Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean) arrives in Snowpiercer season 2 and, even though they need him, the few thousand survivors aboard the Great Ark Train likely can't survive their Messiah's unexpected comeback. Snowpiercer season 1 ended with the shocker that a second train, Big Alice, exists and is controlled by Mr. Wilford, who was thought dead. Big Alice docked with Snowpiercer and shut down both trains so that Wilford can take over his original vehicle. Now, Mr. Wilford's presence will change everything for Snowpiercer, especially Andre Layton (Daveed Diggs) and Melanie Cavill (Jennifer Connelly).
After almost seven years of Melanie posing as Wilford and running Snowpiercer according to the ruthless, class-based rules of the billionaire's "perfect order", her ruse was discovered by Layton and Cavill was deposed. Andre, the former Train Detective, united the Tail section with Third Class and led a revolution that was ultimately successful. Even though he still considers Melanie his enemy, Layton joined forces with her so they could exile the First Class Folger family, who implemented their own coup to take over the train, and the Jackboots, who had their own plans to rule over Snowpiercer. After the revolution was won, Melanie was true to her word and surrendered control of Snowpiercer to Layton. But no sooner did Andre attempt to institute equality among all classes aboard the train and create a representative government, than Big Alice roared into the picture, bringing the threat of Mr. Wilford restoring his original order with him.
The biggest threat Wilford poses is to Melanie Cavill personally and she has good reasons to fear the billionaire. Melanie stole Snowpiercer, which she built, and left Wilford on the frozen tracks of Chicago to die seven years ago. Now that he's back, Wilford will no doubt make Cavill pay for her sins, and this after Melanie had just narrowly escaped a death sentence placed on her by the Folgers. This time, there's no trickery Melanie can pull to keep Wilford from boarding and potentially taking over Snowpiercer. Melanie described Wilford as a man who didn't actually care about saving humanity and that he just wanted to leave a hedonistic life in the Nightcar until Snowpiercer failed. But after seven years, Wilford may have gotten worse than Cavill described him and he could be vengeful towards her. Even worse, Wilford took in Melanie's daughter Alexandra (Rowan Blanchard) and he may have turned the girl against her mother.
But Wilford also threatens Andre Layton's hard-won victory, which cost many lives. Although he'd only been in charge for a few hours, there was already evidence that First and Second Class wouldn't accept Train Equality, especially since Third and the Tail immediately committed crimes like stealing food and squatting in First Class cabins. Wilford also has some diehard loyalists, predominantly Ruth Wardell (Alison Wright), who is the new Head of Hospitality and is a violent Wilford devotee. So, Wilford has plenty of allies aboard Snowpiercer who will look to their returned Messiah to reset his order back to the way it was before Layton's revolution. Snowpiercer could be headed for another civil war, and there's no telling yet who is aboard Big Alice or how many people Mr. Wilford is harboring aboard his second train to fight for him.
However, despite the menace Wilford poses to many aboard Snowpiercer, the train also desperately needs what he has aboard Big Alice, which is a prototype supply train. Snowpiercer experienced multiple catastrophes in season 1, including extinction-level events for all of the cows aboard, as well as bees, woodchips, lethally malfunctioning Drawers, and the train was nearly derailed by mold. Engineer Bennett Knox (Iddo Goldberg) has warned that even though the Engine is Eternal, the equipment is not and seven years of relentless revolutions have already taken a hard toll on the train. There's no telling yet what technology, supplies, or other essentials are aboard Big Alice - but what price will Mr. Wilford demand Snowpiercer pay to access them?
So, while the arrival of Big Alice is actually a boon to many of Snowpiercer's woes, a lot of justified fear surrounds Mr. Wilford himself, especially for Melanie Cavill and Andre Layton. The billionaire changes everything and he could make life aboard Snowpiercer worse than it already was. It's not clear yet how Sean Bean's version of Mr. Wilford will be portrayed but the villain played by Ed Harris in the Snowpiercer movie was a lunatic - and Melanie Cavill didn't paint her ex-boss as the benevolent soul he claimed to be either. Big Alice certainly has all kinds of things the people aboard the 994-car-long Great Ark Train needs but they may not survive Mr. Wilford himself in Snowpiercer season 2.