Behind Mickey Sumner's 'Kickass, Badass' Snowpiercer Character

By Emlyn Travis


Once Mickey Sumner stepped foot back on the Snowpiercer set in October 2020, seven months soon following the production of the show had been shuttered because of the coronavirus pandemic, it was with a mix of fear and excitement. Prior to the lockdown in spring, eight episodes of the second season had been filmed and work had just began on the final two episodes any time, in a shift that felt ripped straight out of the post-apocalyptic series, the complete world came to an abrupt, gear-grinding halt.


“We had began episodes nine and ten, yet we had just never completed them. So then in October, we came back for two weeks and finished the season,” she tells MTV News over the phone from her house in British Columbia. The 37-year-old actress, known for her spellbinding performances in Frances Ha and Low Winter Sun, is now on day nine or 10 — she’s not entirely sure — of quarantine before she starts filming the third season of Snowpiercer, which was renewed before the previous installment could air. Despite living in isolation, she’s not lonely or bored because her 4-year-old son keeps her on her toes. Nonetheless, Sumner was excited to return to set, in part because leaving the season unfinished “had been sort of hanging over us all.”


Based on the graphic novel Le Transperceneige and director Bong Joon-ho’s 2013 film of the same name, the television adaptation of Snowpiercer is set seven years soon after an experiment to prevent climate change goes wrong and transforms the world into a sprawling arctic tundra. Survivors ride a 1,001-car train segmented by class that must continuously circle the globe at high speeds to stay functional and keep its passengers alive. Sumner plays Bess Till, a punchy brakeman with a concealed soft side, who is tasked with keeping categorize in the lower-tier cabins. It’s there she meets Layton (Daveed Diggs) and joins him on his journey as he inspires a revolution on board.


Right now, in its second season, Till is forced to adapt to a new set of challenges because the passengers fight for power. Battling PTSD in the aftermath of a blood-soaked revolt, she’s appointed the role of train detective and thrown headfirst into the deep end on her first case to uncover the mastermind in back of a slew of vicious attacks on civilians. Wracked with emotional pain, loneliness, plus a crisis of identity, Till leans into the companionship and guidance of Pastor Logan (Bryan Terrell Clark), yet a breakthrough in the event may have her questioning everything she is aware about her revolutionary friends. Much will be revealed in tonight’s episode, and ahead of it, Sumner lets MTV News into the mind and backstory of her awe-inspiring character.


MTV News: Once did you first know you wanted to be an actor?


Sumner: I grew up watching my mom [Trudie Styler] on stage, in movies, on film sets, and I was routinely really fascinated by that life. I habitually thought I wanted to be beyond the camera; I really was interested in costumes. My godmother is Colleen Atwood, who is a costume designer, so I spent a lot of summers interning for her and learning costumes. For college, I went to Parsons School of Design and studied painting, yet what was really wonderful was that it was in New York City. I got to meet all of those kids who went to New York University, Bard, and Columbia who were all making things. I fell into that crowd, and they’d invited me to help out and make a short film over the weekend and I got hooked that way. I began taking acting classes at night with this astonishing woman Sondra Lee, who is one of the greats. She really got me on my feet in theater and informed me that I was good. And I felt like, OK, this is what I'd like to do, so I graduated with a degree in art and became an actress.


MTV News: You said that you were initially interested in costume design growing up. Has that training been reflected in Till’s outfits while in Snowpiercer?


Sumner: Beauty, composition, fabrics, and just the general look of every character I play is so vital for me to design a layered character. I take that really seriously and work out my hairstyle, my shoes, my socks. I really like to layer up — even my underwear needs to be right for the character group in attempt to feel her! We’re really lucky on Snowpiercer to work with such a talented costume department that really respects and appreciates my process. It was a group effort in finding the correct coat for her in Season 2 as soon as she becomes a detective. It was really critical to me how it swings While I walk down the corridor and why the collar pops, just these very small specifics that maybe no one notices.


MTV News: What was it about the role of Till that initially drew you to the character?


Sumner: I auditioned four years prior and not very much was told about Till. It was very secretive. There was no script — all I knew was that she was this order kind of cop figure. She was tough with some underlying vulnerability. That was the breakdown, which immediately felt interesting to me; a group kind of kickass, badass woman who might seem one way on the outdoors and then has some softer facets. I think, as an actor, you’re routinely looking for that contradiction.


MTV News: That contradiction is one of my preferred things about Till. She can be brave any time she’s storming the train with Layton in the initial season, yet she can also be emotionally susceptible whenever she opens up about her fears. How did you work to balance both sides of the character?


