The Co-Creator of ORPHAN BLACK Hired as The New Showrunner of SNOWPIERCER
Shortly after TNT gave the Snowpiercer series the greenlight, the showrunner Josh Friedman ended up leaving the show. As you'll see in a couple of tweets below, he says he did not leave over creative differences, he was removed because the network didn't feel like he would be compliant. As you might expect, he's not very happy with how things turned out.
I didn't "exit" over creative differences. TNT insisted that I be removed from show running duties because they didn't think I'd be compiant. Hopefully they found someone more to their liking.
— josh friedman (@Josh_Friedman) February 27, 2018
TNT has since hired a new showrunner though, and that showrunner is Orphan Black co-creator Graeme Manson. Sarah Aubrey, executive VP of originals at TNT had this to say in a statement:
"Graeme’s extensive background in the sci-fi genre coupled with his brilliant work behind Orphan Black made him the perfect choice for this series. He is the best conductor to navigate the thought-provoking and delicate themes of the series while bringing this frozen, futuristic world to life.”
Well, I hope it turns out great! I loved what Manson did with Orphan Black, but it seems like TNT has their own ideas about how the series should be, so we'll have to wait and see. The series is based on the French graphic novel called Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand, and Jean-Marc Rochette.
The story is set seven years after an apocalyptic ice age leaves Earth as a frozen wasteland, and the story will focus on the survivors who “inhabit a gigantic, perpetually moving train that circles the globe."
Tony winner Daveed Diggs (Hamilton) is set to star in the reboot alongside Jennifer Connelly (Hulk). Diggs plays Layton Well, "a prisoner barely surviving the harsh conditions in the tail end of the train. A quiet thinker who spends his days sniffing the industrial-waste-turned-drug Chronole and tending to his cage full of rats, Layton becomes a reluctant participant in a struggle that could upend life on the train." As for Connelly, she plays Melanie Cavill, "a First Class passenger who works as the Voice of the Train – responsible for making the daily announcements over its PA system. Though many in her VIP position are dismissive of the lower class passengers, Melanie is curiously fascinated by them."
The pilot episode of the upcoming series is being helmed by Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson.