Snowpiercer will end after the conclusion of its fourth season, it was confirmed over the weekend.
The show was produced by US network TNT, but shown internationally on Netflix in every territory apart from the US and China.
Snowpiercer is based on Parasite director Bong Joon-ho’s 2013 movie of the same name, which itself was adapted from the 1982 French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette.
Set in a post-apocalyptic future where the world has become a frozen wasteland, Snowpiercer follows the passengers on board a train of the same name, a huge, perpetually moving train that continues to circle the globe carrying the remnants of humanity.
Designed and built by an eccentric billionaire named Mr. Wilford, the train has over 1,000 carriages, some are the height of luxury, others are barely held together, leading to constant strife and tension among the characters with class warfare, social injustice and the politics of survival constantly playing out.
The show starred Jennifer Connelly and Daveed Diggs, with Mickey Sumner, Alison Wright, Iddo Goldberg and Sean Bean also in key roles. There have been three seasons thus far, with the fourth currently in production.
The news was reported by Deadline (opens in new tab), who confirmed the cancelation and carried a quote about the show’s end from a spokesperson for TNT, who said: “We can confirm that Snowpiercer will end after a successful, multi-season run on TNT. Its talented writers, actors and crew took an extraordinary premise and brought it to life in thrilling ways. It was critically acclaimed, had a significant impact on the post-apocalyptic genre and now remains in the hearts and minds of fans forever.”
Launched in May of 2020, the show enjoyed a torturous development process. Josh Friedman, writer of Emerald City and Terminator: Dark Fate, was assigned to run the show, with a pilot to be directed by Doctor Strange man Scott Derrickson. But, shooting the pilot, Friedman was removed from the show after a fallout with network executives. Derrickson was asked to reshoot the pilot and refused to do so. In the end, Orphan Black writer Graeme Manson was brought in, a new pilot was shot and the show was delayed by a year.
Reviews for the show have been strong, with a rating of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes (opens in new tab), but, despite the introduction of a new showrunner, Paul Zbyszewski, who took over from Manson for season four, TNT executives have decided that the show has run its course.
Analysis: Why is Snowpiercer ending?
The show’s maker, TNT, which stands for Turner Network Television, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, is a basic cable channel that is largely dedicated to airing air classic films and television series with most of schedule, particularly in the daytime, is repeats of current and former network police procedurals like Bones and Cold Case. As of right now, it only has two original shows, Snowpiercer, which is ending after season four, and the US TV reboot of Australian crime drama Animal Kingdom, which is currently on its fifth and final season.
After Deadline’s report states, the plan was already for TNT to scale back its original content to zero and the process has been accelerated by the merger between Discovery and WarnerMedia.
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