Warning: SPOILERS for Snowpiercer Season 3, Episode 2 - "The Last To Go"
In Snowpiercer season 3, episode 2, Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean) finally gave an explanation for the missing characters on the 1,023-car-long super train. Snowpiecer season 3 kicks off with the train divided; most of the passengers remain with Mr. Wilford, who eliminated the classes so that everyone toils, starves, and freezes equally. Meanwhile, a handful of loyalists to Melanie Cavill (Jennifer Connelly) are aboard Andre Layton's (Daveed Diggs) 10-car pirate train as they search for New Eden, a warm spot on Earth where life can exist outside of the train.
Snowpiercer began with a huge cast in season 1, which is appropriate since there were initially 3,000 survivors of the human race aboard the Great Ark Train. While Snowpiercer is also a violent and bloody show where numerous people were killed in the season 1 conflict between Layton and Melanie, several new major characters were introduced in Snowpiercer season 2, chiefly Mr. Wilford himself, along with Melanie's daughter Alexandra Cavill (Rowan Blanchard), Kevin McMahon (Tom Lipinski), and Sykes (Chelsea Harris). However, a few major season 1 characters vanished in Snowpiercer season 2, like Jinju Seong (Susan Park), who was Melanie's best friend and Bess Till's (Mickey Sumner) ex-girlfriend, and Dr. Henry Klimpt (Happy Anderson), who oversaw the Drawers. Miles (Jaylin Fletcher) was a boy from the Tail adopted by Layton and Josie Wellstead (Katie McGuinness) who became an Engineer, but he only made one appearance in Snowpiercer season 2. All of those characters simply disappeared from the show without explanation.
During the Loyal Wedding between LJ Folger (Annalise Basso) and John Osweiller (Sam Otto) in Snowpiercer season 3, episode 2, Mr. Wilford honored the passengers who were lost to influenza in the 6-month time jump between seasons 2 and 3, which includes Dr. Headwood (Damian Young), who was notably missing in Snowpiercer season 3's premiere. Dr. Headwood was survived by his wife, Mrs. Headwood (Sakina Jaffrey), who is now the physician caring for and experimenting on Layton's baby with Zarah Ferami's (Shiela Vand). The fact that there was a lethal wave of influenza on Snowpiercer due to poor conditions can also be inferred as a handwave explanation for the other missing characters like Jinju, Miles, and Dr. Klimpt.
Snowpiercer season 3 continues to add new characters, the most important being Asha (Archie Panjabi), a survivor in a Korean nuclear plant Layton brought aboard his pirate train. Another new character is Martin Colvin (Stephen Lobo), a First Class passenger who is stuck on Layton's pirate train. There's also Stu Whiggins (Kristian Bruun), another ex-First Class passenger who unwillingly became a Jackboot on Mr. Wilford's Snowpiercer. But as each new face pops up, they raise the question of Jinju, Miles, and Dr. Klimpt's whereabouts. While it was possible they are still on Snowpiercer but were just no longer featured characters, they could have also perished off-screen during the violence on the train. But death by influenza is a tidy enough explanation as to why they vanished from the show.
It's no secret that Snowpiercer is a broken mirror to the real world. By its very concept, the show is essentially a warning about the catastrophe of climate change. Snowpiercer season 3 was produced during the COVID-19 pandemic with strict protocols in place to keep the cast and crew healthy. A deadly strain of influenza aboard Snowpiercer is obviously the show nodding to real-life events, which cost characters like Dr. Headwood people they dearly loved. Perhaps more characters who died from the influenza virus during Snowpiercer's 6-month time jump will be revealed as season 3 continues. While it's a little surprising it took Snowpiercer so long to come up with a handwave reason for its missing characters, it's better late than never.
Snowpiercer airs Mondays @ 9pm on TNT.