David Benioff, DB Weiss & Alexander Woo Discuss Plans for ‘The 3-Body Problem’ Netflix Series and Subverting Audience Expectations

These are the type of questions that always worry a little the fan of a series who got involved from the first season. Is there going to be a sequel? Won’t the series be canceled before its natural conclusion? How many seasons does it take to reach the end of this story?

The creators of Game of Thrones, David Benioff et D.B. Weisshave just taken their talents as adapters of epic books from one major broadcaster to another with their new series, The 3-body problembased on the best-selling trilogy by Liu Cixin. And we are now asking ourselves these questions.

The series had its world premiere at the SXSW festival, during which Collider spoke with the showrunners and the other co-creator of the series Alexander Woo to ask them what the future of the series portends.

Less than for Game of Thrones

The trio was optimistic about their hopes of continuing the exploration of this trilogy. An optimism that we want to temper now when the series has never been renewed.

Times are tough for fans of streaming series, but after the success of their previous work, Benioff compares Liu Cixin’s work to the material “surprising” of George R.R. Martin. He goes on to talk about their project and what fans can expect after season 1:

“There are three books. The first season roughly follows the arc of the first book, and the second season will likely roughly follow the second book. The third book is huge. It’s twice as long as the other two books, so maybe it’s one season, maybe two. But I think it would take at least three, maybe four seasons to tell the whole story.

It’s a beautiful ending. I think all three of us thought that the final page of Liu Cixin’s epic was perhaps the best final image we had encountered in a science fiction saga like this. It’s incredibly emotional and breathtaking, and that’s why we’re willing to do anything to get to the end. That means, hopefully, if enough people watch it, Netflix will renew us and give us a few more years.“

A bet far from won

The trio revealed that, if the planets align – including if Netflix renews the series – they will have enough material to start filming a possible season 2 this fall. At the same time, DB Weiss admitted that The 3-Body Problem is “a series that requires a lot of work and demands no less. It’s not getting easier to do, it’s getting harder to do“.

So they should take their time and do one season at a time, rather than getting a renewal for multiple seasons. Which makes the future of the series all the more uncertain as the series is very expensive. The screenwriter concluded by stating that they “wouldn’t say no” if they got this renewal a la Avatar, for two more seasonsmore.. :

“We get it – I think it’s hard to see eight episodes of something you love and watch it disappear for a long period of time. But it’s really, the only way we can imagine doing it is one season at a time.“

On the condition that Netflix follows and therefore that the public is there!