One of the most hyped original series coming to TNT is the adaptation of Snowpiercer, the post-apocalyptic science fiction story that began as a graphic novel by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette and was adapted into an acclaimed film by Bong Jong-Ho in 2013. Now reimagined for television audiences, the story follows the class division and social unrest that arises among the last remnants of humanity, who are packed onto a high-speed train traveling across the frozen Earth.
Among the all-star cast is Steven Ogg, who portrays the grizzled survivalist Pike, a key figure in the revolution forming in the tail of the train to overthrow the opulent, oppressive rule by the higher castes towards the front. In an interview with CBR, Ogg discussed bringing his rugged revolutionary character to life, detailed his working relationship with costar Daveed Diggs and teased what to expect from Pike in the future.
CBR: What I love about your character is he's a living Chekhov's Gun and wild card all at once. How was it knowing your character's arc this first season?
Steven Ogg: I'm always amazed that nobody looks at Pike and says "He's so beautiful! What a beautiful man, inside and out!" [laughs]. Being the, if you will, the unpredictable one, we're jumping into this seven years in [since the apocalypse]. We're looking at a man who's been essentially living -- the tail is basically solitary confinement, treated like animals, fed bug bars; we're introduced to Pike at a point where he's maybe snapped a bit. Some people snapped in the first week!
He's survived a long time and he's continuing to survive and I think we've got him at this point where he's trying something different because things have not worked out maybe the way he wanted them to. So, he's maybe trying a bit louder of a bark, he's trying to do different things and I think those unpredictable qualities are interesting. We don't know what he's tried before, we're just now meeting him seven years in.
He's a survivor and this, by my count, is the second time you've portrayed a rugged survivalist in a post-apocalyptic scenario. How would you compare your approach to Pike with your approach to [Simon on] The Walking Dead?
One has a beard, one has a big mustache, so approaching it with a different razor. That's my range as an actor: "Let me grow my beard a little different and this part will be different because I have a little mustache!" [laughs]. I don't know honestly, I just think these are the worlds these characters live in and I don't really look at them differently. I don't look at these big, huge worlds, I just look at the moments that the person has with whatever's in front of them, whatever the character is.
[Showrunner and executive producer Graeme Manson] and I discussed a lot of times with Snowpiercer what's someone's mentality, what's someone's psyche. In this world, do you have privacy? Where do you work out? It's a prison, right, so you're doing push-ups, you're doing yoga in your little space. But it's got to really f*ck with the brain.
The confinement is certainly different from The Walking Dead world, with the apocalypse there, because you're still outside whereas, with Snowpiercer, you're on the New York subway system at rush hour for seven years. That would drive me crazy! I freak out in elevators!
Right from jump, you're in the middle of these action sequences within these cramped spaces. How was it working with Daveed Diggs and the rest of the cast with these big, cramped fight scenes?
Just awesome! It's so funny with Daveed. I'll just say this: I said to him "I always find myself always wanting to either hug you or cry around you." There's so many scenes we've had together, especially with the sort of battles that Layton and Pike have in regards to alliances and changing things up, it causes such an interesting dynamic because even at times when Pike is at odds with Layton, nine out of ten times, I'd end up crying in the scene. Which is just a reflection of Daveed and how he inhabits the character and who he is as a human being. It's like "I would want to hurt you! It pains me to hurt you!" which is just such an interesting dynamic, but it's literally a reflection on the wonder of Daveed.
Talent aside, because everyone is so talented it's incredible, but the generosity of spirit, to be affected by someone's spirit, if you will, which everyone has. The Snowpiercer group texts are like nothing I've ever experienced, checking in with each other. It's just an incredible, incredible group and it's so fun to get to play -- that's what I miss, I miss playing. And the more a person is generous, the more you can play because you just feel safe, and certainly everyone on that show makes you feel so safe and [you] just try.
Something about this show is that everybody is always on, there are no real mellow moments, including for Pike. How is it to bring that emotional intensity, day in and day out?
I love the abject focus of acting, zeroing in on these moments and those are part of your job. Like an athlete, you just prep, the meal you need to eat, the music you need to listen to to get you to where you need to be, all the training. Do all your homework and practice and, when it's game time or shoot time, you zero all that in.
I'm a dramaturge, if anything, I love learning and reading about the history of stuff. At the end of the day, that doesn't really help you do your job, you just have to have this sort of myopic view of this moment and what it means. What are the stakes? I go back to my acting coach 25 years ago in New York, you just take each word and change this person in these circumstances that they are. You better stay focused! You better have the blinders on because that's all you've got, what's in front of you right now. I think it's just inherent in what's happening in that world.
