- "Snowpiercer" star Daveed Diggs told Insider that it's "frustrating" when sci-fi stories lack diversity.
- Diggs said that it implies "you can't imagine a future with people of color."
- Diggs added that "Snowpiercer" tries to make the future reflect what the world looks like now.
"Snowpiercer" star Daveed Diggs told Insider that it's "frustrating" when sci-fi movies and TV shows lack diversity.
Diggs, best known for his role in the original Broadway cast for the "Hamilton" musical, stars in the dystopian thriller about the last of human civilization living on a fast-moving train after Earth becomes a frozen wasteland. One of the aspects that make the series stand out is the fact that the characters are racially and geographically diverse.
Diggs, who plays the lead character Layton, told Insider that he hoped more sci-fi movies and TV shows embrace diversity in regards to their cast.
"The frustrating thing when our science fiction lacks diversity is that that implies that you can't imagine a future with people of color and that's super frustrating no matter who it is who's writing the show," Diggs said. "Because that also implies that you don't see them in your present or see us in your present."
He continued: "One of the things I do like about this show is that we try to make the world of the future also reflect our contemporary world."
In 2014, a study by book publisher Lee & Low Books found that in the top 100 domestic grossing films in the sci-fi and fantasy genre, only 8 had a person of color as their lead character. In six of those eight movies, the protagonist was Will Smith.
In recent years, major sci-fi franchises, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, and the CW's Arrowverse, have started to include better racial diversity, as well as diversity in other areas.
Diggs also told Insider that the series reflects the contemporary world with its underlying themes for season three.
"Season three asked us to look at the inherent flaws in a bunch of political systems," Diggs explained. "We live in a world in which, in the last few years, we've been witnessed to a fair amount of authoritarian regimes popping up in places that we thought were solidly committed to democracy and that happens on 'Snowpiercer.'"
He added: "The big political question this year is how useful is a broken democracy and what are you willing to do to fix it? And what does it mean to fix it?"
The third season of "Snowpiercer airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on TNT.
