'Snowpiercer' Season 3 Ending Explained: Jennifer Connelly on Wilford's Fate

Snowpiercer Season 3 came to a dramatic conclusion on Monday with several shocking revelations.

Jennifer Connelly, who returned as Melanie Cavill in the show's penultimate episode, spoke to Newsweek about some of those stunning moments.

**Warning: This article contains spoilers for Snowpiercer's Season 3 finale**

Snowpiercer Season 3 Ending Explained

One of the most surprising moments in the penultimate episode of Season 3 was Melanie's decision to betray Layton (Daveed Diggs) by telling the passengers of Snowpiercer the truth.

Melanie informs them that Layton had based the idea of New Eden on a lie and it was a risk traveling to the Horn of Africa just because he believed it was a warm spot, before forcibly taking over the train.

However, in the finale it's revealed this supposed war between the two was actually a ruse to trick Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean) into a false sense of security.

"I don't think that initially, when she makes the announcement in Episode 9ine, I don't think that it is [a betrayal]," Connelly said of Melanie's choice. "She is making a really bold move, her back is up against the wall [and] they're running out of time.

"She tried to speak to them, she tried to speak to Alex [Melanie's daughter, played by Rowan Blanchard], she tried to speak to Layton. No one wanted to negotiate.

"So, I think she felt that she had to do something quite drastic to get everyone's attention and to force a conversation at that point, and I think that in the beginning I think it was genuine.

"I think that the collaboration and conspiring [between Melanie and Layton] happens off-screen in the middle of Episode 10 when you see Layton and Melanie speaking over the phone from the engine, I think that that's when it starts."

On Melanie and Mr. Wilford's "Team Up"

As part of their ruse, Melanie aligned with Mr. Wilford by getting him to agree to let her be Head Engineer while he keeps control of things like the train's cold fusion experiments.

Given Melanie and Mr. Wilford's many discussions over what to do with the train, and indeed Layton's apparent uprising against them, Connelly and Bean had a lot of scenes together in the finale.

Of working together with Bean on these scenes, Connelly shared: "He's great to work with. I think that it's pretty delicious what he does as Wilford, you know.

"I like the sort of joie de vivre and the charm of it, I think he is really good and plays really well.

"It's fun, they're such different characters so it's always fun when you throw two characters together who are so opposed in their way of handling situations and relating and so it's really fun. We've had some fun stuff to do together."

Is Mr. Wilford Going to Die?

The plan works as Mr. Wilford chooses to join sides with Melanie to stop Layton, only for the duo to reveal to the villain they were working together all along.

They force Mr. Wilford to get into the track scaler Melanie had used to survive 6 months alone in the cold wasteland that is Earth, essentially leaving him to die.

While Connelly claimed she did not yet know what would happen to Mr. Wilford and if he could survive the ordeal, she said: "I think he seems like a pretty resilient character.

"So I think —I mean, I don't know the answer myself so no spoilers here— but he's proven himself to be quite resilient. It's possible [he'd survive]."

Reflecting on Melanie and Layton's choice to send Wilford out into the cold, she added: "I think that it was right, that she that they had to take him out of the equation in one way or another.

"I liked the solution that they worked together, that she and Layton worked [out] together, and they found a peaceful way forward."

Layton Finds a Warm Spot

Speaking of the "way forward," Melanie and Layton then give the citizens of Snowpiercer the choice, go with Layton to the Horn of Africa in the hope of finding a warm spot, or staying on the train with Melanie.

"They found a way forward that gave the people a choice, I think that that's the thing that she really wanted. I think it was it was a fair solution," Connelly told Newsweek of the outcome.

"There are those people who were willing to take the risk, I think that for Melanie the issue was they don't know the risk they're taking and they don't know the odds of survival.

"So, unless we give them that information, where we're keeping the power and we need to shift and let them share in that responsibility of that decision."

In the end, those who travel with Layton do end up arriving at the Horn of Africa, surviving a very tense trip that leaves their half of the train (which used to be Big Alice) on its last legs.

Luckily for them, the place they stopped is in fact a warm spot, and they all leave the train to bask in the sun and enjoy being outside for the first time in years.

What Was The Explosion?

Season 3 ends with Connelly's Melanie driving Snowpiercer three months later, when an explosion happens on the track far ahead her.

What appears to be a missile is launched into the sky, but it is not clear who set off the explosion or why. This is something likely to be answered in Season 4.

Snowpiercer is out on TNT now.