Netflix’s New ‘3 Body Problem’ Trailer Should Give You Chills — in Good and Bad Ways 

Netflix took to CES 2024 in Las Vegas today to unveil its first meaty trailer — as well as a ton of extra reveals — at an immersive experience for its upcoming sci-fi epic, 3 Body Problem. The series has been hotly anticipated for years thanks to a one-two punch of genre credentials. First, it’s based on Liu Cixin’s hugely beloved, incredibly imaginative, and wildly heady science fiction trilogy. Second, it marks Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’s follow-up to the HBO hit. The new trailer finally confirms what fans of the books have both long expected and long feared. Some elements of Liu’s work will remain untouched in the Hollywood adaptation, while the focus of the series will be on totally new characters never mentioned in the books. These changes aren’t just obvious in the heart-pounding trailers, but confirmed by Netflix and Benioff and Weiss’s new co-showrunning partner Alexander Woo himself.

In an exclusive statement to Netflix’s TUDUM, Woo explained: “What we are hoping to do is to convey the experience — if not necessarily the exact details — of the novel onto the screen. What stayed, we hope, is the sense of wonderment and the sense of scope, of scale, where the problems are no longer just the problems of an individual or even a nation, but of an entire species.”

Which is to say that they’re going to change key details of the story, specifically introducing five core new characters, played by Jess Hong, Jovan Adepo, Eiza González, John Bradley, and Alex Sharp, known as the “Oxford Five.” These five tight-knit geniuses will have met at Oxford, represent a more diverse cultural background beyond the books’ overwhelmingly Chinese cast of characters, and, ahem, be young and, well, hot.

Netflix introduced “The Oxford Five” in a press release sent to journalists today:

Jess Hong as Jin Cheng

A member of the “Oxford Five”: a group of young Oxford scientists. A genius theoretical physicist with an insatiable thirst for answers about the biggest questions in the universe. Her curiosity could be her biggest strength — if it’s not her downfall.

Jovan Adepo as Saul Durand

A member of the “Oxford Five.” No less gifted but far less focused than his peers, Saul is a physics research assistant who has not reached his full potential. When the ultimate challenge presents itself, will he rise to it?

Eiza González as Auggie Salazar

A member of the “Oxford Five.” A nanotech trailblazer, Auggie is dedicated to solving actual problems now, not theoretical ones in the future. Strong and visionary, she’s a natural target for humanity’s enemies.

John Bradley as Jack Rooney

A member of the “Oxford Five.” Rude, outspoken, and loveable, Jack used his physics degree to develop a snacks empire.

Alex Sharp as Will Downing

A member of the “Oxford Five”. A sixth form physics teacher, Will receives life-changing news that forces him to reconsider his place in the universe.

Okay, okay…so why introduce these new characters, what could they hope to add to the story, and what does the trailer also confirm about the Netflix adaptation of Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem?

Despite the introduction of new characters, it does look like the first season of 3 Body Problem will follow the time-jumping storyline of Liu’s novel. We know that Zine Tseng and Rosalind Chao will be playing the character’s first major protagonist, Ye Wenjie, in both the past and present, confirming her pivotal role in the television adaptation should remain the same. In the book, Ye Wenjie is a brilliant scientist stationed at a remote satellite research facility. She is disillusioned with life, thanks to witnessing her father’s political assassination. Netflix’s official character description adds, “A decision she made in the 1960s echoes through the centuries and may still be heard at the end of time.” That, well, checks out with the book.

Also staying the same? The creepy murder mystery haunting the entirety of The Three-Body Problem book Hard-boiled Chinese detective Da Shi (Benedict Wong) will be pulled into a mysterious case. Many of the world’s most brilliant minds are dying by suicide at an alarming rate. All of them reference a “countdown” before they die and these deaths seem to be connected with some sort of online game. The trailer for 3 Body Problem hints that this part of the story is also staying the same.

So should fans of Liu Cixin’s book be thrilled about the latest trailer of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem? Or should they be creeped out by way more than the teaser’s incessant doomsday imagery?

As a fan of the books, I’m…cautiously optimistic? (Maybe?) Look, my favorite things about Liu’s first novel were Ye Wenjie’s story, Da Shi’s incredible personality, the wild fantasy of the online game’s world, and the murder mystery. All those ingredients are still in the mix. What I was less enthralled with were the rather flat personalities of all the characters not named Ye Wenjie, Da Shi, or Mike Evans (who is still in the show, played by Ben Schnetzer and Jonathan Pryce in different decades). It might not be the worst idea in the world to mix up the characters beyond those roles. If anything, a similar tact worked for Apple TV+’s Foundation. That series has successfully adapted a similarly theory-heavy sci-fi opus by remixing the dramatis personnae.

Of course, the thing that’s got to have genre fans most nervous is the erratic track record of Woo’s colleagues, Benioff and Weiss. While the duo successfully transformed another seemingly un-adaptable genre masterpiece into a wildly popular show, they also received their greatest criticism the further they strayed from the source material. So who knows? Maybe the difference between adapting George R.R. Martin and Liu Cixin is that Martin was a TV writer before he wrote Game of Thrones, hence the dramatic beats were already baked into his prose.

Either way, like every other sci-fi nerd, I’m going to be logging on to Netflix on March 21 to see if Benioff, Weiss, and Woo have given us our latest genre obsession.

3 Body Problem premieres Thursday, March 21 on Netflix.

If you or someone you know are experiencing suicidal thoughts, call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 988.