‘Snowpiercer’ TV Series Bumps Up Debut Date

The Snowpiercer TV series, inspired by Bong Joon-ho’s 2013 film Snowpiercer, has moved up its debut date. Slated to air at the end of May, the dystopian thriller will instead air on May 17 on TNT. The sci-fi series follows the journey of Snowpiercer, a train that circles the globe with what’s left of the world’s population. When the story opens it has been seven years since efforts to reverse global warming left the world a frozen wasteland. The train carries what is left of humanity, but the passengers are segregated into the haves and the have nots, a gradation that runs from a life of careless luxury at one end of the train to one of captive misery at the other. However, life is so miserable at the poor end of the train that the downtrodden have nothing to lose and their cruel existence sparks rebellion.

The TV series, as the film did, will focus on issues of social inequality and class struggles, themes Bong also explored in his Academy Award-winning 2019 film Parasite.  

Inspired by the 1982 French graphic novel Le Transperceneige, the film Snowpiercer featured an international cast, including Tilda Swinton, Ed Harris, Chris Evans and Song Kang-ho, who also stars in Parasite and Bong’s earlier film Memories of Murder. 

The TV adaptation of Snowpiercer stars Daveed Diggs, Jennifer Connelly, Mickey Sumner, Rowan Blanchard and Annalise Basso. Connelly, who previously starred in the film A Beautiful Mind, will play the first class passenger who is an announcer known as “Voice of the Train.” Her character believes that the train needs its class system to survive. Diggs, who appeared in Blackish and Hamilton, will play one of the train’s poorest passengers, a man who dares defy the system. 

The series, which was slated to air in 2019, has been in development for more than three years, delayed because of production issues and creative differences. The series has already been renewed for a second season.

Snowpiercer is not the only Bong film to be adapted for the small screen. Parasite is also being adapted into a limited series at HBO. The series is being produced by Bong and Adam McKay, who directed the film The Big Short and produced the film Hustlers. McKay also directed and produced the series Succession. Tilda Swinton and Mark Ruffalo are in talks to play leading characters in the series, which will fill in some of the backstory of the film’s characters.