Joon-ho Bongis a fascinating filmmaker who brings fantastic visuals and a pointed morality to every one of his tales. His talents were most recently put on display in the Netflix filmOkja, which arrived more than 10 years after his breakthrough filmThe Host, a creature feature with a now-familiar pro-environmentalism slant. But for my money, the 2013 filmSnowpiercer, based on the French post-apocalyptic graphic novel “Le Transperceneige”, is the story most deserving of further exploration. This is all to say that I’m thrilled a series version of this sci-fi tale will be coming to the small screen.
This project’s been in the works for a while now, so it’s nice to see it become official. AsTV Linereports, TNT has ordered a 10-episode run of the futuristic thriller based on the acclaimed film. And they’re not skimping on the cast here, with Oscar-winnerJennifer Connelly(A Beautiful Mind) andHamiltonstand-outDaveed Diggsstarring in the lead roles. They’ll be trapped in a high-tech, perpetually-in-motion super-train that houses the last vestiges of humanity and endlessly travels around the world, which has become a frozen, uninhabitable wasteland.
Sarah Aubrey, EVP of original programming at TNT, had this to say about the project:
“I’m a personal fan of Bong Joon Ho’s epic film, and jumped at the chance to honor his original vision, yet expand upon the world and characters with a diverse, award-winning cast. Science fiction is the perfect genre to examine issues of race, class, gender and natural resources with thought-provoking and exciting storytelling.Snowpiercerwill explore those relevant issues while embarking on a wild, action-filled ride.”
The pilot was written byJosh Friedman(Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) and directed byScott Derrickson(Doctor Strange); as of this writing, no showrunner has been announced.
I’m super excited to see just what direction this series takes because there’s a lot of mythology to explore here and plenty of opportunity for social commentary that will make this futuristic tale as relevant as possible. There’s no release date announced just yet, so stay tuned.
For more on theSnowpiercerTV series, take a look at these recent write-ups:
