FX Networks premiered season two of Snowfall Monday in New York City, with appearances and Q+A by writers, producers, and cast, including John Singleton, Damson Idris, Carter Hudson, and Filipe Valle Costa.
Snowfall continues the story of the early development of the crack cocaine epidemic in the eighties and how it impacted culture in the United States. The show follows Franklin Saint (Damson Idris) as he builds his repertoire as a drug dealer alongside CIA operative Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson) as he avoids getting caught up in his drug-funded scheme.
“We just really had to up the anti,” said John Singleton about the pressures of a second season. “All the focus was on trying to find a way to really organically intertwine these characters from various worlds and really make that intense.”
Snowfall aims to be authentic to the time period, especially with the portrayal of the main characters–namely Franklin Saint drawing on John Singleton’s family and personal experiences with the era in addition to writer/consultant Walter Mosely’s personal experience.
“One of the things we spoke about in the early inception of his character was keeping his innocence,” said Damson Idris of character Franklin Saint. “For me, Franklin Saint is the viewer in this time, I feel anyone could have been trapped into doing these things because they didn’t necessarily get into it to be gangsters, they got into it to help their families, in Franklin’s case to help his mom.”
There’s plenty of drama and development in store for all of Snowfall’s characters in the upcoming season as they make more money and dive deeper into the world of drugs.
“With success and money comes conflict and that’s both exterior and interior, and you’re gonna see that the whole season,” said Idris.
The cast spoke about the show’s representation and how they hold the responsibility of portraying the time period and how it truly affected individuals and families alike.
“You really feel the responsibility,” said Filipe Valle Costa of his role as Pedro Nava. “Especially for an actor that looks like me, I go in for a lot of violent roles. But you hear the voice of “I don’t want to be a stereotype.” So there is a lot of responsibility in my hands…these are just kids that don’t know what they’re getting themselves into. And I think that’s the beauty of the story that we’re telling. It’s not just the story of this drug, it’s the story about how this drug was affecting families and people on a very personal level.”
Snowfall airs Thursdays at 10/9c on FX.
