“3 Body Problem”
The new work from the makers of “Game of Thrones” is daring
Waiting for the aliens: Yang Hewen (l.) and Zine Tseng in “3 Body Problem”
© 2023 Netflix, Inc.
Physicists as heroes and a lot of philosophy: The series “3 Body Problem” is an expensive venture by Netflix. Can such elements be used to create a popular success?
It has a strange name, the series with which Netflix wants to bind and inspire its customers in the future, like it did with “Stranger Things” and “Bridgerton”: “3 Body Problem”. However, the title does not refer to a new fitness program for the stomach, legs and buttocks, but rather to the three-body problem of celestial mechanics. An astronomical challenge in which the orbits of stars have to be calculated under the influence of their mutual attraction.
In addition to politicians and secret agents, the heroes of season one also include five scientists, one of them a nanophysicist and one an expert in rockets. Important parts of the plot take place in China of yesterday and today and with plenty of Asian personnel. Can such elements be used to create a popular success?
Netflix’s expensive venture – each of the eight episodes reportedly cost 20 million euros – could work. It’s a project from David Benioff and DB Weiss, showrunners of the fantasy favorite “Game of Thrones.” The two Americans know how to stage complex material with complicated twists for the masses. Your “3 Body Problem” is almost an even greater task because there are philosophical and moral questions behind the science fiction.
The story in short: In the 1960s, researchers receive radio signals from the depths of space – and respond. The aliens then set off on the long journey to us. Until then, a sect should prepare humanity and, if necessary, eliminate resistance. It’s not just about survival, but also about whether our civilization can still deal with crises and threats if they lie in the distant future. Fridays for Future would like this.
“3 Body Problem” (on Netflix)
© Ed Miller / 2024 Netflix, Inc.
Benedict Wong has long had a passion for science fiction
Viewers who know the original book, the novel trilogy “Trisolaris” by the Chinese Liu Cixin, will probably be strange with the adaptation; the makers have at least taken a lot of liberties with the characters. There is also already the Chinese series “Three Bodies”, told more closely to the original.
Nevertheless, only the Americans have a popular figure like Benedict Wong on offer. The 52-year-old Brit with roots in Hong Kong has long had a passion for science fiction and was the master magician alongside “Doctor Strange” and on board films such as “Prometheus” and “The Martian”. “The universe always finds me somehow,” he says with a grin during the video interview.
For Netflix, Wong takes on the role of an undercover investigator who is tasked with solving numerous suicides among scientists, and injects humor and uncombed nonchalance into the dark atmosphere. Does he believe in aliens himself? “I would be arrogant not to,” he says, “after all, there are trillions of stars out there.” Maybe aliens aren’t interested in us yet anyway because we’re not developed enough. “They wait for the apocalypse, then they come clean up,” says Wong. Also a way of solving problems.