Snowpiercer season 4 release date speculation: Cast and plot theories

The most recent renewal was actually announced all the way back in July 2021 – when the cast and crew were still hard at work on the third season – and since then more and more information has started to emerge about the next run.

The latest development is the announcement that Agents of SHIELD star Clark Gregg and The Americans' Michael Aronov will be joining the cast, while it's also been revealed that Paul Zbyszewski will be taking over from Graeme Manson and Aubrey Nealon as showrunner.

Read on for everything we know so far about Snowpiercer season 4, including when it might return and possible plot theories – be warned, there are full season 3 spoilers ahead.

Snowpiercer season 4 potential release date

Nothing has been revealed so far about exactly when the new episodes will air, so unfortunately we can only use guesswork for the time being.

But it is possible to make a decent educated guess based on the release pattern for the previous two seasons – both of which began their runs towards the end of January before releasing weekly instalments until late March.

While that's not necessarily a guarantee that season 4 will follow the same schedule, our best bet for now is that the new run will begin streaming on Netflix at a similar time.

So until we hear any more concrete news, you can probably pencil in late January as the most likely start date.

Snowpiercer season 4 cast

The cast for the series – which was already fairly large at the outset – has been steadily growing since the first run, with a number of big names including Sean Bean and Archie Panjabi having joined in later seasons.

And while we've seen a couple of high-profile deaths in that time, there are still a few faces we can rely on returning for the next outing – with the likes of Daveed Diggs, Jennifer Connelly, Alison Wright, Mickey Sumner, Iddo Goldberg, Lena Hall, Sam Otto, Sheila Vand, Rowan Blanchard, Mike O'Malley, Roberto Urbina, and Jaylin Fletcher all likely to be back.

The same cannot be said for Annalise Basso, however, after her character LJ Folger was dramatically killed off in the season 3 finale, while Panjabi's Asha also met her end after sacrificing herself earlier in the run.

And the future of Sean Bean on the show is rather more cloudy after his character Mr Wilford was banished from Snowpiercer – which is admittedly a step up from being killed off, as has often been the case for the actor.

It's still possible that he could yet return, and if we get any confirmation either way we'll update this page accordingly.

Meanwhile, two actors who definitely will be playing a part in season 4 are Agents of SHIELD star Clark Gregg and The Americans' Michael Aronov – although little is known about who they'll be playing at this stage.

Snowpiercer season 4 plot speculation

We've seen a lot of twists and turns in the show's run so far – which can make it difficult to predict exactly what will occur in the next season, especially with no official information available at this stage.

The end of season 3 saw the train's passengers split into two distinct groups: those who wished to remain with Melanie and those who fancied a chance at a new start with Layton in New Eden, a warm spot off the train where human survival is possible. It seems likely that the next season will deal with the fallout of that split.

But there was also one other major reveal at the end of the season – when, three months later, Melanie spotted a missile launch from an unknown location. Presumably, the next run will explore the origins of that missile, possibly putting the passengers in contact with more survivors.

Snowpiercer will return to Netflix in 2023. For more, check out our dedicated Sci-Fi page or our full TV Guide.

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