Snowpiercer Season 4 parents guide: This dystopian thriller is a little too much for younger viewers

Are you ready to delve into another season of the dystopian thriller Snowpiercer? The series is back for its fourth and final season, and you will not want to miss any part of it.

The Snowpiercer season 4 premiere airs on Sunday, July 21. It airs on its new home, AMC (and AMC+ for streaming), and it starts off with a bang.

Picking up nine months after the season 3 finale, we catch up with Layton and his followers in New Eden. They are trying to create a new world, which means growing their own food and rebuilding the bridge that collapsed on the way there. Many of them want to reunite with Melanie and the rest of Snowpiercer, but is that going to be possible when there’s a new threat on the horizon?

Snowpiercer season 4 could continue to work for teens

The series is officially rated TV-MA. It is on the adult side with the themes. After all, it’s a dystopian series. However, this is one that I think works well for older teens who want to see what the world could be like if climate change is allowed to continue unchecked. Here’s a breakdown of the components that make up the Snowpiercer season 4 age rating.

Sex & nudity: There isn’t that much sex and nudity in the first episode. There is a moment of Layton and Jodie together in their room, and we do see Layton take his top off. But that’s it. The sex scenes have always been tastefully done in this show, leaving more to the imagination and trying to remain respectful of women when it comes to nudity.

Language: There is some coarse language throughout the series. Every now and then, you’ll hear an F-bomb, but this is usually reserved for the scariest and most tense parts of the storyline. The worst is the S-word in the first episode. Even then, it’s very seldom used.

Violence & gore: This is where the series earns its TV-MA. Remember that we are in a dystopian future. It’s all a matter of survival, and that often means violence. In the first episode alone, someone is thrown from a cliff as a new threat attacks. Another character is hit over the head, and we do see the wound with some blood.

There is plenty more violence to come. One character appears with damage to her skin, and it’s not clear yet why that has happened. The trailer shows us a threat on Snowpiercer that could kill numerous characters, but it’s not clear when that moment takes place in the season. Just expect a lot more violence. If you’ve seen the first three seasons, you know exactly what to expect.

Alcohol & drugs: There are minimal drugs used in the series. The focus is on drinking, and a group of characters do enjoy drinking and playing poker when they’re supposed to have a council meeting. The drugs that are mainly used are suspension drugs, which are a black type of drug to put people into Drawers—suspending their lives. At the end of the third season, Wilford was placed in a small train with suspension drugs to last him six months, and it looks like we’ll see him come back based on the trailer, which suggests the drugs could be shown on screen again.

Overall verdict: Who is Snowpiercer suitable for?

The series is aimed at those 18 and above, but I’d say those 15 and older could watch it. While it is heavy on the violence, this is more about survival rather than gratuitous violence. There are a lot of lessons about the way the world works and different types of leaderships, which makes this an excellent series for teens. It’s a great gateway into the dystopian genre as a whole.