Game of Thrones ended in 2019 with a final season so divisive that corners of the internet still debate its merits and demerits to this day. Now, creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss — together with Alexander Woo — are back with a new show: 3 Body Problem, an ambitious sci-fi drama about humanity's first contact with an extraterrestrial species, based on Liu Cixin's novel trilogy Remembrance of Earth's Past. The story spans generations, includes a lot of technical scientific jargon, and grapples with some big ideas about our place in the universe. It's a tall hill to climb, which is about what you'd expect from the guys who adapted George R.R. Martin allegedly unfilmable Song of Ice and Fire series for TV.
But TV is a very "what have you done for me lately" kind of place, and the last thing a lot of people remember Benioff and Weiss doing is the final, poorly received season of Game of Thrones. Actor John Bradley, who played Samwell Tarly on Thrones and who also appears in 3 Body Problem, hopes the new show can go a ways towards rehabilitating Benioff and Weiss' image in the eyes of the public. “There were no expectations on David and Dan or any of us when we started ‘Game of Thrones,’ because nobody knew who we were,” he told The New York Post. “It’s only as the series went on that the expectations grew. And for this , there’s loads of expectation going in, because they’ve become a brand.”
"Game of Thrones ended in a way which some people didn't like...it feels like [Benioff and Weiss] have to win those fans back over. They shouldn’t have to prove themselves again. But, it kind of feels like they’re trying to. I just hope this show goes some way to restore some of the reputation that they rightly deserve."
For the record, according to Bradley, the backlash against the ending wasn't nearly as harsh in person as it was on the internet, where people can hide behind the cloak of anonymity. “Even when come up and say that they weren’t the biggest fans of the way the series ended, it’s never as vitriolic and aggressive as anything that you read online,” he said. "I think that says a lot, really, about how people get emboldened online . . . as time goes on, I hope that people will start seeing the show as a whole piece again, and remember that David and Dan were in charge of the show when everybody loved it, and it was everybody’s favorite thing. So hopefully 3 Body Problem will go some way to reminding people just how great they are when they’re at the top of their game."
Why John Bradley reunited with the creators of Game of Thrones for 3 Body Problem
In Game of Thrones, Bradley played a character who was, by and large, shy and reserved, at least early in the series. His 3 Body Problem character, snack food tycoon Jack Rooney, is much more brash and open. “ said, ‘We’re doing this new thing, and we’d really like you to be in it. And, we’re going to give you a character to play, which is unlike any character you’ve really played before, and it’s closest to your own personality,’” Bradley remembered.
"We both come from backgrounds where it’s so unlikely that we’ve ended up in the place that we’ve ended up in life . . . a tough working-class background in the north of England. It’s very rare that people from there become physics geniuses studying at Oxford, or become actors doing American projects and trying to forge a Hollywood career. I think that what’s similar about us . . . We’ve both got chips on our shoulders about being accepted, and being judged on merit."
At first, Bradley wasn't particularly eager to join up with another big genre show again, but when the guys who made Game of Thrones say they wrote a part for you, I guess you make it work.
Will John Bradley return for a Jon Snow sequel series?
Beyond 3 Body Problem, there's a possibility, however distant, that Bradley could eventually return to Westeros for a role alongside Kit Harington in a Jon Snow sequel series, something that has been discussed at HBO, although not given the official green light as of yet. ComicBook.com asked Bradley which was more likely: a reunion between Jon Snow and Sam or an actual alien invasion.
"Well, one of those things is more in my own hands than the other, I should say," Bradley said. "But it depends what you want more. What would you prefer? I am at your service. What would you prefer? I think one thing can't be any more impossible than anything else. It's either impossible or it isn't though ... The distance between possible and impossible is massive."
I have little to no idea what he meant there, but I do know you can watch John Bradley on 3 Body Problem when it premieres on Netflix this Thursday, March 21.
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