Snowpiercer is cancelled at TNT

TNT has officially cancelled its dystopian future drama, Snowpiercer, making its upcoming fourth season the final installment. Given how the series concluded its third season, Snowpiercer needs its last episodes to wrap the show meaningfully.

The third season found the citizens of Snowpiercer split down the middle. While some stayed on board with Melanie, desiring the guarantee of living out the rest of their lives on the train, others took Layton’s opportunity of hope for a new future.

Layton’s group successfully made it to New Eden and found that their hopes were correct, and the world had granted an area of Earth to warm up to a point where going outside did not mean instant death.

The group celebrated, standing outside and enjoying the fresh air they had not felt in years, or for some, potentially ever. It is a season finale that suggests joy and optimism moving forward. However, the time jump from Melanie’s perspective could spell trouble. What had she seen in the distance? Layton’s group sent a signal that things were okay? Technology that had been sent into the sky before the freeze? Entirely new survivors sending a call for help?

Surviving had always been a vital part of Snowpiercer, and the train was integral to that. But, if the series is ending, what will that mean for everyone or the train?

Will Snowpiercer go out with a hopeful ending toward the future, teasing at temperatures rising again? Can everyone finally live outside of the train? Will Snowpiercer force its citizens to return to surviving on the train full time? What will happen to Wilford, who has supposedly been going in and out of consciousness all alone for months?

Snowpiercer needs to end on a satisfying note. The show has played with the uncertainty of survival and questioning the next step since it began. With the end coming, Snowpiercer must create a substantial conclusion for its characters and storylines.