Dive into the world of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem
ED MILLER/NETFLIXCheck out all of The Verge’s coverage of Netflix’s upcoming 3 Body Problem series based on Cixin Liu’s epic sci-fi novel. Continue reading…
Tfoso
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25309656/3BP_102_Unit_03502RC.jpg)
The idea of trying to adapt Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem for a Western audience sounds wild at first blush given how complex and deeply rooted in Chinese identity the book is. But every glimpse of Netflix’s new series based on the epic novel has made it feel like showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss and executive producer Alexander Woo might have figured out a way to pull it off. Between the show’s focus on physics-defying mysteries, metaversal gaming, and humanity making first contact with otherworldly beings, Netflix’s 3 Body Problem seems poised to capture viewers’ imaginations with a fascinating, larger-than-life story.
3 Body Problem has been on The Verge’s radar from the moment Netflix first announced it, and we’ll have even more updates, reviews, and interviews to share as we get closer to the show’s March 21st release date. And given how much more there is to this tale beyond the first book, you’re probably going to want to keep an eye on this feed for even more news about potential future seasons of the show.
3 Body Problem’s final trailer is a prelude to war.
The latest (and seemingly final) trailer for Netflix’s upcoming 3 Body Problem adaptation doesn’t quite spell out exactly what kind of mysterious threat plunges humanity as a whole into a panic. But it’s pretty clear that the Earth’s most brilliant minds are gearing up for a war they might not be able to win when 3 Body Problem debuts on March 21st.
Peacock will stream the Chinese adaptation of The Three-Body Problem
Another adaptation of Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem will be streaming for English audiences. While Netflix’s 3 Body Problem is set to premiere on March 21st, today, Peacock announced that it has acquired rights to the original Chinese adaptation, dubbed simply Three-Body. And it’s coming very soon — the series premieres on February 10th.
Three-Body was produced by Tencent and originally premiered in China last year, and the Peacock version will be available in the original Chinese with English subtitles. Given that they’re adaptations, 3 Body Problem and Three-Body will follow the same story, but the Chinese adaptation appears to be much more expansive; it spans 30 episodes in total, compared to eight episodes for the Netflix series.
The Three-Body Problem is getting a new audiobook release just in time for Netflix’s show
The Verge
In Netflix’s new adaptation of Cixin Liu’s novel The Three-Body Problem, actress Rosalind Chao portrays one of the brilliant minds mobilized into action by the presence of a threat with the potential to wipe out humanity. But in Macmillan’s forthcoming The Three-Body Problem audiobook recording, Chao will bring the entire world of Liu’s novel to life with the sound of her voice.
Ahead of the March 21st debut of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem, Macmillan Audio has tapped Chao to narrate its new recording of The Three-Body Problem — the first book in Liu’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy chronicling the story of how humanity responds after making first contact with aliens. In a press release about the new audiobook, Chao said that, after playing her character Ye Wenjie on the small screen, she enjoyed the creative challenge of embodying all of The Three-Body Problem’s distinct players, and said that the experience as a whole was “truly enriching.”
3 Body Problem author Cixin Liu is very into Netflix’s spin on his sci-fi epic.
Netflix’s adaptation of 3 Body Problem from David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo is going to feature more than a few major differences from Cixin Liu’s original sci-fi novel.
But in a new piece from The Hollywood Reporter, Woo says he and his collaborators received Liu’s blessing to adapt the show for an international audience “in the way that we saw fit,” which could be a sign of interesting things to come.
Netflix’s new 3 Body Problem trailer is all about the mystery
We’re inching ever closer to 3 Body Problem’s premiere on Netflix, and today, that means another glimpse at the sci-fi adaptation. Whereas the previous trailer focused on the incredibly immersive virtual reality game at the core of the story, the latest clip focuses on something different: the mystery. Basically, a whole bunch of scientists have gone missing, and Benedict Wong’s character is trying to figure out what it all means.
The show, of course, is based on the novel by Liu Cixin (which was just the first part of a trilogy), and Netflix describes the premise thusly:
Netflix doesn’t seem to know how to talk about its 3 Body Problem show
Image: Netflix
Though Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem is one of the most fascinating and thought-provoking pieces of speculative fiction to come out in recent years, you wouldn’t know it judging from the way that Netflix has (barely) been talking about 3 Body Problem, its forthcoming adaptation of the novel from Alexander Woo, D.B. Weiss, and David Benioff
During this year’s Tudum, essentially all of Netflix’s larger profile projects due out in the coming months, like Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, and The Witcher’s third season, were spotlighted in segments that gave you a sense of what sort of energy their respective creative teams were working with. But when it came to the segment focused on Netflix’s forthcoming adaptation of Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem, Tudum got a little stiff and curiously boilerplate-y in a way that did little to say much about or hype up the show.
An animated adaptation of Chinese sci-fi novel The Three-Body Problem is in development
Image: Tor Books
China’s biggest science fiction novel, The Three-Body Problem, is being developed for a potential television series, according to CX Live. If it happens, it’ll come after the massive success of another big sci-fi adaptation from the country, The Wandering Earth.
Chinese entertainment company YooZoo Entertainment holds the rights to the series, and it’s apparently working on an adaptation of the book. CX Live discovered a publicity form submitted to the Chinese government that lists the production details of the proposed series, which will apparently run for 24 episodes and could begin shooting this September. A source confirmed to The Verge that the form is legitimate and that the company has been working on developing the series. Should the series begin filming, this development would be the latest step forward in adapting the novels for film or television.
How a fan fiction for Cixin Liu’s Three-Body Problem became an official novel
Graphic by Michele Doying / The Verge
Since the publication of The Three-Body Problem, the first installment of Cixin Liu’s epic science fiction trilogy about making contact with an alien civilization, the series has gone on to earn the Chinese author enormous acclaim and legions of fans worldwide — including President Barack Obama. Next year, Tor Books will publish a new novel set in the same world, titled The Redemption of Time, but it won’t be by Liu. Instead, the book is written by Baoshu, an ardent fan of the series who originally published it online as a novel-length fan fiction story — one that became so popular that the trilogy’s publisher decided to release it as an official novel.
Liu first serialized The Three-Body Problem in China’s biggest science fiction magazine, Science Fiction World, in 2006, and published it as a novel two years later. It was followed by two sequels — The Dark Forest and Death’s End, which came in 2008 and 2010, respectively. In China, it became a massive phenomenon that expanded to the rest of the world in 2014, when the book was published in English for the first time with a translation by Ken Liu, and went on to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel the following year.
.jpg&h=630&w=1200&q=100&v=3b33229c5c&c=1)
