Snowpiercer series finally coming to TNT, and here’s the first teaser to prove it

Daveed Diggs and Jennifer Connelly star in Snowpiercer, TNT's reboot of the 2013 film by Bong Joon-ho.

It's been three long years, but TNT's much-anticipated series Snowpiercer-an adaptation of the critically acclaimed 2013 film by Oscar-nominated director Bong Joon-ho (Parasite)-is finally emerging from development hell and coming to television. The network just dropped a teaser trailer, and despite all the production drama, it looks like a promising fleshing-out of the original dystopian vision.

Bong Joon-ho's film itself is an adaptation of a 1982 French graphic novel Le Transperceneige, about remnants of humanity trying to survive an ice age inside a 1,001-car train. The director has said he was especially captivated by the "unique cinematic space of a train" as a futuristic Noah's ark. "Hundreds of metal pieces moving like a snake carrying people squirming inside gripped by heart," he said. "And the people inside were fighting against each other." There's also a viral outbreak that starts wiping out the passengers.

While the basic premise remained the same, Bong Joon-ho created a new narrative arc and fresh characters for his 2013 film. The train is run by a reclusive transportation magnate named Mr. Wilford, who has separated the passengers according to class and has a nefarious plan to ensure life on the train remains sustainable. It starred Chris Evans as revolutionary leader Curtis, with Tilda Swinton as second-in-command Minister Mason. Bong shot much of it on a specially constructed set: a train mounted on a giant gyroscopic gimbal, the better to mimic the movements of an actual train. Snowpiercer earned critical raves and went on to gross $86 million worldwide, against a roughly $40 million production budget.

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