Since Apple TV+ became the home of science fiction thanks to its multiple million-dollar investments in the genre, Netflix decided to raise the stakes and do the same with all kinds of fiction of this style. Among all of them, the most outstanding was always The Three-Body Problem, the adaptation of a worldwide bestseller that, at first glance, seemed impossible to adapt.
With David Benioff and DB Weiss as their main allies, the creators of Game of Thrones who generated so much love and hate at the time, Netflix was clear that they had to create a show that was up to par. And now, they finally premiere the series that aims to be the best of 2024 and one that will make as much history as the fiction based on George R.R. Martin’s books did at the time.
There are many ingredients that make this series one of the biggest bets in Netflix’s history. We don’t know if it will result in the expected success by everyone or if it will fall by the wayside, like other big million-dollar bets before such as The Power Rings or Citadel. However, we are going to summarize below why we believe it can become the best series of recent times.
A complex, interesting and full of facets story
“The fateful decision of a young woman in 1960s China reverberates through space and time to the present day. When the laws of nature inexplicably unfold before her eyes, a united group of brilliant scientists join forces with an unwavering detective to confront the greatest threat in the history of humanity.”
This is the official synopsis of The Three-Body Problem and, although it falls short of everything that the original novel is capable of telling, it certainly makes it clear that it is a unique story. Like a mix between Oppenheimer, Arrival, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the original book demonstrates exceptional brilliance in terms of twists, plots, and characters. The material that David Benioff and DB Weiss have is wonderful, although it is not so clear that it can be turned into a series just like that.
The most difficult thing to adapt, without a doubt, is all the purely literary narrative that the novel has. While Game of Thrones was a story of intricate adventures that could be well narrated in a series format, The Three-Body Problem has the handicap of having many supernatural phenomena that occur “within consciousness” which are going to be more difficult.
“It’s very different from Game of Thrones, but it’s in the same area. It’s like a science fiction series painted on a very large canvas of space and time. You have as many visual effects as Game of Thrones and it polishes many of the same buttons as Game of Thrones,” Weiss declared at the time for Entertainment Weekly, so maybe we’ll be surprised about it.
Images that can make history
While the most complex section for creators to follow is the metaphorical and purest of science fiction, it is also the greatest opportunity they have to do something unique. Since 2001: A Space Odyssey, science fiction has become the best genre to create unique images in cinema, and The Three-Body Problem has everything it takes to do the same.
In Game of Thrones, Benioff and Weiss demonstrated that they knew how to create great iconic moments that remain in the viewer’s memory. Now, they have the responsibility to do the same with a series that doesn’t give respite but that has all kinds of moments and possibilities to even surpass what they did in the past.
Beyond the direction, the cast and crew also help make this possible. There are several actors who reprise their roles from Game of Thrones: John Bradley, Jonathan Pryce, and Liam Cunningham. But alongside them, there are many other interesting actors such as Benedict Wong, Rosalind Chao, Jovan Adepo, Eiza González, Jess Hong, Marlo Kelly, Ben Schnetzer, Alex Sharp, Sea Shimooka, and Zine Tseng.
As for the technical team, the showrunners are joined by Alexander Woo, writer of True Blood, and a duo that may even surpass Benioff and Weiss: Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman. Both have been behind the Knives Out saga and the wonderful series Poker Face.
We will see if the critics perceive the series as what it wants to be: Netflix’s biggest success in recent times. It seems that there are only two possibilities here: surpassing everything that has been done so far or crashing along the way. For everyone’s sake, let’s hope it lives up to Liu Cixin’s novel.
