SPOILER ALERT: This article contains SPOILERS for ‘Snowpiercer’ S1 and teases for S2, so if you are not caught up, you may want to turn back now or proceed with caution.
Sheila Vand knows that viewers don’t like her ‘Snowpiercer’ character, Zarah Ferami. After all, she has stabbed lead character, Andre Layton (Daveed Diggs) twice.
As she said to Collider:
“It’s hard because you can’t ever judge your own character, you know? You have to kind of be on their side. But she has made choices that sometimes I’m just like, ‘Okay, why? Why is this happening?’… I tried to just lean into the moral gray of it all because I do like that, but it’s a tricky balancing act as an actor because even if you’re character’s not likable – and also, I’m often advocating in a way to see more ‘unlikable’ women because I think there’s just too much of, ‘Oh, female representation should always be hospitable and polite, agreeable.’ It’s okay to see nasty girls, too. But then it’s hard, because then at the same time, you have to deal with, yeah, there’s people who definitely don’t like Zarah and don’t like what she’s up to. But that’s okay! What’s nice about a TV show is that things can go all over the place!”
Even though Vand says part of Zarah’s whole deal is that she never wanted to board the train in the first place and she has struggled the entire time with finding a purpose. She has seemingly found that, as she is now pregnant and most of her actions– including her last-minute betrayal of Layton– are motivated by her concern for her unborn child. But there is more to her.
Vand says that the later moments in S1 will most influence her characterization moving into S2:
“You start to see that I think right at the end of Season 1. She helps with the revolution. But again, she toes the line all the time, so I feel like she cares less in a way about the grander politics than she does about Andre. I always felt like searching for love, that was the only thing left that she believed in and I feel like once you’ve lost everybody in your life – like all your family members, the world has frozen over, everything you’ve ever really loved is gone, you’re just stuck on this thing – it starts to feel like existential for her. So she continues on the trajectory she’s on in a lot of ways, but I feel like she’s still finding her way in this world and maybe that’s not a bad thing. I can certainly relate to not quite fitting in anywhere and sometimes floundering in that misfit non-place.”
It is known that “most” of S2 had already been filmed prior to COVID-19 shutdowns, so it could be here sooner than later. At this point, TNT expects the show to return next summer, but check back for updates.
Did you enjoy ‘Snowpiercer’ S1? Are you intrigued to see where the story goes from there?
