Sean Bean most likely to die on Snowpiercer, Tom Lipinski also joins cast

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

It has been three years since TNT first ordered a pilot for a series based on director Bong Joon-ho's 2013 film SNOWPIERCER, and this project has been taking a slow, rough ride to the screen. Writer/showrunner Josh Friedman left over creative differences and was replaced by Graeme Manson. Manson's vision for the show was different enough that parts of the pilot had to be reshot, and pilot director Scott Derrickson chose not to return to the helm for those reshoots. There was some consideration given to the idea of moving the show from TNT to TBS, but it has been decided that Snowpiercer will be sticking with TNT and will premiere sometime in the spring of 2020.

Snowpiercer is set 

seven years after the world has become a frozen wasteland. The series centers on the remnants of humanity, who inhabit a gigantic, perpetually-moving train that circles the globe. As it does, issues of class warfare, social injustice and the politics of survival are raised.

Even though this show has proven complicated enough to take three and a half years from pilot order to premiere, TNT is already moving forward with a second season of the show and is starting to add new cast members. 

For this season 2 that's far down the line, Snowpiercer is adding Tom Lipinksi of The Following, The Knick, and Suits in the recurring role of Kevin, "an officious member of Hospitality. Kevin is priggish and deferential to a fault, lauding his boss and adhering to his strict sense of the rules. However, when the heat is on, he may crumble under the pressure."

Also joining the cast as a series regular is prolific character actor Sean Bean, who has made his way through the fantasy worlds of LORD OF THE RINGS and Game of Thrones, battled James Bond in GOLDENEYE, and earned 130 other credits over the course of his thirty-five year career. Details on Bean's character are being kept under wraps, but since Bean is known for dying in nearly everything he works on viewers might not want to get too attached to him.

Bean has said that he has started turning down roles where he dies, but maybe he's just saying that to keep us guessing. Always be prepared for a Sean Bean character to die at any second.

The first season of Snowpiercer stars Daveed Diggs as a prisoner in the tail end of the train, Jennifer Connelly as a first class passenger who handles the train's PA announcements, Steven Ogg as a hardened and battle-scarred convict, Mickey Sumner as part of the train's security force, Annalise Basso as a poor fourth class passenger, Sasha Frolova as a character who is returning to the front of the train after serving three years in the prison car, Benjamin Haigh as the poverty-stricken Fergus McConnell, Katie McGuinness as Fergus's no-nonsense mother, Alison Wright as a fourth-class passenger who works in a nail salon, Roberto Urbina as a fireman in a polyamorous relationship, Susan Park as the finest chef at the train's best restaurant, Lena Hall as the train's archivist, Chelsea Harris as a covert operative and right-hand advisor to an important new leader, and Rowan Blanchard as a 17-year-old with mysterious connections to the history of Snowpiercer. Sam Otto and Sheila Vand are also on board, but details on their characters were not given.

Ogg, who has a recurring role in season 1, and Blanchard, a guest star, will both be promoted to series regular status in season 2.

A co-production of Tomorrow Studios, Turner's Studio T, and CJ Entertainment, Snowpiercer is executive produced by Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Bong Joon Ho, Park Chan-wook, Lee Tae-hun, and Dooho Choi.