Snowpiercer, Bong Joon-ho’s striking and visceral sci-fi story of the haves and the have nots, released in 2013 to an underwhelming box office, though it’s a testimony to the film’s quality that its VOD haul was almost twice the amount of its theatrical take. It’s for this reason, and the cult audience that the rip-roaring actioner carved out, that the property has secured a future, and The Hollywood Reporter today revealed that that future will be on television.
Expanding into the rich and icy world built within Joon-ho’s feature film, it’s understood that Josh Friedman (The Sarah Connor Chronicles) has hopped on board to pen the treatment, and he expressed his own excitement about the opportunity via an official statement.
“I couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity,” Friedman said. “[Executive producers] Marty [Adelstein] and Becky [Clements] are the perfect partners to help me bring this world to TV. 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 fucking train. What more could you want?”
Situated in a ravaged world, Snowpiercer imagines a future where an environmental disaster has irreparably transformed planet Earth’s atmosphere, plunging our pale blue dot into one inhospitable, seemingly perpetual winter. As for the remnants of humanity, they’re housed up in the titular train, which plows through the terrain at break-neck speed over and over.
What lends Snowpiercer its raison d’etre though – and the dramatic potential ripe for a television series – is the societal themes it tackles. In relegating the poorest citizens to the grimy carriages at the back of the train, the upper echelons of society are able to live a decadent life at the front, creating a self-contained – albeit exaggerated – representation of society all housed within one bleeding-edge bullet train.
No word yet on whether Snowpiercer will hit the small screen as a sequel, prequel or entire overhaul of Bong Joon-ho’s thriller, but we’ll keep you posted when we hear more.
