Netflix's 3 Body Problem: Release Date, What It's About, Chinese TV Adaptation, and More

The new series based on the famed Chinese sci-fi novel 3 Body Problem by Liu Cixin is one of the most anticipated TV shows of 2024, and for good reason — It's based on a beloved story, it's got a great look and vibe, the budget is massive, and it comes from the creators of Game of Thrones.

The book was published in 2008 and is already considered one of the great modern sci-fi classics, making many wary that it could be properly adapted into a television show. But Netflix has clearly thrown a bunch of money at the project, and it brought in some established TV veterans in Game of Thrones' David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to run the show. OK, that may just make people even more wary.

The new series is coming to Netflix soon, so we'll try to answer your questions about what you can expect from this book-to-screen adaptation, like when 3 Body Problem premieres, what the show is about, who stars in it, and more.

3 Body Problem latest news

We've gotten a couple different teasers already, but now that we're approaching the series premiere, Netflix has dropped one last trailer that attempts to sell the scope of this heady story. And it certainly accomplishes that, though if you didn't really understand what this show was about before you probably won't be able to figure it out from this. But that's ok, because you don't have to — you can check out the trailer and our basic plot summary below.

3 Body Problem release date

Netflix has announced that 3 Body Problem will be released on March 21, 2024. The news was announced as part of November's Geeked Week festivities. Previously, Netflix had eyed January for the release date, but no reason has been given for the delay. Strikes affecting post-production? Time-consuming special effects? Aliens? We will never know. 

How many episodes will be in Season 1 of 3 Body Problem?

The first season of 3 Body Problem will consist of eight episodes.

3 Body Problem trailer and clip

On March 7, just two weeks ahead of launch, Netflix gave us the final trailer, featuring narration from Benedict Wong that attempts to give a general sense of what's going on in this mind-bending series without really getting into the specifics. This one is heavier on vibes than plot, but that seems to par for the course for 3 Body Problem since it's a pretty complicated story to try to sum up.

On Jan. 9, Netflix unleashed a second trailer for the series, and it appears to be the other side of the coin to the first teaser, spending more time in the present-day timeline with Eiza González's Auggie Salazar. And because this is an epic sci-fi film made my by two guys, it's all set to a choral version of Radiohead's "Everything in Its Right Place."

On June 17, 2023, during its annual Tudum event, Netflix released the first 3 Body Problem teaser trailer. It's longer than you'd expect for a teaser, coming in at nearly 2 minutes and giving viewers a look at the gorgeous cinematography and stunning visual effects. Other than a narrator waxing philosophical, we don't hear any dialogue between the characters. 

During Netflix's Geeked Week in November 2023, the streamer also released a new clip of the show featuring everyone's favorite Maester in training, John Bradley. In it, Bradley's Jack Rooney is checking out some mysterious technology with Jess Hong's Jin, and he enters some sort of virtual reality that feels a lot more reality than virtual. 

What Will 3 Body Problem be about?

3 Body Problem will adapt the first book in Cixin's Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy, The Three Body Problem. Presumably, potential subsequent seasons will cover the other two books in the series, The Dark Forest and Death's End.

Netflix's official logline for the series is as follows: "A young woman's fateful decision in 1960s China reverberates across space and time to a group of brilliant scientists in the present day. As the laws of nature unravel before their eyes, five former colleagues reunite to confront the greatest threat in humanity's history." That's an awfully cagey description of what the series is about, so continue if you want more details, or skip to the next section if you'd rather go in blind. 

Very slight spoilers for The Three Body Problem follow: The Three Body Problem is an alien invasion story. After a top secret scientific project successfully makes contact with an alien civilization in a nearby star system, the aliens, suffering from their own impending environmental collapse, decide to take over Earth. On our planet, different camps form to welcome the aliens or fight off the invasion. 

Who is behind 3 Body Problem?

Game of Thrones co-creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss enraptured audiences with their take on George R. R. Martin's epic fantasy series A Song of Fire and Ice. Now the duo is back with 3 Body Problem, a new take on a beloved book series, Remembrance of Earth's Past, from Chinese novelist Liu Cixin. Working alongside them is executive producer Alexander Woo, who is also no stranger to bringing a book to the screen, as he was one of the main writers for HBO's True Blood.

While fans may be a bit wary of Weiss and Benioff based on the disappointing final seasons of GOT, there's reason to be optimistic because Cixin's science-fiction trilogy is complete, so the duo won't run out of source material (which wasn't the case with Game of Thrones source A Song of Fire and Ice, which Martin is still in the process of completing). Benioff and Weiss spoke about their excitement about this adaption in a Netflix press release: "Liu Cixin's trilogy is the most ambitious science-fiction series we've read, taking readers on a journey from the 1960s until the end of time, from life on our pale blue dot to the distant fringes of the universe. We look forward to spending the next years of our lives bringing this to life for audiences around the world."

Who will be in 3 Body Problem?

Many Game of Thrones veterans will be in 3 Body Problem, including John Bradley (who played Samwell Tarly), Liam Cunningham (Ser Davos), and Jonathan Pryce (High Sparrow). Benedict Wong, possibly best known for his role as Wong in the Doctor Strange Marvel films, will also be in the series.

3 Body Problem main cast:

• Jovan Adepo as Saul Durand 
• Jess Hong as Jin Cheng
• Saamer Usmani as Raj Varma
• Rosalind Chao as Ye Wenjie
• Sea Shimooka as Sophon
• John Bradley as Jack Rooney
• Eiza González as Auggie Salazar
• Benedict Wong as Da Shi
• Liam Cunningham as Thomas Wade
• Alex Sharp as Will Downing
• Tsai Chin
• Marlo Kelly as Tatiana
• Jonathan Pryce as Mike Evans

Where can I watch 3 Body Problem?

3 Body Problem will be available to stream exclusively on Netflix when it is released on March 21.

Wait, isn't there a Chinese TV adaptation of The Three Body Problem already? Can I watch that?

Yes! Chinese streamer Tencent Video produced a 30-episode (!!!) live-action adaptation of Three Body Problem, which began airing on CCTV (China Central Television) on Jan. 15, 2023. The series was very well received, and all the episodes were posted to YouTube with English subtitles.

Episode 1: 

You can watch the rest of the series on Tencent's YouTube channel or on Peacock. 

Where to buy The Three Body Problem book

Want to get into the world of 3 Body Problem right now? You can pick up The Three Body Problem, as well as the other two books in the Remembrance of Earth's Past series — The Dark Forest and Death's End — on Amazon.