Warning: SPOILERS for Snowpiercer Season 3, Episode 1 - "The Tortoise And The Hare."
Andre Layton (Daveed Diggs) had a vision of New Eden in Snowpiercer season 3's premiere and here's what it could mean for the future of everyone aboard the Great Ark Train. Six months after the ending of Snowpiercer season 2, Layton is leading his loyalists around the world aboard his stolen Snowpiercer pirate train. Their mission is to track down the "warm spots" Melanie Cavill (Jennifer Connelly) located to prove that New Eden exists and the Earth is warming. But a near-death experience in a Korean nuclear facility may have pointed Layton in the right direction.
In Snowpiercer season 2, Melanie left the super train on a solo mission to the Breslauer Research Station in Colorado. After a month in frozen isolation where she sustained herself by eating rats, Snowpiercer's head engineer was able to acquire the data she needed that the Earth is starting to warm. Meanwhile, back aboard Snowpiercer, Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean) succeeded in wresting control of the train from Layton and installing himself as leader once more. With help from his friends, including Ruth Wardell (Alison Wright), Bess Till (Mickey Sumner), Josie Wellstead (Katie McGuinness), and Melanie's daughter Alexandra (Rowan Blanchard), Layton stole Snowpiercer's engine and its first ten cars to create a super-fast pirate train in order to find Melanie. But when Layton and Alex reached the Breslauer Station all they found was Melanie's data. Cavill wrote in her journal that she ventured "into the white" because she lost hope of Snowpiercer rescuing her.
Layton's vision in Snowpiercer season 3's premiere took place after he fought off a surprise attack by Asha (Archie Panjabi), who is the last survivor of the Korean nuclear station that Bennett Knox (Iddo Goldberg) was accidentally trapped in. After Layton and Josie, who has cold immunity like Icy Bob (Andre Tricoteaux), rescued Ben, Layton followed strange sounds he heard and went deeper into the station where he was ambushed by Asha. But Layton's environment suit lost oxygen and before he was able to reconnect with air to save his life, Andre lost consciousness and saw the vision of dry land and an enormous dragon tree, which signifies Melanie's New Eden. The ending of Snowpiercer's season 3 premiere debunked the idea that this was a hallucination caused by oxygen deprivation and exhaustion because Layton saw the tree again after he and Asha were safely back aboard Snowpiercer.
Layton being driven by some sort of vision isn't new to Snowpiercer, and the post-apocalyptic sci-fi series has used the plot device of characters seeing the impossible before. Layton himself has had flashbacks in Snowpiercer season 1 but in season 2's standout episode, "Many Miles from Snowpiercer," Melanie imagined entire conversations with Wilford, Alex, and Layton while she was alone at the Breslauer Research Station. Along with flashbacks to life before the Freeze, Snowpiercer has used visions as a powerful storytelling tool to illuminate its main characters' inner life, hopes, and deepest fears. But are Layton's vision tree and New Eden real? Is Andre somehow actually seeing Snowpiercer's future destination or is it all just in his head?
For Layton, the dragon tree manifests as his heartfelt wish that Melanie is right and he can lead Snowpiercer to New Eden. Meanwhile, it's also possible that Layton was exposed to enough radiation during his fight with Asha that he is suffering from some kind of undiagnosed radiation poisoning. Regardless, the questions surrounding the dragon tree and Asha, their mysterious new passenger, haunt Layton when Snowpiercer season 3's premiere ends. The rest of Snowpiercer season 3 will reveal what Layton is willing to do in order to pursue his vision and find the truth about New Eden, with Mr. Wilford's desire to maintain his control over the super train standing in Layton's way.
Snowpiercer Season 3 airs Mondays @ 9pm on TNT.