Twelves months on from the moment a Snowpiercer TV series officially left the station, Variety has revealed that the nascent spinoff has now landed a pilot order at TNT. Setting up shop at Tomorrow Studios, this is now the company’s third project to find a home on TNT after Michelle Dockery’s Good Behavior and Let the Right One In, with the latter having secured a pilot order of its own only three months ago.
First released in 2014 to near-unanimous approval, Snowpiercer is the brainchild of South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho, imagining an apocalyptic scenario in which the remnants of humanity live aboard a speeding bullet train as it circles a frozen, desolate Earth ad infinitum. By relegating the poorest citizens to the rear of the train – Chris Evans’ character included – the law enforcers on board allow the social elite to live comfortably at the front, blissfully unaware of the crummy living conditions a few hundred meters behind them. It’s a story of a brutal caste system with an apocalyptic twist, essentially, and TNT have clearly identified enough potential to warrant a spinoff series.
Josh Friedman of The Sarah Connor Chronicles fame has been elected executive producer and writer-showrunner for Snowpiercer. Still no word on a premiere date, though we assume TNT is packaging the offshoot in preparation for next Fall. In closing, Sarah Aubrey, executive vice president of original programming for TNT, drew attention to the project’s rich world, one that she believes will lend itself to the series format.
“‘Snowpiercer’ has one of the most original concepts to hit the screen in the last decade, and it’s one that offers numerous opportunities for deeper exploration in a series format. We look forward to expanding TNT’s relationship with Tomorrow Studios and their take on a world where humanity is pushed to the extreme.”