Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Entertainment
  3. News

One of 2013's best films, Snowpiercer, is headed to television

By

Jamie Bell, Chris Evans, and other cast members standing in Snowpiercer (2013)
CJ Entertainment
The Host director Bong Joon-ho’s dystopian 2013 sci-fi film Snowpiercer was one of the year’s critical darlings despite an underwhelming performance at the box office, and now the story of a train carrying the last remnants of the human species through an arctic tundra is headed to television.

A new report indicates that the film — which was based on Jean-Marc Rochette’s graphic novel Le Transperceneige — will serve as the inspiration for a series scripted by Avatar 2 and War of the Worlds screenwriter Josh Friedman.

Recommended Videos

Set in a post-apocalyptic future where humanity’s meddling with the weather has created a new Ice Age, Snowpiercer unfolded aboard a massive, high-speed train carrying all that remains of the human species. With the train rigidly divided between social classes, a character played by Chris Evans (Captain America: The First Avenger) leads a violent revolt to bring down the privileged residents of the first-class cars and change the balance of power.

Bong and Snowpiercer co-producer Dooho Choi will serve as two of the executive producers on the series, according to The Hollywood Reporter, along with Marty Adelstein of Tomorrow Studios, which recently picked up the rights to adapt the film for television. Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance director Chan-wook Park, who also produced the original Snowpiercer, is also attached as an executive producer on the adaptation.

“I couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity,” said Friedman of the project. “I’m a huge fan of director Bong’s films, especially Snowpiercer. It’s great the way the best sci-fi is great — thoughtful, political, funny, scary and sly. And it’s on a train. A big f—ing train. What more could you want?”

Along with his work on Steven Spielberg’s 2005 adaptation of War of the Worlds, Friedman also helped develop the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles series for Fox and the never-aired television adaptation of the Locke & Key comic book series.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Rick Marshall
Rick Marshall
Former Digital Trends Contributor
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
With its Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom ad, Nintendo just made one of 2023’s best movies
A man plays The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom game.

It's not a revelation to claim that most modern advertising is pretty in-your-face and graceless. In a limited amount of time, companies are concerned with selling their product as quickly as possible, leaving no room for nuance or, dare I say it, poetry. Video game commercials are especially egregious; as any experienced gamer can tell you, those awful Sega ads from the '90s (this one is particularly terrible) still haunt many to this day.

So it's a bit of a surprise to discover a video game ad that isn't loud for the sake of being loud, crude to appeal to the lowest common denominator, or abstract just for the sake of it. Nintendo's been gearing up for its biggest release of 2023, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and it's clear they wanted to make it stand out from the crowd. Mission accomplished, as the latest commercial for the game, a nearly wordless two-minute paean to not just Zelda but also to the power of video games, strikes such a resonant emotional chord that it already ranks as one of the best things I've seen this year.
An ordinary life, an extraordinary adventure
Rediscover your sense of adventure with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Read more
Beyond The Batman: Zoe Kravitz’s best geek films
Catwoman and Batman stare into each other's eyes in The Batman.

Audiences and critics are praising Zoë Kravitz’s tough but vulnerable take on Catwoman/Selina Kyle in Matt Reeves' The Batman, along with her sizzling chemistry with the titular hero. A decidedly more discerning audience has voiced its approval as well: Comic book fans who appreciate how closely the film hews to the complicated relationship between the Bat and the Cat on the inked page.

However, the fan approval isn't all that surprising, considering The Batman is a high point in a career that thus far has established an impressive amount of geek cred for Kravitz, with many of her roles coming in legendary comic book, sci-fi, and fantasy franchises like Harry Potter, Mad Max, and The X-Men. While some of her genre films, such as Kin, After Earth, and the Divergent trilogy, have been decidedly subpar, several have emerged as contemporary classics. Below are Zoe Kravitz’s best geek films, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

Read more
How TNT’s Snowpiercer makes you feel like you’re on a train bound for nowhere
snowpiercer tv series cinematographer interview john grillo promo

Snowpiercer: Official Trailer | Premieres May 17 | TNT

In TNT's upcoming series Snowpiercer, the remnants of humanity perpetually circle the globe on a massive, fast-moving train after the Earth is transformed into a frozen wasteland. A carefully managed ecosystem carrying the future of the human race, the titular train is also a stark experiment in class conflict and the politics of survival -- until a murder threatens the delicate balance that keeps it speeding along.

Read more