You alluded to the fact that we don't really know what your character has done to survive for the past seven years. With you promoted to a series regular for Season 2, is there a chance we're going to see more of Pike's backstory as the series continues?
I just like to say that Season 2 could be called Pike-Piercer because it's pretty much just me and then these other characters kind of just come in. There's more Pike, there's so many characters and so much more to explore. Certainly, there's more revealed, we get to see more. I think your actions, obviously, reflect what you've done so the more you get to see someone like Pike interact, I think the more it reflects on maybe where he comes from or what he has done.
Similar to The Walking Dead, I think there's opportunity to show flashbacks or, if there aren't literally flashbacks, you have to kind of do something that's revealed what we would have seen if we had done a flashback. There's certainly more to be revealed because we see what happens to Pike in Season 1. In Season 2, he's out and he's got more things to do, to try. It's exciting, man! Obviously, I love Season 1 but I'm super excited for Season 2! It's so good!
You guys were scheduled to wrap filming on Season 2 this past March. Did you manage to wrap before everything with COVID-19?
Pretty close! We pretty much came close to finishing Season 2 before we had to shut down. We were more fortunate, in that sense, than a lot of productions that were just starting; I was just mentioning to a friend in Narcos, they were on Episode 2 and they had to shut down. So we were very fortunate, if you want to call it that, that we were almost finished with Season 2 before COVID-19 kicked in.
Had you watched the film Snowpiercer to get in that headspace or read the French graphic novel ahead of this?
I'd seen the movie, years ago when it first came out but I didn't rewatch it. I looked at some of the graphic novel... I just can't get into graphic novels, even The Walking Dead. I just looked at them, but it's just not my thing, I can't get into it. I was more interested in looking at a lot of documentaries about confinement and watching things dealing with people's mindsets that are trapped or surviving in the wilderness or in the woods, how that affects the psyche and the mind. That's what I was focused on more than rewatching Snowpiercer or reading the graphic novel.
It's like what I mentioned about the dramaturge, is it going to change the way I approach the character? I'm more interested in this moment to moment thing, what's in front of me. Would I change my reaction rewatching something? It's good to know the world but I prefer to just get myopic, zero in on what's happening: How do I feel, how do I win, how can I change in this situation? It's like Guns'n'Roses: Step in the rain, motherfucker, I'll kick your sorry, little ass. That's my philosophy and that also helps my intensity, like, "Come on, let's dance, man! We're in the rain, get in the rain. Let's do this!"
Between this, The Walking Dead and Grand Theft V, you're portraying these intense characters. Do you find yourself drawn to these kinds of personalities?
I guess it's really the opportunities that I get, more than anything. It's obviously these characters, be it the intensity or unpredictable quality that obviously is maybe a strength of mine as an actor that people see and go, "Oh yeah, he can fill this character or this world or contribute and help." I don't have six or seven projects on my desk going, "Okay, there's a musical, Jake Gyllenhaal and I are going to do Barefoot in the Park, or I'm going to do this romantic comedy or I can do another intense, crazy guy... I think I'll do another intense, crazy guy." I don't have those on my desk in front of me. The opportunities present themselves and you do your thing, but that's why I also love to do things like The Tick or The Short History of the Long Road where I get to play a dad.
It is acting and, as actors, some people may have smaller range as to what they can do, but you always do as many different projects and different things as possible. You just tend to get known for sort of specific things.
What do you think audiences should take away from watching this first season of Snowpiercer?
Honestly, it's a fun ride. I hope people just really enjoy it. I'm not one to talk about messages and this and that. It's just entertaining and so fun and so well done. I just hope people -- this is going to sound so fucking cheesy -- but goodness leads to goodness and when you're inspired by something you enjoy, it tends to pass it along; you become more good yourself. And I hope that's what people take away: If you enjoy something, you turn around and you make something else better.
So that's what I hope, feel good and be entertained, feel sad, feel inspired, feel something and then turn around and pass that feeling along. My favorite actor is Peter Mullen from My Name Is Joe and Tyrannosaur, and people find his films bleak and depressing -- and they are -- but I'm inspired by that and I want to turn around and make something better for someone. So I want people to take something from it, it could be depressing as all get-out, but if it inspires you because of its quality, that's what I'd love people to take away and give to someone else.
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.