Another showrunner is taking over the conductor’s seat of TNT’s Snowpiercer adaptation.
Paul Zbyszewski (ABC’s Agents of SHIELD) has been named showrunner of the upcoming fourth season of the drama series. He replaces Orphan Black co-creator Graeme Manson in the position. Manson was named showrunner in February 2018 and replaced Josh Friedman (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), who spent three years developing the series and said he was “removed” from Snowpiercer for not being “compliant.”
Sources say Manson always planned to remain with the series for three seasons and that the split was amicable. (Listen to Manson’s vision for the series in a May 2020 interview with TV’s Top 5 here.)
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Production on season four started Monday in Vancouver, with Agents of SHIELD grad Clark Gregg and Tony winner Michael Aronov (The Americans) also joining stars Daveed Diggs and Jennifer Connelly.
“I’m so grateful to everyone at TNT and Tomorrow Studios for letting me join the riveting world of Snowpiercer that Graeme and Aubrey [Nealon] have so beautifully crafted and built. We have an exciting fourth season planned, and I can’t wait to be on set with such an incredible cast and crew as we continue to explore new worlds, create new mysteries and develop character relationships,” said Zbyszewski.
Season four of the series will be exec produced by Zbyszewski, Christoph Schrewe, Tomorrow Studios’ Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements, Matthew O’Connor, Ben Rosenblatt and Scott Derrickson. The film’s original producers, Bong Joon Ho, Miky Lee, Jinnie Choi, Park Chan-wook, Lee Tae-hun and Dooho Choi, also exec produce. Derrickson, it’s worth noting, directed Friedman’s original pilot and did not return for the reshoots that ensued after what he dubbed were Manson’s “radically different” rewrites.
“Graeme and Aubrey masterfully brought the thrilling world and unique characters of Snowpiercer to life, and we couldn’t be more grateful for their contributions,” Adelstein and Clements said in a joint statement Monday. “We are excited for fans to see Paul thrillingly propel the complex journey of Snowpiercer even further with Christoph continuing in his role as directing executive producer, especially as Clark and Michael join our incredibly talented cast.”
For those keeping score at home, Snowpiercer has now had three showrunners, was briefly slated to air on TBS before being restored to its original intended home at TNT, and had two pilot directors, with James Hawes taking over for Derrickson. The show has also survived radical exec changes at TNT that included the ouster of Kevin Reilly. Check out Snowpiercer‘s wild journey to the screen here.
