regular should the series be renewed for a second season.[87] Blanchard's promotion to the main cast for the second season was confirmed with the series' renewal that May.[78] In June 2019, Ogg was also promoted to series regular status for the second season.[24] In October 2019, Chelsea Harris was announced in the recurring role of Sykes.[88] Later that month, it was also announced that Sean Bean would be a series regular for the second season.[25] In November, Tom Lipinski was added to the second season's recurring cast as Kevin.[89] In December 2019, Sakina Jaffrey and Damian Young joined the second season's recurring cast as Mrs. and Mr. Headwood, respectively.[90] On February 16, 2021, Archie Panjabi was cast as a new series regular for the third season.[29] On March 4, 2021, Chelsea Harris was promoted to as a series regular for the third season.[28]
On March 28, 2022, Clark Gregg and Michael Aronov were cast in undisclosed capacities for the fourth season.[82]
Filming
In January 2017, it was reported that filming for the series was scheduled to begin in mid-March of that year.[91] By September 25, pilot director Scott Derrickson indicated that production for the series had officially commenced.[92][93] Reshoots for the pilot, overseen by new director James Hawes, began on August 20, 2018 in Vancouver, British Columbia and concluded on January 24, 2019.[75][94]Principal photography for the second season began on October 21, 2019 in Langley, British Columbia and was originally expected to end on March 20, 2020.[95] In March 2020, production was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[96] Lena Hall, who portrays Miss Audrey, confirmed in July 2020 that the last block of episodes for season 2—episodes 9 and 10—were being filmed.[97] As of March 11, 2021, filming for the third season was in progress until at least July 23, 2021.[98][99] Filming for the fourth season began on March 28, 2022 and concluded on August 6, 2022.[100]
Design
Despite the series' roots as a graphic novel and film, production designer Barry Robison was told to give the train "its own identity". He conceived the massive locomotive on a "very, very long piece of paper," drawing the entire train in "about three days." His Vancouver design team, headed by Production Designer Stephen Geaghan, then set out to construct around 20 of the 1,001 cars of various sizes over four soundstages, heeding to TNT's orders to not make the train look "too sci-fi". Construction on each of the cars with contrasting classes took less than six weeks and was met with approval from series producer and film director Bong Joon-ho.[101]
Release
Broadcast
The series debuted on TNT in the United States in the spring of 2020,[78][81] while Netflix began to air the series globally outside of the United States and China.[77] Huanxi Media Group is set to broadcast the first two seasons exclusively in China.[79]
The series had originally been planned to premiere on May 31, 2020,[102] yet was moved up to May 17, 2020 in early April. Brett Weitz, general manager for TNT, stated the earlier premiere was related to the COVID-19 pandemic in order to bring the series to viewers earlier.[103] On October 8, 2020, at New York Comic Con, TNT announced the second season was set to premiere on January 25, 2021.[104] The third season premiered on January 24, 2022.[2]
Marketing
Cast members Connelly, Diggs, Wright, Sumner, Hall, and Ogg attended the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con International along with executive producers Manson, Adelstein, and Clements to promote the series and debut its first official trailer.[105][106] As part of the promotion for the upcoming series, insect protein bars mimicking those from the film were made available at the event.[107]
Reception
Critical response
The show received mixed to positive reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes collected 82 critic reviews, identified 63% of them as positive, and reported an average rating of 6.5/10 for the first season. The website's critics consensus reads: "Snowpiercer takes a different route with its source material, crafting an ambitious sci-fi mystery with style to spare, but with little of the subversive bite of Bong Joon-ho's theatrical adaptation."[108]Metacritic assigned the first season a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[109]
For the second season, Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 88% based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critics consensus states: "Snowpiercer's second season picks up the momentum by dropping narrative baggage without losing its critical reflections on society."[110] Metacritic gave the second season a weighted average score of 59 out of 100 based on 5 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[111]
Geoff Scott, Darren Bell, Chris Ryan, Christine Galvan, Anita Milias, Jordan Acomba, Jason Snea, Hannes Poser, and Jamie Barty (for "A Beacon for Us All")
^Valls Oyarzun, Eduardo; Gualberto Valverde, Rebeca; Malla García, Noelia; Colom Jiménez, María; Cordero Sánchez, Rebeca, eds. (2020). "Chapter 17: Ecocritical Archaelogies of Global Ecocide in Twenty-First-Centurty Post-Apocalyptic Films". Avenging nature: the role of nature in modern and contemporary art and literature. Ecocritical theory and practice. Lanham Boulder NewYork London: Lexington Books. ISBN978-1-7936-2144-3.
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