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Melanie Cavill is the secondary antagonist of the 2020 Netflix series Snowpiercer. She is the Voice of then Train, providing announcements to all passengers aboard Snowpiercer, a 1,001 carriage express train carrying the last remaining life on Earth following a planetary freeze over caused by climate change. It is powered by a perpetual motion engine, called the Eternal Engine, designed by Joseph Wilford. She also serves as the head of the hospitality department, alongside Ruth Wardell. Melanie is later revealed to have been a key engineer for Snowpiercer, which Mr. Wilson had not credited her for. Moments before Snowpiecer departed after The Big Freeze, Melanie and fellow engineer Bennett agree to rebel against Wilford and leave him behind. Because this mutiny was not known by anyone else, Melanie assumed Wilford's identity and with that, ultimate authority of Snowpiercer.
She was portrayed by Jennifer Connelly, who also portrayed Chiren in Alita: Battle Angel.
Biography[]
Before The Big Freeze[]
Melanie had been born in Pennsylvania several decades before Earth freezes over in a climate phenomena called The Big Freeze. At some point, she became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter, Alexandra. She studied Engineering at Yale University.
Designing Snowpiercer[]
When The Big Freeze happened, Melanie managed to design a perpetual motion machine capable of powering a 1,001 carriage locomotive called Snowpiercer, and a functional prototype, Big Alice. The idea was then taken by Mr. Wilford, of Wilford Industries, who marketed and sold tickets aboard the life-saving express from prices reaching one million dollars.
Aboard Snowpiercer[]
Melanie is employed by Wilford as on engineer aboard Snowpiercer, as well as the Head of Hospitality and The Voice of the Train. On the night of departure, an enormous crowd of people without tickets storms the train in a desperate attempt to board it. Melanie is informed that her parents and her daughter are not yet safely on the train, with only minutes before departure. Aggravated, Wilford disembarks the train to assess the crowd. Whilst he is gone, co-engineer Bennett encourages Melanie to leave without Wilford, out of fear his hedonistic and abusive nature would see the last of humanity fall. Melanie does so, leaving her daughter, parents and Wilford behind.
Melanie does not tell anyone that Wilford is not aboard the train for an extended period of time. She reinforces her lie by acting as the conduit between the passengers and Wilford over the phone, despite Bennett pretending to be Wilford whilst Melanie gives her own orders.
Melanie works alongside Ruth Wardell in hospitality, who is a strong believer in order, and holds a high degree of respect for Melanie for her leadership and orderliness.
Following the murder of a passenger, Melanie hires Tailie (a group of unticketed passengers that sieged the tail-end of the train during the pre-departure storm) Andre Layton, who was a former homicide detective before The Big Freeze.
After it is revealed LJ Folger is an accessory to this murder, Melanie conceives a tribunal for LJ to be trialed by a panel comprised of one First Class passenger and two Second Class passengers. Brothel madam Audrey petitions Melanie to include Third Class passengers in response to the lack of representation on the Tribunal. Melanie eventually agrees to this, and LJ is found guilty. Some time after the deliberation, the ruling is overturned by Melanie. This sparks a revolution in the Tail and Third Class.
Layton discovers Melanie's true rule on the train, and for this, so she subdues and falsely imprisons Andrew in The Drawers, a purgatorial state used as a form of capital punishment. Layton is taken from the drawers by Layton's friend and later love interest, Josie.
Knowing the closeness between Josie and Layton, Melanie independently interrogates Josie on the whereabouts of Layton, without the aid usually needed from officer Sam Roche. Josie remains tight-lipped throughout it, leading Melanie to freeze and shatter Josie's little finger to torture her. After Melanie leaves Josie to recuperate, she returns to see Josie collapsed. Instead, Josie is feigning, and has frozen her whole hand to break free from her manacles and fight Melanie. Melanie manages to beat Josie, and leaves her to freeze to death in the interrogation room. It's later revealed that Josie survived and was taken to the 2nd Class Clinic for treatment, although it's unclear if Melanie knew or not.