Sumner: I think the script really dictates it in a pretty way. It’s the homework of the actor to prepare ensure you know your backstory, your weaknesses, so that even as soon as you’re attempting to be tough or have a fight scene, there really are those places that you could visualize the cracks. The PTSD of Bess Till in Season 2 is actually something that was quite close to me. I’ve actually been suffering PTSD immediately following the birth of my child. It’s something I’ve been working through and thus it felt, in one way, quite healing have the ability to go there in character. Even just talking about it feels weak. I love that about art — you could channel these things that happen in your life and put them somewhere creative.


MTV News: So there really are characteristic of her character that especially resonate with you?


Sumner: A lot! While I was in high school, each person mentioned that people were afraid of me because I had this walk and was very serious. I didn’t let my guard down and I didn’t trust a lot of people. Then, while you get to know me, there’s a softer, more lighthearted place.


MTV News: Any time Layton gives Till the role of train detective at the starting of the season, she’s almost reluctant to take the possibility. What does taking on the position symbolize for her?


Sumner: Once we visualize her in those first two episodes, she’s reeling from the loss of life from the revolution and the loss of her identity as a brakeman that she’s given up She's also damaged up with her love, Jinju, and that also came with a second-class cabin [on the train]. So she’s not only adrift romantically, although physically she’s sleeping on the bunks in the brakeman barracks and doesn’t really have a house. Any time whenever she is given this job as a detective, she says: “I’ve seen enough bloodshed in my lifetime.” She doesn’t really hope to go there, although she’s also a very dutiful person who is aware the value of service. She’s very much ready to go with Layton and be whichever he needs her to be — she trusts him and wants to be segment of his mission.


MTV News: Snowpiercer was greenlit for one third season ahead of the release of the second. How would you like to be able to see Till continue to grow?


Sumner: I’m routinely interested in how a character transforms and learns. It’s essential for me that something has shifted by the end of the scene. The astonishing thing about TV is that you often begin the season and the end of the season hasn’t even been written however! As a control freak, I find it a little bit stressful however also sort of exciting; you’re just group kind of waiting to be able to see what the writers have in store for you. As a character, I’m interested in where her trust lies right now. Till is a romantic at heart who just really longs to love and be loved. I’m curious if that is planning to play out this season. I don’t know — I’ve seen the initial script and I can tell you there’s a lot of action!


MTV News: Despite Snowpiercer’s post-apocalyptic setting, at the heart of its story are characteristic of society we deal with day-to-day. What is it like to be segment of a show that has these parallels?


Sumner: I feel like a damaged record, however I keep saying that it’s not a futuristic, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi story. It’s the story of right now. It’s an allegory of how our society plays out in these order kind of insidious systems of greed, capitalism, and oppression. Who is serving who, and who is being sacrificed for the 1 percent to have a certain lifestyle? I think that it's a powerful story to really question the way we live and what structures we hope to be segment of, what structures we aspire to serve, and what structures we desire to rebel against.


MTV News: Till routinely usually have the alternative between doing what’s easy and doing what’s morally right. In the end, she routinely chooses what’s right. Where do you know this altruism comes from, even in the darkest of settings?


Sumner: In her heart, she’s routinely searching for how to be of service to the correct thing. That probably came from childhood. However I think that somewhere in the seven years before Season 1 started, she lost her way and became segment of the machine of oppression. I think that whenever she meets Layton he sees something in her and she feels seen by him; maybe subconsciously she realizes that there’s a way to redeem past behavior and change her path.


MTV News: I especially love the dynamic between Layton and Till. Over the last two seasons, they’ve become such an excellent team and I feel like he might be the only person she can trust and rely on.


Sumner: I think so! She gave everything up for his mission and his vision because she really thought in him. I haven’t really spoken about it before, yet [before the events of Snowpiercer] she was a rookie cop from Detroit and he was a detective in Chicago. That understanding and the foundation of the police department, where rookies are meant to look up to the detectives, was something I studied a lot before I began this show. Once Till realizes that he’s a detective from the tail [of the train] it just hints her whole perspective on its head. She was piece of a brutal regime where she was feeding these poor people in the back [of the train] cockroaches and she realizes this guy was someone she really should have been respecting. Yet I love working with Daveed, and Till would like to follow Daveed anywhere he would let her follow him.


MTV News: What do you hope fans take away from Till’s character arc?


Sumner: I think that if anyone is suffering from PTSD, I just hope they don’t feel alone and like they can get help. There really is a real message in this season about who you are fighting for and what you are doing about the injustices that surround you each day. Can you stick up for your neighbor? Can you stick up for someone who is far less privileged than you? Can you analyse your own behavior and why you have benefited from systems of oppression and privilege?