3 Body Problem's Turbulent Road To The Screen Included A High-Profile Murder Case

The death of someone so closely connected to the project was certainly a shock. Co-showrunner David Benioff told The Hollywood Reporter that the event was disconcerting, adding, “When you work in this business, you’re expecting all sorts of issues to arise. Somebody poisoning the boss is not generally one of them.” The surprise led Benioff to email a report of the murder to “Breaking Bad” creator Vince Gilligan along with the not-so-subtle message, “What have you done?”

Despite the rocky past production history, the murder of Lin Qi doesn’t seem to have derailed Netflix’s blockbuster production. On the contrary, the official trailer reveals a glimpse into a show that appears to have its ducks in a row. There are countless call-outs to the first book, along with plenty of hints at certain creative adjustments. As with most sci-fi book-to-screen adaptations, these are fairly inevitable, and with “3 Body Problem,” they are absolutely essential. The books deal with complex scientific theories, immersive in-world gaming experiences, alien encounters, matter anti-matter weapons, fourth-dimensional experiences, and many other complicated concepts.

Fortunately, the story’s author is okay with major adaptive changes. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Liu Cixin is also a big fan of “Game of Thrones,” which he expressed to the showrunners when they chatted over Zoom early in production. In the words of co-showrunner Alexander Woo, Cixin went so far as to say, “‘I know you’re going to have to make a lot of changes.’ We had Liu’s blessing to adapt the show in the way that we saw fit.” 

Here’s hoping adaptive changes are the biggest drama ahead as the show moves past real-life murders and enters the dark days of humanity’s in-story future when Season 1 kicks off on March 21.

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