Tailie Revolution[]
After Layton tells LJ Melanie's secret, LJ tells all the other First Class passengers who then tell Ruth Wardell, who calls Melanie to give them answers. Ruth and the passengers demand to speak to Mr. Wilford, so Melanie goes to call Wilford, before First state they want to see Mr. Wilford in the flesh. Melanie is then imprisoned and tells Ruth, when she visits her, she gives her justification for leaving Mr. Wilford behind. Ruth announces that she will be executed the next day.
After a revolution in the Tail, the caught revolutionaries are executed for insubordination and disorder. Melanie is almost executed, but is saved due to a plan devised between engineer Javi and lead scientist Jinju.
At the end of the revolution, Melanie devises a plan with Andrew to prevent Snowpiercer from failure by transferring power to Andrew, doable only if most of First Class, namely the Folgers excluding LJ, are disconnected. Melanie does not tell Layton that, in doing so, he will also have to decouple a group of Tailie's awaiting execution. The two eventually follow through on the plan and Melanie sympathetically explains that such terrible choices are what they have to make as leaders. She then officially hands control of Snowpiercer over to Layton, keeping her promise.
Mr. Wilford's return[]
After the emanation of another satellite signal is picked up aboard Snowpiercer, Melanie discovers Big Alice, the prototype to Snowpiercer. Big Alice couples with Snowpiercer. Melanie dons a snowsuit to decouple the two trains, but is thrown off into the snow. Coming back aboard, she disputes with Wilford the fact that the planet is warming again after she had been able to see individual snowflakes.
Research[]
Melanie recognizes she is the only one who can collate enough conclusive research to prove that this is is true, and can only do so by travelling from spot-to-spot over an extended period of months to test the temperature. After this period, Melanie is to regroup with Snowpiercer. Melanie does not manage to meet Snowpiercer in time, missing it by a crucial couple of seconds. Melanie sees her daughter at the back of the train as it continues moving ahead.
Supposed Death[]
When Layton returns with Alex, Bess Till, Bennett, and Josie Wellstead aboard the first 10 cars of Snowpiercer -- now a pirate train -- they find Melanie gone and only her research left behind. A final message from Melanie reveals that she ran out of supplies and, realizing that her situation was hopeless, left her research protected by the last of her power supplies before walking out into the cold to die. Despite Melanie's actions, her friends are heartbroken by her loss, but Melanie's research pinpoints six locations where the planet is warming, one of which in the Horn of Africa is believed to be a viable new home.
Return[]
Six months later, after mapping out Snowpiercer's route while it was a pirate train with Alex's help, Wilford reveals that he believes that Melanie had actually survived, having tracked the signal of what he had mistakenly believed to be Snowpiercer but now believes to be Melanie.
After researching Wilford's theory, Alex, Bennett and Javi realize that Wilford could actually be right, but they can't be sure if Melanie is still alive months later or not. The engineers theorize that Melanie made her way to a shed on the track where she could've gotten a maintenance vehicle running. However, such vehicles are small, autonomous and not equipped to serve a living person for a long period of time, meaning that Melanie could've perished anyways. Nevertheless, Snowpiercer manages to track down Melanie's vehicle and changes course for it.
Snowpiercer finds Melanie aboard a track scaler, a small autonomous track vehicle. Melanie is rescued by Layton, Josie, Bennett and Javi. When the track scaler is opened, they find her still alive and she wakes up a few days later after treatment from Doctor Pelton. Melanie is discovered to have used the suspension drugs for the Drawers to keep herself alive, putting herself in and out of suspension in order to stay alive as she searched for the train.
Renewed Hostilities[]
After learning of the plan to head for New Eden and Layton's lies to Snowpiercer and Big Alice, Melanie develops doubts and concerns about the viability of the plan which are admittedly well-founded since the track in the area is extremely dangerous. Melanie publicly exposes Layton's lies about having been to New Eden, dividing the train once again and renewing hostilities. In the midst of the chaos, Wilford escapes and forms his own faction as well.
