Last year, Netflix debuted the first season of 3 Body Problem, based on the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy by Liu Cixin. This heady sci-fi story is about what happens when humanity makes first contact with an extraterrestrial species...and finds they don't have our best interests at heart. Plus their technology is light years beyond ours. Now they're heading for Earth, and humanity has a few generations to prepare. Can we avoid extinction?
The first season took a minute to rev up, but got on a good sci-fi roll by the end. Netflix renewed the show for a second and third season, which will end the series. The upcoming second season will adapt The Dark Forest, the second book in Liu's trilogy and the one that the cast and crew seem most excited about. "The story gets really wild in the best possible way," co-showrunner Dan Weiss told Collider: "With something that’s that wild, there are a lot of choices to be made and a lot of things to be figured out. We’ve been putting our heads together to figure them out recently, especially over the past couple of months."
And now, the start of production in in sight. According to the Hungarian National Film Office, filming on seasons 2 and 3 of 3 Body Problem will happen back to back, which is great news; that means there won't be an eternal wait between the final two seasons of the show. However, production is scheduled to begin on July 8 of this year and run through August 2 of 2027, which is a very long time. That means we probably won't be seeing new episodes of 3 Body Problem until...gulp...2028, but when they come, they'll at least come quickly.
The first season of the show was filmed in the U.K., but the second and third are moving to Hungary apparently for tax incentive reasons, if you're interested. Dan Weiss manages the show alongside David Benioff, who were also the showrunners on Game of Thrones. They're not the only ones excited to adapt The Dark Forest. Cast member Eiza González (Auggie Salazar) is also eager to get into it.
"Dark Forest is my favorite book, and I'm very excited," González told Screen Rant. "I hate to say this because I think every part of a series is important, and this is no different to that, but definitely when we were talking about the books, the showrunners were like, 'We just have to power through the first season to get to the real juicy part of the story and where it goes.'"
"And what a way to power through the first season. I mean, it was incredible, but I think that moving forward is [what] I'm truly excited for. I'm waiting eagerly to read these scripts. I've been hearing so much, and I'm getting the emails. I'm like, "Oh, my God! We're back.""
Everything looks promising. I enjoyed the first season and am looking forward to more. A shame about that wait, though.
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