‘The Drop: A Snowfall Saga’: Everything to Know About the New ‘Snowfall’ Spinoff

Snowfall may be over, but FX isn’t done with South Central Los Angeles just yet. More than three years after Franklin Saint’s story came to a devastating end, the franchise is back with The Drop: A Snowfall Saga, a new series that trades the dope game for the rap game while bringing a couple of familiar faces along for the ride.

Premiering September 8 on FX, The Drop moves the story into 1990s Los Angeles, where the fallout from the crack epidemic is colliding with another movement that will forever change American culture: the rise of West Coast rap. Instead of attempting to find another Franklin Saint, the spinoff puts Wanda Bell and Leon Simmons at the center of a very different chapter of Los Angeles history.

Wanda and Leon Are Back, But Their World Has Changed

Gail Bean and Isaiah John reprise their Snowfall roles as Wanda and Leon, giving The Drop its strongest connection to the original series. When we last saw them, both characters had survived a world that destroyed plenty of people around them, but survival didn’t necessarily mean escaping without scars.

Now Wanda is looking toward the booming Los Angeles music scene for her next chapter. She believes West Coast rap can become something much bigger than what people around her currently see, and she wants a place in building it. Her journey takes her into the music business, including an internship with former D-boy turned label owner Darryl “DG” Grant, played by Brandon Mychal Smith.

Leon, meanwhile, is moving in a completely different direction. After everything he experienced during Snowfall, he has committed himself to leaving the streets behind and is attempting to make amends for his past by running a free legal clinic.

That difference in direction immediately gives the former couple an interesting new dynamic. Wanda sees opportunity in a music industry that still overlaps with the streets they came from, while Leon is deliberately trying to distance himself from

that life.

From the Dope Game to the Rap Game

FX has been pretty direct about what separates The Drop from its predecessor, using the tagline “From the dope game to the rap game.”

Snowfall explored how the crack epidemic transformed Los Angeles during the 1980s, particularly through Franklin Saint’s rise and eventual downfall. The Drop moves forward to examine what came next as money, street politics and the emerging West Coast hip-hop scene began intersecting in new ways.

Wanda’s ambitions pull several new characters into the story. Asante Blackk plays her musically gifted younger cousin Lamar Kinsey, while Peyton Alex Smith stars as Lamar’s protective older brother James. Simmie “Buddy” Sims III plays Artillery, a volatile local rapper Wanda believes has potential even as his problems with law enforcement threaten to complicate things.

The cast also includes Mykelti Williamson, Nicki Micheaux, Isidora Goreshter, Eric Balfour, Richard Portnow, Zaire Adams and Demetrius Grosse, while Quincy Chad returns to the Snowfall universe as Big Deon.

Don’t Expect ‘Snowfall’ 2.0

There was always going to be a difficult question hanging over any Snowfall follow-up: How do you continue this universe without Franklin Saint?

The answer appears to be not trying to replace him at all. The Drop shifts its focus to Wanda and a new generation of characters while using Los Angeles itself as the connective tissue between the two shows. The drugs, money and consequences of the previous decade haven’t disappeared, but the cultural landscape around them is changing.

That distinction could ultimately be what gives the spinoff room to become its own series. Trying to recreate Franklin’s rise with another character would invite constant comparisons to one of Snowfall’s most memorable performances and storylines. Moving into the music business gives The Drop a reason to exist beyond simply extending a successful franchise.

Music isn’t being treated as background decoration either. Creator Malcolm Spellman has described the culture surrounding West Coast hip-hop as central to the new story, and FX’s official after-show is already digging into how the soundtrack and music help drive the characters and recreate early-’90s Los Angeles.

Do You Need to Watch ‘Snowfall’ First?

Knowing Snowfall will obviously add more weight to Wanda and Leon’s stories, especially considering everything the two characters went through before reaching this point. Their histories, relationships and decisions carry considerably more meaning when you know where they started.

Still, The Drop has been designed as a new story rather than a seventh season of Snowfall. New viewers can enter through Wanda’s pursuit of the music business and the new characters surrounding her without needing six seasons of homework first.

For longtime fans, however, seeing Wanda and Leon again is going to hit differently. They aren’t simply cameos being used to remind viewers that this is a Snowfall spinoff. Their attempts to rebuild their lives after surviving that era are part of what bridges the two stories.

When and Where Can You Watch ‘The Drop’?

The Drop: A Snowfall Saga premiered Tuesday, September 8, at 9 p.m. ET on FX, with episodes available to stream on Hulu. The first season consists of eight episodes, with new installments arriving weekly on Tuesdays and the season finale scheduled for October 27.

Malcolm Spellman serves as creator and executive producer, with Dave Andron, Thomas Schlamme, Julie DeJoie, Michael London, Trevor Engelson and Paul Garnes also executive producing. FX Productions produces the series.

Snowfall built its legacy by showing how one devastating era reshaped Los Angeles and the people caught inside it. The Drop is picking up the pieces in the decade that followed, when another powerful force was coming out of those same neighborhoods and preparing to take over the world.

The game has changed. Now we’ll see whether The Drop can build a legacy of its own.