Fans eager to see the return of 3 Body Problem may be in for a surprise about the upcoming second season's episode count.
It’s hard to remember, but it used to be the standard for Netflix shows to have 13 episodes a season. Some may argue that a few shows could have worked better with shorter runs that didn’t pad things out. In recent years, it’s been cut down to most shows having 10 or eight episodes a season, although some may have only six.
Per What’s On Netflix, it sounds like when 3 Body Problem returns for season 2, it will consist of only six episodes, rather than the eight in the first season. Not only that, season 3 is likely going to be even shorter.
The evidence comes from a wrap party photo that shows the production schedule/episode count for the upcoming season 2 that lists episodes 201through 206. It’s hard to see them somehow leaving off two episodes on an official schedule.
This backs up reports that the producers have decided to film seasons 2 and 3 back-to-back, with unconfirmed rumors that season 3 would be only five episodes. That still has to be substantiated, but if true, then it means this show is going to be in for some interesting scheduling when it returns.
Why does 3 Body Problem have such short seasons?
One thing to keep in mind is that creators David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo have hinted that the show is going to end after just three seasons to “complete the story.” It’s a daunting task to adapt Cixin Liu’s acclaimed novels, which only get longer and denser with each volume. One would have expected Netflix to offer more time for it rather than less.
The big problem is, of course, the budget. This is an epic tale that spans multiple generations, involving aliens and bigger sci-fi themes. That requires a lot of time and money for Netflix, which already has several high-profile projects in the works. Filming the two seasons at once is one way to cut the budget down, and they clearly think shorter episode counts are better than each season being eight or ten episodes.
That still leaves concerns, as those who have read the books know how tightly things are intertwined, even if the Netflix show is a vastly different version of the story. Trying to cut out some characters or story arcs would only hurt the overall narrative, which is already difficult enough to follow for mainstream viewers. A few bad cuts and it could become downright incomprehensible.
Now, this doesn’t mean fans should worry too much. True, some shows suffer from a lack of episodes (the final season of Umbrella Academy comes to mind), yet according to What's On Netflix, Weiss, Benioff, and Woo are going for a “quality over quantity” approach. They clearly respect the source material and want to do it justice, so they will ensure it works as well as it can.
There’s also the obvious loophole of having the episodes be longer than 45-50 minutes. Stranger Things proved that Netflix audiences will stick around for episodes that match feature-length films. It would make perfect sense for 3 Body Problem to have episodes over an hour long so they can still pack in as much of the story as they can while keeping the overall episode count low.
This is still a bit up in the air, as we have to still have a while to wait before season 2 releases. Yet the idea that this story won’t have as many episodes to wrap up only adds to the problems in making this dense series work.
3 Body Problem season 1 is streaming on Netflix. Season 2 is expected to premiere sometime later this year.