FX's 'The Drop' Spinoff Goes From Crack to Gangsta Rap — SkimNews
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- 'The Drop: A Snowfall Saga' premieres Sep. 8 at 9pm ET on FX and Hulu as a spinoff of FX's 'Snowfall,' which ran six seasons from 2017 to 2023
- The spinoff is set in 1990 South Los Angeles and shifts focus from the crack cocaine trade to the gangsta rap music industry, with Variety likening it to a fictionalized 'Straight Outta Compton' and noting a nod to the late Eazy-E in the opening minutes
- Malcolm Spellman, creator of 'The Drop,' previously worked on Disney+'s 'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier' and never worked on the original 'Snowfall,' which was co-created by John Singleton
- Wanda (Gail Bean), a recovering addict carried over from 'Snowfall,' drives the plot as she lobbies for an A&R job and tries to manage buzzy rapper Artillery (Simmie Sims III, who performs as Buddy) and her cousin/producer Lamarr (Asante Blackk)
- The review praises the show's immersive L.A. production — calling it rare for productions to film in the city — but calls early episodes uneven, faulting underdeveloped music-industry figures and family melodrama that can't match the rap game's intrigue
- Leon (Isaiah John), Wanda's ex-boyfriend and a reformed dealer from 'Snowfall,' starts out tangential to the plot before Wanda pulls him into her master plan; remaining episodes air weekly on Tuesdays after the Sep. 8 premiere
Why it matters: FX's 'Snowfall' quietly thrived for six seasons without awards recognition, and its spinoff 'The Drop' carries that same underdog DNA. But Variety's review flags an uneven early stretch where family melodrama undercuts a more intriguing music-industry storyline — meaning the show must sharpen its focus in the back half to match the strength of its immersive, rare-in-Hollywood L.A. production.
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