TNT's Snowpiercer showed some pretty crazy things on its train in Season 1, but apparently, the fun is only just getting started. Fans may remember the train was breached and boarded by Big Alice, a vessel run by none other than the man who developed the entire idea for everlasting trains as a means to save humanity: Mr. Wilford. Wilford was presumed dead for most of Season 1, but now he's back, and that could be a very good or bad thing depending on who you believe.
Melanie and the engineers teased that a train led by Mr. Wilford could be in very dire straits upon connection with Snowpiercer, and while the cast didn't speak much about that during their panel for New York Comic-Con, series lead Daveed Diggs did tease a bit about the crew aboard the second train. Diggs equated the crew with people from an alternate dimension, and it seems like he kind of digs it. He said:
As an actor I’m really jealous of the Big Alice crew in some ways. They’re like, so wild! Those characters are like, it is a different world so when we’ve been living in Snowpiercer for a year and then you come up against Big Alice it feels like an alternate dimension, kind of? The way they dress is slightly different and, it was kind of like you go to a new school and there’s all the cool kids? You’re like ‘Oh man, I don’t know, I’ll never be cool like them.’
While I'm not sure exactly what that means to the state of the Big Alice and Snowpiercer Season 2, it does seem that the engineering team's instincts were spot on when they said Mr. Wilford's train would likely cultivate a different type of society than one they knew. This was mostly due to Melanie's revelation that Wilford is more of a con man than anything, and it was the hard work she and others did that ensured his Eternal Engine project was actually a viable means of survival.
According to Melanie Cavill, Mr. Wilford was merely about living as well as he could for as long as it lasted. It was her fear that his reason for connecting was because the 40-car Big Alice was no longer self-sustaining, and that they were coming on to more or less commandeer an already struggling Snowpiercer after the revolution sparked all-out class warfare. Mr. Wilford may only make matters worse, according to Melanie, though it's worth noting that she's had a spotty track record of truth-telling since Snowpiercer's start.
As far as what other things Snowpiercer fans can expect from the addition of Big Alice, showrunner Graeme Manson teased even more exciting interiors on the way. He also hinted a bit about the world inside Big Alice:
That’s one of the things we love to do on the show, and that really comes from director Bong [Joon Ho]’s energy. How you could open a door and constantly find some amazing set. We love to do that every year and Wilford’s train really gave us that opportunity. But Big Alice is a prototype so it’s not all First Class back there. They have a different society. Wilford has created something else.
I can only speculate as to what that means, but I have a feeling that Andre Layton's successful revolution is about to face another struggle. He may be able to overcome it provided he and Melanie Cavill can stay on the same page, which may be a big ask considering he overthrew her rule and exposed that she had been posing as Mr. Wilford for the past 7 years. Sometimes the best alliances form under a common enemy, however, so if Mr. Wilford is as bad as Melanie says he is, I'd expect the two will be working together before too long.
Snowpiercer Season 2 premieres on TNT Sunday, January 25 at 9:00 p.m. ET. Continue to stick with CinemaBlend for more on the franchise in the meantime, and for the latest news happening in television and movies.
