‘Snowfall’: Damson Idris & Dave Andron Split Series Finale; Tribute to John Singleton

SPOILER ALERT: The following story reveals major plot points from today’s FX’s Snowfall series finale.

After 6 seasons, the hit drama series from FX snowfall I said my final goodbyes tonight, and while most of what happened was kind of expected, it’s absolutely heartbreaking to see a promising life end in poverty and despair.

Viewers have been on a journey with Franklin Saint (Damson Idris), seeing his ups and downs and rooting for him no matter what he gets himself into. But money and power tend to change people, especially when that fortune comes from criminal activity. In the end, Franklin has no family and no friends to speak of – except for Leon Simmons (Isaiah John) on his first day – a shadow of himself who, like his father Alton Williams (Kevin Carroll) at his lowest point in Season 1 corpse, drunk and penniless. .

“His last moments were incredibly challenging. There was a fatherhood bond that I personally connected with, so it was very emotional for me. Franklin’s connection to his father and becoming an alcoholic was incredibly difficult,” Idris told Deadline. “I had a bottle with me behind the scenes that no one knew about. I will touch it with my lips to taste the taste. I also admit that I didn’t take a shower. Fortunately, I didn’t bother anyone with smells,” he said with a laugh.

Thanks to Cissy (Michael Hyatt), who is in prison for the murder of Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson) in episode 9, Leon escapes just in time. With his wife Wanda (Gail Bean) by his side, they leave for Ghana in search of a new life until the crack epidemic is under control. When Leon returns, he looks for his friend Franklin, who is hiding in the family’s abandoned house with an eviction notice on the door.

Leon is amazed at who Franklin has become, but they take a walk around the neighborhood as they catch up. In a corner, the duo walk past a film in production, a nod to co-creator John Singleton’s hit film Boyz in the hoodreleased in 1991, the year snowfall end.

“If you think about it one way or another snowfall is a short prologue to it Young, and how the neighborhood got to the point you experience in the film,” co-creator Dave Andron of the series. “We jumped forward a few years in time and didn’t give a proper date, but the newspapers that Leon is issuing are from September 1990, when John started filming. Boyz in the hood. It was very intentional to go back to that moment to pick up this story where John picked it up with the film. It was a small tip of the hat to him.

Well, for anyone wondering why the decision was made not to kill Franklin and put him out of his misery, Andron explains.

It’s funny because when we talked about Franklin’s death, there was a group of people who thought it was an easy way out. That his death means he doesn’t have to bear the damage he caused. He destroyed this neighborhood and did unreal damage to his community. They really needed a helping hand and what they got was another plague. In that respect, I think the dramatic irony of him having no place to go but Cissy’s house, where he is constantly confronted about what he is doing, felt like hell. Now he has to date these junkies that he’s kind of responsible for. The dramatic irony felt good,” Andron said.

Damson is proud to be a part of Singleton’s legacy; Snowfall is the filmmaker’s final project before his death in 2019. His time with Singleton will be remembered forever.

“My favorite moments were my time with John Singleton, building the character, exploring the world and just knowing about that era. So many people didn’t know about certain things related to the crack epidemic,” Idris said. “You look at the laws that came out of that, the prejudice and the Clinton administration and so many things that affected black people in this country. It was wonderful to understand this story.”

As Deadline exclusively confirmed at the end of March, a spin-off is in early development with the character of Wanda said to be the connective tissue between the original series and its spin-off. In the series finale, Leon mentions that he and Wanda are back in Los Angeles because she’s interested in producing music that could potentially build the show’s sequel.

“She came back from Africa at the very end and although we don’t see her, we hear from Leon about her, she’s back and she has a dream,” shared Andron. “She gave a whole life and she found something she’s passionate about, something she wants to be a part of.” For me it goes back to the Wanda we first met. When that creativity and heart flows into the music, I feel like she might really pull off something.

He continued, “And you know, West Coast hip-hop is about to explode. So tell the story of what’s going on in South Central the way Singleton told it guys in the area. And so, as you know, it turned out that we could try to continue that story because it felt worthy of Snowfall, and I felt worthy of John Singleton. So we’ll see if we can get there.”