WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Snowpiercer, which airs Sundays on TNT.
TNT's ambitious reimagining of the acclaimed post-apocalyptic science fiction story Snowpiercer brings the class war aboard a high-speed train traversing the frozen Earth with the last remnants of humanity to television. As the lower classes living in the tail of the train struggle with their inhumane conditions, the upper class families towards the front confront their own sinister secrets and murderous dangers, as the two castes come to a violent head.
In an exclusive interview with CBR, star Annalise Basso talked about how her character, L.J., is not who she initially appears, and how her secrets may lead to darker things unfolding over the course of the series.
CBR: As L.J., you're one of the more well-to-do characters on the train. How was it coming to this project?
Annalise Basso: L.J. was a character that was difficult to fully embrace and, I think by [the fourth episode] people will understand why. As an actress, I like to find what a character and I have in common, and it was pretty difficult doing that with L.J. She's really sad and full of rage and she doesn't really have any friends and I think that people will find she hasn't adjusted to life on Snowpiercer well at all.
With this, I feel like it's a very claustrophobic shoot given the nature and intensity of the setting, especially with interactions with costars including Daveed Diggs. How is it bringing that energy day in and day out?
Being surrounded by actors, like Daveed and Jennifer [Connelly], of that caliber was really inspiring. And I think that, ultimately, it did help me give a better performance, because when you have one of those guys as a scene partner, it's kind of hard to mess it up [laughs].
But in terms of really embracing the environment of Snowpiercer, the art department did an amazing job. Snowpiercer just felt so real and stepping onto set everyday [felt like] I was stepping onto the train. And with the cast and crew all in one car, I think it definitely helped make the environment more claustrophobic and helped us actors give a more authentic performance.
When casting reports first broke, you were described as a much different character than you actually ended up portraying. Did you have to rework the pilot episode extensively?
Well, I wasn't part of the creative development of my character on Snowpiercer 2.o but the characters are definitely very different and I was surprised reading L.J. for the second time because she was so different from who I originally signed on to be. And I was really grateful to [showrunner and executive producer Graeme Manson] and to the network for being given the opportunity because usually I'm cast as the Midwestern girl who's life has changed and whatever else.
So, it felt like, with this new character, to tackle it, I've been given this whole opportunity to show this whole new side of myself. So, yeah, I was really excited, and I did some really fun character research. It was really the first time I got to do character research outside of Captain Fantastic, getting to prep for that project. This was more character-driven instead of experience-driven, if that makes sense, so I had a lot of fun getting to know the new L.J.
Knowing the arc of your character, how much of your character's backstory did you get to develop and how much was already written?
I didn't really find out who L.J. really was until probably the third or fourth episode. I had a conversation with Graeme and he told me where my character was going to go. And when I was reading Episode 4 and Episode 5, I was so excited and pleasantly surprised [laughs]!
So that didn't inform your performance? In these first couple of episodes, you're there but there's an understatement to it; you're more in the periphery.
Yeah! I think that was done on purpose because if you spend too much time focusing on L.J., then you start to realize she's actually crazy and psychotic. And I think that makes the reveal of her personality and what she's been up to on the train more dramatic because the more time you spend on L.J., the more you realize how unstable she is... that'll hopefully surprise fans in the best way.
Season 2 had already been well underway before the pandemic. Without giving the game away, does L.J. go into some interesting places in Season 2?
Yes, from how the audience gets to know her in Season 1 to how she begins Season 2, they're two totally different circumstances, and I'll leave it to the viewer to decide if she's really changed inside. Her circumstances change, I'll just say that.
Did you manage to wrap Season 2 before the temporary production suspension?
No, unfortunately not. We had two episodes left to go and then production got shut down so it was disappointing.
Snowpiercer stars Jennifer Connelly, Daveed Diggs, Alison Wright, Mickey Sumner, Susan Park, Iddo Goldberg, Katie McGuinness, Lena Hall, Annalise Basso, Sam Otto, Roberto Urbina, Sheila Vand and Jaylin Fletcher. The series airs on Sundays at 9pm ET/PT on TNT.