And it was a good Easter egg for the finale where literally he’s shooting Boyz n the Hood. I remember I was really emotional on set when we were shooting those scenes in Season 3. So no, I didn’t know that it was going to be a bookend and be filmed in the finale, but it was nice. Yeah, I think he’s supposed to be the same character from that other season. Yeah, we’ve seen him before, he’s filming and Leon tries to beat him up. That character is credited as young John, I think, that’s the character’s name. I didn’t know that was going to be in the finale, but I remember… I worked on Snowfall in, I believe it was Season 3, that’s when my dad passed away. And that’s one of the things he would say over again, “Set up and pay off, set up and pay off.” It’s one of those things where that rhyming of scenes and that rhyming of moments in the stories is one of the things that my dad found valuable and I’m sure he talked about that in the room.ĭid you know that they were going to do that ode to him where you see him filming Boyz n the Hood on the side when Franklin and Leon are walking out? I’m sure he gave the same kind of speeches that he gave me when he was sitting in the writers room day to day. I got a lot of film education from my dad growing up. How do you feel about the writers making sure they incorporate those themes that he had at the start of the series in the finale? Your dad’s influence remained in the show throughout the series. I rewatched the first episode and there was a lot of foreshadowing, and I’m sure it was intentional. “I do believe that my dad would support the strike and want people to know that Snowfall could not have been made without the collective work of the writer’s room.”Ĭomplex hopped on a call with Maasai to talk about the Snowfall finale, his father’s legacy and impact on entertainment, and what the future of TV could look like if AI takes over. He in fact told me to join as many unions as I can,” Maasai shared. Maasai says that his dad was a supporter of unions and would have been on the writers’ side. The show ended right before Hollywood encountered a Writers Guild of America strike that demands better payment and treatment of TV writers. “Knowing my dad and also looking at his work, it seems that in the John Singleton universe, karma exists.” “I thought that the ending of Snowfall was very appropriate,” he says. Maasai, who is also in the industry and mainly focusing on animated projects, thought that the writers successfully and accurately carried out his dad’s approach and ethos in storytelling with the finale. The finale featured callbacks from the first episode, which showed that perhaps ending up alone, an alcoholic, and on the street was Franklin’s destiny all along. The series finale had viewers torn after seeing the anti-hero protagonist Franklin Saint lose everything after evolving from an eager kid trying to make a quick buck to a man who built one of the biggest drug empires on the West Coast. Following the direction he left behind, the show continued to soar for three more seasons, becoming FX’s most-watched show while remaining a fan favorite and making its lead, Damson Idris, a star. Singleton died ahead of Snowfall’s third season. “I learned a lot in the time that he was here because he was actively trying to teach.” It was really a blessing because he took that position in fatherhood and was always trying to teach me something,” Maasai tells Complex. The famed director ensured that he imparted bountiful wisdom and lessons for future generations and filmmakers to come and his son believes that he was able to do so because of Singleton’s natural ability to teach. However, Singleton’s legacy lives on through his family and the countless movies he directed, like Boyz n the Hood, and shows he created, like the hit Snowfall. John Singleton left a significant void behind when he died in 2019-and no one knows that better than his son, Maasai.
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