Game of Thrones showrunners adapting sci-fi epic The Three-Body Problem for Netflix

Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss are adapting Liu Cixin’s sci-fi saga The Three-Body Problem. Rian Johnson is involved as well.

About a year ago, after their split with Disney, Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss signed a lucrative deal with Netflix to write, produce and direct shows for the streaming giant. After directing Leslie Jones’ comedy special Time Machine, they announced that they would be working on The Chair, a dramedy about a university professor starring Sandra Oh. Both of these projects are way smaller in scale than what the duo did with Game of Thrones. But now, they’re back to making big swings.

Netflix revealed today that Benioff and Weiss will be teaming up with True Blood writer Alexander Woo to adapt Remembrance of Earth’s Past, a hugely successful science fiction series by author Liu Cixin, better known by the title of the first book: The Three-Body Problem. (King of like how the Song of Ice and Fire series is best known as Game of Thrones, if we’re drawing parallels.) Cixin will serve as a consulting producer on the project, as will Ken Liu, who wrote the English translation.

“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,” said Benioff and Weiss in a statement. “We look forward to spending the next years of our lives bringing this to life for audiences around the world.”

Woo made a statement as well: “It’s a privilege to be adapting one of the great masterpieces of Chinese science-fiction. The Three-Body Problem trilogy combines so many things I love: rich, multi-layered characters and true existential stakes — all told as an elegant and deeply human allegory.”

In brief, The Three-Body Problem tells the story tells the story of Earth’s first contact with an alien civilization: the Trisolarans live on a world with three suns, a situation that results in unexpected, often catastrophic weather patterns (something it has in common with Westeros). This is the genesis of the title of the first book, which refers to the problem of computing the trajectory of three bodies interacting with each other.

Anyway, after receiving a message from Earth, the Trisolarans decide to invade, figuring that Earth’s stable one-sun system is preferable to the hell they’ve been living for generations, and Earth must prepare for conflict.

Most of the characters in the book are Chinese, with some scenes set during the country’s turbulent Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and ’70s. A few years back, Benioff and Weiss came under heavy fire for trying to make an HBO show that dealt with American slavery. Seemingly in anticipation of blowback over the idea of the pair adapting an English-language version of a Chinese novel, author Liu Cixin released his own statement:

"I have the greatest respect for and faith in the creative team adapting The Three-Body Problem for television audiences. 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 honor 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."

One more statement before we take it home, from Netflix VP of original series Peter Friedlander:

"The first time I read The Three-Body Problem trilogy (Remembrance of Earth’s Past), it changed what science fiction meant to me forever. Although it may seem like a familiar premise — the story of humanity’s first contact with an alien civilization — Chinese author Liu Cixin’s ability to interweave science with fiction made his vision of the future and extra-terrestrial contact feel more realistic than any other science fiction I’ve read. At the same time, I was also drawn in by the story of all of humanity vulnerable to the same external threat and how this both unifies and divides humans … We have been granted the rights from The Three-Body Universe and Yoozoo Group to produce the English-language series adaptation and have assembled a talented and thoughtful creative team to do so. Every person involved not only shares a passion and high esteem for the books, but also the creative vision and ambition to help bring this remarkable story to life for audiences around the world … To quote The Three-Body Problem, ‘In my line of work, it’s all about putting together many apparently unconnected things. When you piece them together the right way, you get the truth.’ We all share the same goal: to pay homage to this incredible story and take members on the adventure of a lifetime."

That creative team is indeed pretty impressive. Game of Thrones executive producer Bernadette Caulfield is on board, as is Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson. Brad Pitt and Rosamund Pike are helping to produce through their Plan B Entertainment and Primitive Streak production companies respectively.

Previously we’d heard that Amazon was trying to adapt The Three-Body Problem as part of a $1 billion deal, but obviously that didn’t work out.

So this is pretty big. Remembrances of Earth’s Past is a tremendously successful series that’s going to cost a lot to adapt well; it’s a huge undertaking for all involved, with a scope that rivals Game of Thrones.

I’ve wondered for a while if Benioff and Weiss had had their fill of giant projects and wanted to spend some time doing something smaller, but with The Three-Body Problem, they’re pretty much back in Westeros, at least so far as production size is concerned. What do you all make of this news?

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