Netflix sci-fi series 3 Body Problem isn’t out yet, but showrunners Dan Benioff and DB Weiss have talked about their future plans for it. “We’d need three, maybe four seasons to tell the whole story.”
With a reported budget of about $160m, 3 Body Problem is a particularly pricey TV series from Netflix – a company that isn’t afraid to throw lots of money at certain projects. And while the future of the sci-fi show – based on the best-selling trilogy of books by Cixin Liu – depends on how the first eight episodes are received, showrunners DB Weiss and David Benioff certainly have big plans for it.
Speaking to Collider, the duo revealed that they already had the second season mapped out – “We’re much farther along with that plan than rough idea stages,” Weiss said – and are also thinking about how long the series could run for in total.
Explaining that the first two seasons will follow the events of books one and two in the series, Benioff and Weiss suggested that the third book contains so much plot that it may end up being split into two seasons.
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“The third book is massive,” Benioff said. “It’s twice as long, I think, as the other two books. So maybe that’s one season, maybe it’s two. But, you know, I think we’d need at least three, maybe four seasons to tell the whole story.”
Again, Netflix isn’t afraid to wave its chequebook around when it comes to creating original shows, but it’s equally unafraid to cancel a series if its audience figures aren’t to its liking. David Fincher’s acclaimed procedural series Mindhunter wasn’t picked up for a third series; Lockwood & Co was summarily executed last December, despite some decent viewing numbers behind it. Last year also saw the cancellation of Shadow And Bone, Glamorous and Agent Elvis, among others.
For now, though, Benioff and Weiss sound passionate about adapting the complete 3 Body Problem opus from beginning to end. “The last page of Cixin Liu’s epic was maybe the best final image we’d encountered in a saga like this,” Benioff said. “It’s just incredibly moving and mind-blowing.”
3 Body Problem is streaming on Netflix from the 21st March.
