Snowpiercer season 2 release date: Latest news on the Netflix sci-fi show

The first season focused on a revolt on the train led by Daveed Diggs' character Layton, and this time around it looks like all-out war could be on the cards – at least if the first few episodes are anything to go by.

Read on for everything you need to know about Snowpiercer season two.

When is Snowpiercer season 2 on Netflix?

There's not long to wait – the second season will begin on Netflix on 26th January 2021 – with the streamer announcing the news on Twitter right at the end of 2020 alongside some first look stills of the new run.

Snowpiercer was lucky in that it wasn't affected too badly by the coronavirus, with filming on season two having all but finished before the lockdown saw TV and film production around the world shut down.

Series star Annalise Basso told RadioTimes.com: "I’m really excited because we were just finishing season two when everything got shut down because of the pandemic."

Meanwhile in July 2020 another star of the series, Lena Hall, told ScreenRant that there was actually still a small amount of filming still to do on the show - claiming, "We were actually filming the last block, episodes nine and 10. So we're very close to the end, we were already almost there" - and it seems they were able to complete the final parts of the series without any snags.

In even better news for fans, it appears that a third season of the show is also already in the works - with Basso telling Inverse, "We were almost done with season two and then we got shut down, but, I got a call from the executive producer the other day.

"I can't give too many details, but I'll just say it's good news," she went on.

"We're just waiting on an official start date for season three and hoping to find some time to go back and finish season 2."

And that third season has now been officially confirmed, with TNT confirming the news shortly before the season two premiere.

Who will be in the cast of Snowpiercer season 2?

We know for sure that the two main stars of the series, Daveed Diggs (playing Andre Layton) and Jennifer Connolly (Melanie Cavill), will be returning for another outing - and other stars from the first time round including Annalise Basso (Lilah "LJ" Folger Jr.), Alison Wright (Lilah Anderson), Mickey Sumner (Bess Francis Till), Susan Park (Jinju Seong), and Iddo Goldberg (Bennett Knox) are also set to reprise their roles.

Meanwhile Steven Ogg and Rowan Blanchard, both of whom appeared in season one, will see their roles expanded in the second run - with both having been given series regular status.

As for new arrivals, Sakina Jaffrey and Damian Young have joined the second season's recurring cast as Mrs. and Mr. Headwood, respectively, while Chelsea Harris will play the recurring role of Sykes and Tom Lipinski will play new character Kevin.

There's also the small matter of Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) joining the cast as Mr. Wilford - and given his rather unfortunate reputation for often suffering an early demise, it's probably just as well he sat the first run out!

And casting has already begun for season three as well – The Fall and The Good Wife star Archie Panjabi has been announced as a series regular in the next run, playing a character called Asha.

What will happen in Snowpiercer season 2?

It's difficult to say exactly at this stage - with plot details kept under wraps - but one thing that we do know is that the season will see the introduction of Mr Wilford, the original leader of the train who it turned out hadn't actually been on board during the first season, but who also wasn't dead, as we had been led to believe for much of the series.

And showrunner Graeme Manson has revealed a little about how this development will impact on the show's major characters, telling The Hollywood Reporter, "The real, real challenge for Layton is to reconcile the revolutionary with what he may have to be as a politician.

"And then there is an equal struggle for Melanie, which is her desire to step down, to be an engineer, to go back to the science of survival without the politics.

"And then who is on the horizon, but it could be the great Mr. Wilford to throw all of that into disarray. So already this nascent democracy is under threat.”

It's also clear that we'll be sticking on the train for the time being - although star Annalise Basso has claimed that she hopes one day the series will explore life outside Snowpiercer, telling RadioTimes.com: "I hope one day we’ll be able to take viewers off of the train.

"And I don’t know if that will happen and what the budget for that would be like, but maybe we could go to Iceland or Greenland or somewhere like that to film the exterior shots, who knows!”

She added that there were many stories yet to be told when it comes to the train's passengers, saying, "the great thing about Snowpiercer is there are so many stories to tell about the people on the train and about survival".

When we catch wind of more details regarding which of those stories might be told in season two we'll add the info to this page - so keep checking back for the latest developments.

Snowpiercer season 2 trailer

A full trailer for the series was released in January 2021, teasing what looks to be an epic season, with the prominent presence of Sean Bean's Mr. Willford, suggestions of all-out war aboard Snowpiercer, and even the implication that Melanie was about to do the unthinkable and step foot off the train. Check it out below:

In July 2020, shortly after the last two episodes of the first series dropped, a short 30-second teaser for the second run was released - offering a first look at what looks set to be an even more dramatic run, not to mention a glimpse of Sean Bean as Mr Wilford. You can watch the clip below:

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