Netflix Announces Three-Body Problem Series With Game of Thrones Creators

And with Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s Rian Johnson as executive producer.

By Akhil Arora | Updated: 2 September 2020 11:54 IST

Netflix Announces Three-Body Problem Series With Game of Thrones Creators

Photo Credit: Phil McCarten/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images

Game of Thrones' D.B. Weiss and David Benioff

Highlights

Benioff and Weiss to write and executive produce
Author Liu Cixin to be consulting producer on Netflix series
The Three-Body Problem trilogy about alien first contact

Netflix has announced an English-language adaptation of Chinese author Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem trilogy, also known as Remembrance of Earth's Past. It's being made by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, along with Star Wars: The Last Jedi writer-director Rian Johnson. Benioff and Weiss will write The Three-Body Problem for Netflix with Alexander Woo (The Terror: Infamy, True Blood), and will serve as executive producers Johnson. Cixin will also serve as a consulting producer on the Netflix series, in addition to Ken Liu, who worked on the novels' English translation.

The Three-Body Problem, the story of humanity's first contact with an alien civilization inspired by @cixinliu's renowned novel, will be adapted as a Netflix series from David Benioff, D.B. Weiss and Alexander Woo. pic.twitter.com/Dily05j2Vw
— NX (@NXOnNetflix) September 1, 2020

The Three-Body Problem trilogy becomes the first project that stems from Benioff and Weiss' deal at Netflix, reportedly worth $200 million (about Rs. 1,460 crores), announced in August last year, following which they quit the Star Wars universe. The Game of Thrones duo are going from one big show (Game of Thrones) — arguably one of the biggest of all time — to another, given the vast space time expanse of the story, which goes from the 1960s to the end of time, and makes use of flashbacks and flashforwards to depict its doomsday tale of humans encountering aliens known as the Trisolarans.

First published in Mandarin in 2008, and translated into English in 2014, The Three-Body Problem won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. A sequel, The Dark Forest, followed in 2008 in Mandarin and reached English readers in 2015. The third and final book, Death's End, was published in 2010 in China and 2016 elsewhere. Death's End won the Locus Award for Best Sci-Fi Novel and was a finalist at the Hugo Awards.

In addition to Benioff, Weiss, and Johnson, executive producers on Netflix's Three-Body Problem series include the president of Benioff & Weiss' production house Bernadette Caulfield, Johnson's producing partner Ram Bergman, Johnson and Bergman's T-Street president of TV Nena Rodrigue, and rights-holders Yoozoo Group and The Three-Body Universe chairman Lin Qi, and The Three-Body Universe VP Zhao Jilong. Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment and Rosamund Pike's Primitive Streak are also involved on the Netflix adaptation of Cixin's award-winning sci-fi trilogy.

“I have the greatest respect for and faith in the creative team adapting The Three-Body Problem for television audiences,” Cixin said in a prepared statement. “I set out to tell a story that transcends time and the confines of nations, cultures and races; one that compels us to consider the fate of humankind as a whole. It is a great honour as an author to see this unique sci-fi concept travel and gain fandom across the globe and I am excited for new and existing fans all over the world to discover the story on Netflix.”

Benioff and Weiss added in a joint statement: “Liu Cixin's trilogy is the most ambitious science-fiction series we've read, taking readers on a journey from the 1960s until the end of time, from life on our pale blue dot to the distant fringes of the universe. We look forward to spending the next years of our lives bringing this to life for audiences around the world.”

Can Netflix force Bollywood to reinvent itself? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS. You can also download the episode or just hit the play button below.

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Further reading: The Three Body Problem, Netflix, David Benioff, DB Weiss, Game of Thrones, Rian Johnson, The Dark Forest, Deaths End, Hugo Awards, The Three Body Universe, Liu Cixin, Brad Pitt, Rosamund Pike