ACTING sensation and former St Augustine's pupil Sam Otto will star alongside Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly in a new sci-fi thriller after the TV series was given the go-ahead.

The 25-year-old has one of the main parts in The Snowpiercer TV show, which has been picked up by US cable channel TNT and will be released later this year.

Sam's character is called John Osweiler, a brakeman on the Snowpiercer train - a vast machine that is carrying the last survivors of the human race seven years after an apocalypse.

"To be working with Jennifer Connelly, Scott Derrickson, who directed Marvel's Doctor Strange, and musical star from Hamilton, Daveed Diggs, among others, is just incredible - I cannot wait to get started," said Sam, who starred in the critically acclaimed ISIS drama, The State, last year.

"I play a guy who everyone calls 'Oz', who acts as a sort of security man or police-type figure on this enormous train that travels around the world, which has become a frozen wasteland basically.

"I cannot say too much about it though. What I can say, however, is that it will be brilliant to be part of.

"A film called Snowpiercer was made in 2013 and it was really good but now we can flesh it out a bit and dig deeper into something that should be a fascinating and exciting project.

"It is a really topical show too as it looks at racism, wealth divide, refugees, inequality and the impact the human race has on the planet."

The show is based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige. It has not been confirmed when it will go out or how many episodes there will be.

"We had to wait for a while if the pilot would get picked up but now that it has, I am so happy," said the former Trowbridge pupil.

"I hope people will like it as I think it has a lot of potential."