When readers of The Three-Body Problem found out that it was going to be turned into a television series, most of us were shocked. Especially considering that it was going to be an adaptation in a blockbuster format directed, no less, by the directors of Game of Thrones.
The reason? Well, basically because it is a practically unadaptable novel. It is a very cerebral book full of internal monologues and with little action… until the show begins, of course. But, despite perhaps not having achieved the expected audience results, the truth is that David Benioff and Dan Weiss have done a titanic job in the adaptation of the series. Mainly, due to a change that does not go unnoticed by the original readers.
A protagonist divided into five different ones
The change we are talking about is to turn the original protagonist into up to five different characters. In the original book, Wang is a very cerebral and theoretical man to whom almost all the events we see in the first season of the series happen. However, Wang is replaced by a group of young physicists who share these events. On one hand, the most loyal fans may consider this a big mistake… but the truth is that it works very well.
In order to tell the story of The Three-Body Problem well and reach a wider audience, Benioff and Weiss have decided that not only will the protagonists adapt to Wang, but also the protagonists of the other two subsequent books.
That’s why Auggie seems to be the main character at first, since he has the countdown plot from the first book, which sets everything in motion. But we also see prominence in Saul and his plot of the Fence, which adapts to Luo Ji, the protagonist of the second novel. And we also have Jin and his plot, which directly adapts to Cheng Xi, the protagonist of the third novel.
In order to improve the narrative and have more dialogue scenes to support it, the showrunners have decided to make this division that, of course, works like a charm. However, they have left the plot of Ye Wenjie and the Chinese Cultural Revolution intact, which is appreciated.
