Will There Be A '3 Body Problem' Season 2 On Netflix? Here's What ...

22 Mar 2024

Forbes

3 Body Problem. Sea Shimooka as Sophon in episode 103 of 3 Body Problem. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © ... [+] 2023

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Netflix’s new sci-fi series 3 Body Problem transports viewers on a mind-altering journey through different continents and timelines, from China during the Cultural Revolution to modern-day England to a virtual reality game. If you’ve finished the existential series, you’re likely wondering whether there will be a 3 Body Problem Season 2.

From Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and True Blood writer Alexander Woo, 3 Body Problem is based on Cixin Liu’s internationally acclaimed Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy. The first season primarily focuses on the first book of the same name while weaving in plot points and characters from The Dark Forest and Death’s End.

Over eight episodes, 3 Body Problem explores how “a young woman’s fateful decision in 1960s China reverberates across space and time to a group of brilliant scientists in the present day,” the Netflix synopsis reads. As the laws of nature unravel before their eyes, five former colleagues known as the Oxford Five — Jin Cheng (Jess Hong), Saul Durand (Jovan Adepo), Auggie Salazar (Eiza González), Jack Rooney (John Bradley), and Will Downing (Alex Sharp) — come together to confront the greatest threat in humanity’s history.

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In 3 Body Problem, the showrunners were challenged to convey complex scientific material like particle accelerators, computer programming, and astronomy. “Well none of us are physicists, which I think actually made us great guinea pigs for what could be understandable,” showrunner Alexander Woo said in an interview with Wired.

He continued, “In the novels, some of it can get quite abstruse. An advantage of the novel form is that you can read it at your own pace, you can slow down, you can go back, you can look things up on the internet. Ideally, in a television show you won’t have to do that: The whole show just flows in front of you, and the idea is presented in a way that you can digest whether you’re a physicist or not.”

The showrunners’ solution was to bring on two science consultants, including a particle physicist and a rocket scientist, who gave them, the cast, and crew “a crash course explaining various different concepts within the show.”

“The hope is that somebody who is knowledgeable about this stuff will look at those visual science Easter eggs and know what they’re looking at,” Weiss added. “Somebody who is not knowledgeable about it will look at it and recognize that something complex is going on, and it’s something new and beautiful, and know enough to carry them forward in the story. It was a constant dance we were doing between the explanation and momentum.”

If you’ve binge-watched all eight episodes and are ready for more complex math problems, nanofiber technology, and the threat of alien invaders, find out what to know about 3 Body Problem Season 2.

Will There Be A 3 Body Problem Season 2 On Netflix?

MARIA HERAS/NETFLIX

Netflix has not yet renewed 3 Body Problem for a second season. However, all three showrunners told GamesRadar+’s “Inside Total Film” podcast that they are hopeful to continue the series for more seasons on the streaming platform.

“Well, there’s three novels in the trilogy. The novels get longer and longer so I wouldn’t say it maps out exactly to three,” Woo explained. “We have some really strong ideas about what to do in a season two, and then it’s a little hazier down the line. But we want to get to the end, we want to get to the end of the trilogy, and whether that’s three or four, you know, or some other number.”

Woo continued, “The goal is to get to the end of the trilogy and it seems like it would map out over probably, certainly more than two seasons but beyond that, it’s hard to know exactly.”

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Meanwhile, co-creator D. B. Weiss said they are already planning further seasons. “We don’t have a second season, but we need to keep pushing forward full steam ahead as if we did,” he said. “Because if we do get a second season, we’ll need to hit the ground running in terms of pre-production and production to get it out to people in some kind of reasonable time. A show like this takes a long time to make and you can’t wait to get started thinking about it until somebody gives you the green light.”

He clarified, “I think we have a pretty evolved sense of where it’s going. We’ve been doing some work on that front and the subsequent seasons after that are a lot hazier because once you really get into the weeds on a season of television it really takes all of your waking hours, and there’s not much time left to be simultaneously plotting a third or a fourth season,” Weiss explained. “So the short answer is yes, we’ve got a second season that is being formulated and kept on deck in the event that we get to go ahead.”

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(Warning: Spoilers ahead for 3 Body Problem Season 1.)

What Will Season 2 Of 3 Body Problem Be About?

ED MILLER/NETFLIX

The plot for Season 2 of 3 Body Problem is currently unknown, but the second season will likely pick up with Liu Cixin’s second book, The Dark Forest, and include some elements from Book 3, Death’s End.

The biggest plot point in Season 2 is San-Ti’s looming alien invasion, which is nearly half a millennium away. There’s also the newly founded Wallfacers program with Saul, who has the world’s fate in his hands.

The Dark Forest synopsis reads: “Earth is reeling from the revelation of a coming alien invasion — four centuries in the future. The aliens’ human collaborators have been defeated but the presence of the sophons, the subatomic particles that allow Trisolaris instant access to all human information, means that Earth’s defense plans are exposed to the enemy. Only the human mind remains a secret.”

3 Body Problem. (L to R) Eiza González as Auggie Salazar, Jess Hong as Jin Cheng, Saamer Usmani as ... [+] Raj Varma, Jovan Adepo as Saul Durand, Alex Sharp as Will Downing in episode 103 of 3 Body Problem. Cr. Ed Miller/Netflix © 2024

ED MILLER/NETFLIX

The description continues, “This is the motivation for the Wallfacer Project, a daring plan that grants four men enormous resources to design secret strategies hidden through deceit and misdirection from Earth and Trisolaris alike. Three of the Wallfacers are influential statesmen and scientists but the fourth is a total unknown. Luo Ji, an unambitious Chinese astronomer and sociologist, is baffled by his new status. All he knows is that he’s the one Wallfacer that Trisolaris wants dead.”

“The second book is far better than the first, and the third book just completely blew my mind,” Benioff told the Hollywood Reporter in January 2024. “So I feel if we survive to the second season, we’re going to be in a good place. Things wildly escalate and there’s one scene, if we get to it, we’re golden—like when we got to the Red Wedding on Thrones.”

Stay tuned to learn more about Season 2. Watch the trailer for 3 Body Problem, below, now streaming on Netflix.