Snowpiercer enters a new era but shockingly eliminated all of its villains, including Mr. Wilford. The show needs new bad guys when season 4 begins.
Warning: SPOILERS for Snowpiercer Season 3's Finale - "The Original Sinners"
When Snowpiercer enters season 4, it will have to solve a unique problem it has created: the show no longer has any villains. Snowpiercer season 3's finale, "The Original Sinners," saw Melanie Cavill (Jennifer Connelly) and Andre Layton (Daveed Diggs) split the train between them. They gave the passengers the choice to remain aboard Snowpiercer with Melanie or follow Layton to New Eden. However, Snowpiercer season 3 also systematically eliminated its main villains so that the passengers led by Layton and Melanie have no more human antagonists.
Melanie herself was the main villain of Snowpiercer season 1, although LJ Folger (Annalise Basso) was the serial killer whose murders necessitated Cavill raising Layton from the Tail and making him the Train Detective. Melanie and Layton then found a common enemy in Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean), who brought some sinister folks with him on his train, Big Alice. Miss Audrey (Lena Hall) even turned traitor to become Wilford's paramour again. Mr. Wilford held court as Snowpiercer's Big Bad since his arrival and he took control of the train from Layton while leaving Melanie for dead outside the train. Wilford also turned many aboard Snowpiercer into his acolytes. Meanwhile, Layton also had to deal with Pike (Steven Ogg), his own nemesis from the Tail. Yet Snowpiercer has allowed for the redemption of many of its baddies, starting with Melanie herself, so that many of the train's worst passengers evolved into their better selves.
Incredibly, by the end of Snowpiercer season 3, all the major villains on the train are now dead or gone. Melanie and Layton teamed up to banish Wilford from Snowpiercer, realizing that their plan to give the passengers a choice in their future would never fly if Wilford remained to sabotage their leadership. After Wilford was gone and the trains split up, a distraught LJ, who her husband, John Osweiller (Sam Otto), left behind, shockingly died by accidentally choking on her late father's artificial eyeball. Lilah Jr.'s creepy fetish, which derived from when the young psychopath poked Robert Folger's (Vincent Gale) eye out, ended up doing LJ in. Lilah Jr. thought she could still achieve power on the train from her "arch-enemy," Melanie, but Snowpiercer put an ironic end to her villainy, at last.
Snowpiercer season 3 had fewer major deaths than the previous seasons but the show killed off two other significant bad guys: Kevin McMahon (Tom Lipinski) and Pike. Kevin was thought dead in Snowpiercer season 2 but he came back to serve as Mr. Wilford's devious right hand, and McMahon relished his power. Ironically, Kevin was killed by LJ Folger, who stabbed him in the neck to save her own skin when Layton's Resistance took control of Snowpiercer. The co-leader of that Resistance, Pike, turned on Layton after suspecting him of lying about New Eden. Pike has been an ally and a thorn in Andre's side since season 1 but Layton finally killed Pike according to the rules of the Tail.
Snowpiercer has redeemed many other characters who did terrible things but evolved into their best selves. Chief among them are Ruth Wardell (Alison Wright), who rededicated herself to protecting the train's passengers at any cost, and Miss Audrey (Lena Hall), who turned on Snowpiercer to resume her previous life as Mr. Wilford's paramour. Audrey hit rock bottom but fell in love with Bess Till (Mickey Sumner), who helped her become the healer of the Nightcar Audrey once was. With the passengers now split between Snowpiercer and New Eden, all of their old enemies are gone. This means Snowpiercer has to create new adversaries in season 4, and two of them could be new cast members Clark Gregg from Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Americans' Michael Aronov, who are joining the series and may have launched the missile Melanie saw in the Snowpiercer season 3 finale. Of course, Mr. Wilford is still alive and could return in season 4 to prove that Snowpiercer can't keep its original sinner down for long.
Snowpiercer Season 3 is available to stream on the TNT app.
