Snowfall season 2 release date, trailer and how to watch

In the official trailer for Snowfall season 2, CIA operative Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson) tells young drug kingpin Franklin Saint (Damson Idris) that he’s “being a little bit paranoid.” In response, Saint angrily turns on McDonald. “I’m a black man in America, goddamnit! Hell yeah, I’m paranoid.”

The latter’s irritable, though poignant statement reflects one of the many harsh realities of Snowfall creator John Singleton’s sprawling epic. Saint and his associates are just trying to make it in a society that largely wants no part of them, drugs notwithstanding. Yet McDonald, a white man with a cushy government job, is largely unable to understand this. In many ways, this moment serves as a microcosm for the entire series.

What is Snowfall about?

With Snowfall, Singleton, who is best known for his 1991 film Boyz n the Hood, delves into the stories surrounding the first crack epidemic that plagued Los Angeles in the early ‘80s. Following the format perfected by The Wire and other similar shows, it tells several unique narratives that, in direct and indirect ways, connect across disparate lives.

Saint, a small-time marijuana dealer for his uncle, breaks into the city’s cocaine game in its infancy and gradually climbs its ladder. McDonald, meanwhile, covers for a deceased colleague and takes over his secret drug operation. Nor are they the only players in the growing game, both in Los Angeles and in the many places that feed it’s newfound taste for crack.

Why you should binge ahead of Snowfall season 2

Fans of television dramas driven not by singular stories, but vast enterprises like what David Simon accomplished with HBO’s The Wire during the 2000s, will dig Snowfall. So too, for that matter, will viewers who appreciate Singleton’s ability to craft personal tales about fictional persons whose connections to reality are nonetheless unbreakable. For Snowfall is not a “based on a true story” kind of show, but its setting is.

Meet the cast of Snowfall

In addition to Idris and Hudson, whose narratives lead much of Snowfall, the show also includes a massive cast of characters whose own motivations and experiences matter just as much to the plot. Like Lucia Villanueva (Emily Rios) and Gustavo “El Oso” Zapata (Sergio Peris-Mencheta), a team of newly minted crack suppliers who struggle to free themselves of the cartel’s might.

Franklin’s mother Cissy (Michael Hyatt) endeavors to provide her son with a better life, while his uncle Jerome (Amin Joseph) supports his nephew’s expanding drug empire, despite the costs he never anticipated or wanted. The main cast is rounded out by Franklin’s Aunt Louie (Angela Lewis) who, like Jerome, does everything she can to enable his business. Fellow drug dealer Avi Drexler (Alon Moni Aboutboul), however, proves to be as much of a help as a hindrance.