TNT’s TV series based on Snowpiercer has added a couple more names to join Hamilton’s Daveed Diggs and Jennifer Connelly in the post-apocalyptic social satire/thriller.
Deadline reports that Mickey Sumner (Frances Ha), Annalise Basso (Oculus, Ouija: Origin Of Evil) and Sasha Frolova (Red Sparrow) have joined the cast of the pilot that will be directed by Doctor Strange‘s Scott Derrickson.
Diggs is playing “Layton Well, a prisoner who becomes a reluctant participant in a struggle that could upend life on the train.” This character sounds like the equivalent of Chris Evans’ Curtis in Bong Joon-ho’s superb film version.
Connelly is “Melanie Cavill, a First Class passenger who works as the Voice of the Train – responsible for making the daily announcements over its PA system. Though many in her VIP position are dismissive of the lower class passengers, Melanie is curiously fascinated by them.” This description sounds slightly less cruel than Tilda Swinton’s heartless Mason, although “curiously fascinated” doesn’t sound exactly benign.
Basso will be playing “LJ Anderson, a quiet, diligent, Midwestern girl who lives with her parents in a fourth-class cabin and works in the greenhouse car. Poor but not as desperate as those that live in the tail of the train, LJ has made peace with her daily routine until a major event shakes up her world.”
Frolova is “Pixi Aariak. Pixi is strange, mysterious, and inscrutable, a charismatic chameleon and probably inspired by the expression “still waters run deep.” She returns to the front of the train after a three-year sentence in the prison car and struggles to acclimate to her old life. You can’t take your eyes off of her. And you probably shouldn’t.”
Finally, Sumner will star as “Bess Till. Thoughtful, empathetic and savvy, Bess is a brakeman, part of the train’s security force. She finds herself at the center of a mystery that rocks the train’s uneasy status quo.”
The show is set seven years after the world is frozen, “and the remnants of humanity inhabit a gigantic, perpetually moving train that circles the globe. It explores class warfare, social injustice and the politics of survival.”
Bong Joon-ho’s film was released in some countries in 2013, although we’re still waiting for it here in the UK. It was based on the comic Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette.
Derrickson’s all over the exciting TV pilots at the moment, as he’s also directing the first episode of Hulu’s Locke & Key.
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