Filming suspended on Snowpiercer’s frozen final season... due to dangerous, excessive heat wave

For a show called Snowpiercer, you might think the obvious factor anyone would have to deal with while putting together new episodes for TNT's dystopian sci-fi series would be, well, cold weather. But sweltering summertime conditions on the show’s location set in Canada have reportedly derailed production on its upcoming fourth and final season, causing multiple cases of heat exhaustion and sending more than a dozen people to nearby hospitals.

Citing a crew member present at the show’s outdoor set in British Columbia, Deadline reports that at least 14 people — including both crew members and "background actors" — have had to be transported this week for medical treatment for heat-related health issues. The series has temporarily halted production to allow the sizzling weather to run its course, with temperatures late in the week reaching into the mid-90s.

In an unkind twist of fate, Snowpiercer’s frigid post-disaster setting is partly to blame for the need to put production on hold. “Since the drama takes place in a new ice age, actors are required to wear heavy winter clothing” when filming outdoor scenes, the report notes.

With the thermometer inching close to triple digits, TNT-affiliated production company Tomorrow Studios reportedly elected to call off all filming activity until reconvening next week to wrap production on Season 4.  “Out of an abundance of caution, production of Snowpiercer wrapped early yesterday and was suspended for today due to extreme heat on location,” a Tomorrow Studios spokesperson told Deadline on Thursday, July 28. ”The health and well-being of show cast and crew remains top priority.”

Though cooling tents (as well as medical personnel) were reportedly brought in this week to help safely chill things out for the cast and crew, the summer sizzle has offered nothing that could pass for a Snowpiercer lore-appropriate environment of frosty immersion. And one thing’s for sure: If Season 4 viewers see icy breath emerging from any of the outdoor Snowpiercer scenes filmed in Canada, it’ll be safe to assume those chilly wisps of condensate were added in post production.

TNT revealed last month that Snowpiercer would end with Season 4, bringing to a close the last original scripted series remaining at the network in the wake of last year's Warner Bros. and Discovery merger.

Based on Bong Joon-ho’s critically praised 2013 film about a perpetually-moving  train bearing humanity’s last survivors, Snowpiercer stars Jennifer Connelly, Daveed Diggs, Iddo Goldberg, Katie McGuinness, Rowan Blanchard, and Roberto Urbina, with Season 4 adding MCU alum Clark Gregg and Tony-winning actor Michael Aronov to the cast. Watch for Snowpiercer’s final season to round the bend at TNT with a premiere slated for sometime early next year.

Looking for more sci-fi adventures? Check out shows like Sliders, Project Bluebook, Battlestar Galactica, Heroes and more all streaming on Peacock.