First Look: John Singleton Tackles The Crack Epidemic In ‘Snowfall’

John Singleton will explore how crack cocaine came to South Central, Los Angeles in the 1980’s and went everywhere in FX’s Snowfall. The ten-episode first season begins in Los Angeles in 1983. A storm is coming, and its name is crack. Snowfall is set against the infancy of the crack cocaine epidemic and its ultimate radical impact on the culture as we know it. The story follows numerous characters on a violent collision course. Franklin Saint (Damson Idris) is a young street entrepreneur on a quest for power. Gustavo “El Oso” Zapata (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) is a Mexican wrestler caught up in a power struggle within a crime family. Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson) is a CIA operative running from a dark past who begins an off-book operation to fund the Nicaraguan Contras, and Lucia Villanueva (Emily Rios) is the self-possessed daughter of a Mexican crime lord. The series will explore how the crack ravaged communities and left and families devastated in its wake.

At the Television Critics Association earlier this year, Singleton said of the dark and gritty series, “If you went to South Central [before the crack epidemic], there weren’t any bars on windows; there were less fences. This happens, and Snowfall prevails on neighborhoods, changing alliances and families.”

Snowfall is the brainchild of Singleton, Eric Amadio, and Dave Andron. Singleton directed the pilot while Andron is serving as the series’ showrunner. Watch the first look and a bit of behind the scenes from the series below.

Snowfall will arrive on FX on Wednesday, July 5 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.