TNT's Snowpiercer Is Already a Disaster

TNT's television adaptation of the bonkers cult film Snowpiercer-- about a perpetually running train that housed survivors of an apocalypse -- is already off the rails.

The latest news on the would-be show is that director Scott Derrickson, who helmed the pilot, is refusing to return for reshoots because of new showrunner Graeme Manson's "radically different vision" of the show. Manson, who ran the show at Orphan Black, came on to replace Josh Friedman (The Sarah Connor Chronicles) after the pilot was shot and TNT picked up Snowpiercer to series, but that's a whole other set of drama that we'll get to.

Derrickson sounded in love with Friedman's script, as he announced his departure from the show on Twitter while also effusively praising Friedman's work.

The outspoken Friedman let it all hang out earlier this year after he was replaced by Manson, which came after he was fired by TNT over creative differences. Friedman was upset that Manson never reached out to him, saying that all the hard work and passion he put into the project basically opened up a job for Manson, who then took Friedman's idea for the show and chopped it up.

"If you're asked to rewrite someone or take over their show it seems like good sense and good karma to reach out to that person first and a) find out what the circumstances of their departure are and b) thank them for doing the work you'll be profiting from," he tweeted at the time.

"You should buy that person a nice meal or a bottle of alcohol if they're up for it," he added. "Your money was earmarked for them at one time. And more than likely, what may be a good job for you was a passion project for them. Put another way: if you were to take over a show I'd originated and worked on for two years and didn't reach out to me before taking the job you're either an idiot, a coward, or a vichy motherf***er." DAMN.

The series will likely move forward with stars Jennifer Connelly and Daveed Diggs still attached to star. But what will the darned thing look like? There's nothing like a show that's been written by one showrunner, rewritten by another, directed by yet another person, and then reshot and edited by another director who sorts through the pieces.

Snowpiercer was already a tough sell as a long-running television show given the movie was based on the idea of a social ladder on a train that ran from the bottom (the caboose) to the top (the engine) and was already stretching its premise in a feature-length film, but director Bong Joon-ho's vision and style and Tilda Swanton's kickass performance carried much of it. Now this Frankensteined TV adaptation will be even more difficult to swallow.

There's no premiere date for Snowpiercer yet.