Snowpiercer production shut down due to extreme heat, which isn't at all ominous
Multiple cast and crew members were reportedly diagnosed with heat exhaustion this week after temperatures in British Columbia soared above 90 degrees
Today in, “Well, that doesn’t feel like an ominous sign for our steadily worsening environment” news: TNT’s Snowpiercer—a TV show about a climate apocalypse, in case you’d forgotten—has had to shut down production in British Columbia because multiple cast and crew members were reportedly sent to the hospital by extreme high temperatures.
This is per Deadline, which notes that Snowpiercer is even more susceptible to these kinds of heat-based problems than most productions, since the show’s chilly setting requires background actors and regular performers alike to appear on camera bundled up in heavy clothing. That reached a crisis point on Thursday, apparently, as the heatwave currently striking the Pacific Northwest took its toll on the show’s cast and crew when temperatures outside rose past 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Deadline cites one crew member who says at least 14 people were sent to the hospital with heat exhaustion.
The show’s production company, Tomorrow Studios, issued a statement about the decision to stop down production today, saying that, “Out of an abundance of caution, production of Snowpiercer wrapped early yesterday and was suspended for today due to extreme heat on location. The health and well-being of show cast and crew remains top priority.” The statement also noted that cooling tents were made available to the show’s cast and crew during the heatwave.
The stopdown comes as Snowpiercer nears the end of its production, with its fourth season finale set to be the end of its run on TNT (where it’s the last original scripted drama currently in production). Like Bong Joon-Ho’s original film, the series takes place in a world where the planet has frozen over, and the last remnants of human life exist on an endlessly running super-train that constantly circles the globe. The series stars Daveed Diggs and Jennifer Connelly; no word on whether either of the leads was among the people who suffered heat exhaustion on the show’s set this week.