"Snowpiercer" fourth and final season takes a bow on AMC

July 22, 2024

Courtesy: AMC

(Spoilers Ahead)

The highly anticipated fourth and final season of AMC's post-apocalyptic drama Snowpiercer premiered exclusively on AMC and AMC+ on Sunday, July 21, at 9 pm EST. Seasons 1 and 2 of the critically acclaimed thriller were available to stream exclusively on AMC+ beginning on June 1, 2024, with the third season debuting on June 8, 2024.

The series was developed from the 2013 film of the same name and the 1982 French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand, and Jean-Marc Rochette.

The series stars:

• Daveed Diggs as Andre Layton

• Jennifer Connelly as Melanie Cavill

• Mickey Sumner as Bess Till

• Annalise Basso as LJ Folger

• Sasha Frolova as Pixi Aariak

• Alison Wright as Ruth

• Benjamin Haigh as Fergus McConnell

• Roberto Urbina as Javier De La Torre

• Katie McGuinness as Josie Wellstead

• Susan Park as Jinju Seong

• Lena Hall as Miss Audrey

• Sheila Vand as Zarah Ferami

• Sam Otto as John Osweiller

• Iddo Goldberg as Bennett Knox

• Jaylin Fletcher as Miles

• Mike O'Malley as Brakeman Roche

Courtesy: AMC Daveed Diggs as Andre Layton

Snowpiercer initially premiered on May 17, 2020, and aired for three seasons on TNT. After the third season, AMC bought the rights to the series.

The series is set in 2026, more than seven years after the world has become a frozen wasteland. Snowpiercer follows an enormous, perpetually moving train (the Great Ark) that has kept the last remnants of humanity alive and circles around the globe, providing heat to the inhabitants. The show deals with social injustice and classism as a militant class system is set in place amongst the survivors. The first class maintains power and control, keeping abundant resources as the latter classes struggle to survive. When a murder occurs, Melanie Cavill, the train's announcer, deputizes Andre Layton, the world's only surviving homicide detective.

The show continuously deals with the politics of survival. Layton uses his new position as the train's detective to investigate the series of murders while gathering intel, laying the foundation to start a revolution to take control of Snowpiercer, fighting for democracy; however, it comes at a moral cost. Layton has to sacrifice people to gain freedom. When they're confronted by a woman in a second train called Big Alice, a supply chain filled with resources, it is revealed the woman is Alexandra Cavill, Melanie's daughter, whom she thought was dead.

In season two, an entirely new power struggle emerges, causing a dangerous rift as people are divided between their loyalty to Layton and to Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean), the ruthless, self-serving billionaire who created Snowpiercer but actually took the engineering credit that belonged to Melanie. Wilford, with his new train and new technology, has a game plan that keeps everyone guessing. While Layton battles Wilford for control of Snowpiercer, Melanie leads the charge on a shocking new discovery that could change the fate of humanity.

Wiford's introduction into season 2 revived the series, and Bean's charismatic performance as the self-serving, diabolical billionaire with zero regard for human life made season 2 tremendously entertaining, leaving Melanie to make the necessary sacrifice to save everyone.

Courtesy: AMC Sean bean as Joseph Wilford

Season three picks up with Layton and his inner circle commanding a small 10 car "pirate train" in search of Melanie and a possible warm location to restart civilization. Under Wilford, everyone on Big Alice is forced to work in horrible conditions, and after an altercation with Wilford, Snowpiercer catches up with Melanie, revealing she's still alive. They exile Wilford but disagree with Layton's plan to take the train to New Eden because of how dangerous it is to get there. Instead of repeating past mistakes, they decide to give the remaining survivors a choice, as some choose to stay with Melanie for the safety that Snowpiercer provides. Others take a chance to re-civilize with Layton at New Eden. In a highly heartfelt moment, everyone said goodbye to their loved ones as they each made their respective choices. Layton arrives at New Eden, which is warm and habitable! Three months later, aboard Snowpiercer, Melanie sees a rocket exploding in the distance.

The first episode of the fourth season, "Snakes in the Garden," picks up right after the events of season 3 as the Snowpiercer crew watches the rocket shoot through the sky and crash nearby.

Who is behind the rocket, and how does that impact everyone? With the trailer promoting "The Closing Act" and "A New Beginning," we can assume the final season will come to a thrilling conclusion.

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Catch up on all previous seasons of Snowpiercer streaming on AMC and AMC+.

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Watch the season 4 trailer below:

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Executive producers:

Scott Derrickson, Bong Joon-ho, Dooho Choi, Miky Lee, Tae-Sung Jeong, Lee Tae-hun, Park Chan-wook, Matthew O'Connor, Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, James Hawes, Graeme Manson, Jinnie Choi, Ben Rosenblatt, Christoph Schrewe, Aubrey Nealon, Paul Zbyszewski, Alissa Bachner (season 4)

Producers:

Jiwon Park, Alissa Bachner (seasons 1–3), Mackenzie Donaldson, Holly Redford, Bill Balas, Jay Prychidny, Yeonu Choi, Victoria Burkhart, Michael Bhim, Leslie Hope

Production companies:

CJ Entertainment, Dog Fish Films, Studio T, Tomorrow Studios