As Snowpiercer prepares to go back to war, both Melanie and Layton find themselves torn, both unwilling to surrender, but also unable to see another solution. Melanie reluctantly allies herself with Wilford despite her own doubts about the plan, but it further tears her resolve. Realizing that they are heading back into a train run by fear and blood, which neither of them want anymore, Layton and Melanie speak candidly on the phone, admitting that they both don't want to go back to the way that things were and knowing that it will result in Wilford winning rather than one of them. Pretending to go along with Wilford's plan to use Layton's daughter as leverage, Melanie teams up together with Layton to exile Wilford from the train on her track scaler and bring an end to hostilities.
Fully united at last, Melanie and Layton make a joint announcement to the trains about the compromise that they have come up with, one that offers everyone an individual choice: they will split the trains with Layton taking Big Alice and part of Snowpiercer to New Eden with those who wish to go while those who wish to stay will remain behind on Snowpiercer with Melanie. Having completely put aside her villainous past, Melanie promises that those who stay with her that they will not be returning to the fear and lies of the past that she had led by. Instead, Melanie will be leading through science and truth. After Melanie agrees to fully commit to their relationship, Bennett chooses to stay with her while Alex goes to New Eden with Layton. In turn, Layton's adopted son Miles decides to stay on Snowpiercer to help Melanie and Bennett and learn more from them. Parting as friends, Melanie and Layton promise each other that they will take care of the other's children.
Saving the World[]
Three months later, Snowpiercer is hijacked by International Peacekeeping Forces led by Admiral Anton Milius who seek to help Doctor Nima Rousseau launch Gemini, a compound that breaks up CW-7 and has the potential to end the Freeze, having caused the creation of New Eden's warm spot. Melanie agrees to help Nima with his work, moving to the Silo while the IPF works on retrofitting Snowpiercer for the mission. The subsequent return of Joseph Wilford, Melanie dropping out of contact, and the kidnapping of Layton's daughter Liana raises some questions amongst Layton and his allies about whether or not Melanie is involved in the villainous actions of the IPF. However, it ultimately turns out that she had no idea what was going on and is horrified to discover the state of things upon her return from collecting data on Gemini's effects which reveal that if it's launched, it will end the world a second time.
Following Milius' death at Wilford's hands and Wilford's subsequent suicide, Nima takes control of the train to complete the mission, ignoring Melanie's warnings due to his pride getting in the way. Despite this, Melanie apparently defects to Nima's side, having him gas New Eden during the battle for control of Big Alice. Melanie reveals however that, having witnessed Nima's arsenal, she saw having Nima gas New Eden with his non-lethal knockout gas -- which Melanie knew the effects of from Nima having used it on her -- as the lesser of two evils. Melanie also reveals to Alex that Nima is her biological father, Nima having served as a sperm donor for Melanie when she had wanted to have a child as a single mother. Melanie allies herself with Layton and the forces on New Eden, coordinating Layton's efforts to storm the train once again, this time to stop Nima. In a final confrontation, Melanie deduces that Nima was the one who had created CW-7 and caused the Freeze in the first place because of Nima's inability to accept and admit to his mistakes. Realizing that Melanie is right Nima, unable to stop the rocket launch, warns Melanie and Alex to take everyone as far away from Africa as they can and allows himself to die in the rocket launch. However, a subtle bit of sabotage by Alex causes the rocket to fall harmlessly from the sky. Afterwards, Melanie regains control of Snowpiercer without a further fight.
Following the battle, the remaining Snowpiercer passengers move to New Eden, although not even Melanie is sure how long the warm pocket will last and she decides to enjoy living day by day with her daughter. Watching the victory celebration, Layton and Melanie discuss how far everyone's come and Melanie offers her former enemy turned friend parenting advice.
Powers and Abilities[]
Melanie is a very intelligent and pragmatic engineer. Having studied it at Yale, she is the best in her trade, having been able to create the perpetual motion engine. She is villainous in her cruelty and treatment of others, and preference of order over equality aboard the train.
She is a skilled fighter as well as having the ability to save Snowpiercer from multiple jeopardies.