Anna Daniels
“The Snowpiercer series is really its own animal,” Manson admits. “Director Bong’s movie is one of the craziest action movies I’ve ever seen, and it packs so much message and political punch. Then the graphic novels span a lot of time and have a lot of different ideas and characters in them. I felt that a TV show could create something that would compliment the whole thing [with] great character stories and a higher concept. Yet, at its core, it’s an action adventure — fun, edge-of-your-seat-type stuff. That’s what I like.”
Technically a prequel, the Snowpiercer series takes place 10 years before the movie — or, in other words, seven years after the ice age freezes over the Earth. The characters are just as haggard and defeated, but they’re not quite ready for a major revolt. It’s more about character development and bold new plots.
As Manson explains, “Obviously, in a TV series, you can’t just start in the tail and move to the engine. We want to get to know people in first and second class, understand the train’s rules, and begin to understand what the classes have in common, not just the differences they have in terms of privilege. One thing they have in common is grief and the trauma of losing the world, and the guilt of losing everyone they know.”
While the series is a lot different from the film, it still keeps some of the nuances intact, like discovering what each train car houses.
“The fun part of the series is imagining a world that we can introduce the audience to,” Manson says. “I wanted to start off like the movie, where you enter from the tail, so that everything the audience sees is new. I love that aspect of the film, where you could open a door and find anything. There was always a sense of discovery. So, in the series, there’s the constant possibility to wow the audience with what’s next.”
Snowpiercer premieres on TNT on Sunday, May 17.
Written by: Looper
