A story increasingly applicable to the society we live in, Snowpiercer was originally a film by Bong Joon-ho which became a beloved cult classic to some but not very well-known, only grossing about $80 million. The film is an imaginative, unique, exciting, and star-studded, but sadly did not do as well in the U.S. market as had been planned.

However, in 2020, Snowpiercer made a surprising return in the form of a show, again with a star-studded and even bigger cast. The show takes place five years before the movie but follows a very similar story. The show is partly based on Joon-ho’s screenplay, and thus has a similar storyline but with a very different cast of characters; the main reason for the series, though, is that the source material for the Snowpiercer film was actually a massive French graphic novel which provided even more content than Joon-ho’s novel. The show has been very successful thus far and has garnered many new fans. But how do the two forms of media telling a similar story compare to each other?

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The Snowpiercer Movie

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The film is a 2013 release by beloved Parasite writer-director, Bong Joon-ho, who was a very successful Korean writer-director (The Host, Mother) but broke into the English-language market with his first English-language film, Snowpiercer, starring Chris Evans. The story (from the comics by Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette) follows a train that contains all the people left on planet Earth after a failed cooling of the planet to combat global warming. However, instead of fixing global warming and the climate change crisis, this cooling created a new Ice Age. Now this train, the Snowpiercer, must keep moving at all times around the planet so that it does not freeze.

The train is divided by class and, eventually, the lower-class citizens who have to do all the work in the back of the train decide to start a revolution, and things go a little awry. Now, you may be wondering why Snowpiercer didn’t become a more major hit, especially considering it stars Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, John Hurt, and Ed Harris.

While it’s not entirely certain, it is rumored that Bong Joon-ho and Harvey Weinstein, whose company was pushing out the film in the U.S., did not get along (which is probably a compliment for Bong, considering how much of a scumbag Weinstein is). Thus, it may be possible that Weinstein did not advertise and market the film as much as it deserved. That is all just gossip, but some elements of it may be true and may have an impact on why the story was revitalized so many years later in the form of the TV show (after Weinstein had been enmeshed in an awful sexual assault scandal).

The Snowpiercer Show

     TNT

The Snowpiercer show came out over seven years after the original film. However, it is actually set five years before the film. The show is based on the film and screenplay by Kelly Masterson and Bong Joon-ho (and the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige), but not written by him. He is an executive producer on the show, though (as is director Scott Derrickson, who was originally attached to direct), which is important for fans, as his involvement means the show is attached in some way to his vision.

The show has a similar storyline but an entirely different cast of characters (a huge ensemble cast, including Jennifer Connelly, Daveed Diggs, Mickey Summer, Alison Wright, Sean Bean, and dozens of others). Also, as the show has a lot more time to explore things, Snowppiercer can focus on many topics regarding the class consciousness themes of the film and comics. The show explores social injustice and the politics of survival on top of the aforementioned class warfare shown in the film.

The Snowpiercer series has been successful thus far but will be ending after the upcoming fourth season. Fans of the show are rightfully upset with this, but the series was given the space to work with the story and the character development that the show required. Snowpiercer flowed as well as its titular train, and was able to explore characters and storylines that the film could only touch upon due to time. The show is well-loved but sadly, as all shows do, its time has come.

How Do the Snowpiercer Adaptations Compare?

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It’s hard to compare the two because at their core they are the same story. Both the film and the show follow the tale of a train carrying the remnants of humanity during a climate apocalypse, with separate cars based on class, as a revolution from the proletariat workers develops and attempts to take control; thus they are obviously very similar. However, each version takes the story on a slightly different route. As the show takes place earlier on the timeline of the story, the characters are not affected by the actions of those in the film. Thus, the show can almost act as a separate entity.

Even though Bong Joon-ho is also involved in the production of the show, the two iterations are telling the same story with different tones and aesthetics. The variety of writers, directors, and cinematographers involved on the television series creates a dynamic diversity in its storytelling, and keeps the feel of the show fresh episode after episode. Different episodes are able to reveal more about certain characters, fleshing out the ensemble and telling a coherent story in smaller parts, whereas the Snowpiercer film was very much one solid story as it marches forward with linear fury.

Viewers are not required to watch one in order to watch the other, and thus can choose whichever sounds more appealing to them or watch both and come to their own conclusions. Nonetheless, audiences would be doing themselves a favor if they watched either Snowpiercer.