Posted in: Netflix, TV | Tagged: 3 Body Problem, Alexander Woo, D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, eiza gonzalez, Liu Cixin, netflix, science fiction

3 Body Problem: Gonzalez Knows Auggie Is "Not a Likable Character"

3 Body Problem star Eiza Gonzalez knew from the start that her character Auggie Salazar was not likable - and for some very good reasons.

The most divisive character in the Netflix adaptation of Liu Cixin's Science Fiction epic 3 Body Problem is Augustina "Auggie" Salazar, played by Eiza Gonzalez. The character is a race and gender-switched version of the main character of the first book Wang Miao, an Applied Physicist and engineer who invented an invisible, unbreakable, and razor-thin nanofibre that becomes an important part of the story. Sexist viewers said Auggie was a "girlboss" and unlikable. Well, guess what? That was a feature, not a bug. As I said before, showrunners D.B. Weiss, David Benioff, and Alexander Woo wrote the character very deliberately – she's brittle, dry, and serious-minded and doesn't care if she comes off as likable, and Gonzalez didn't even try to pander to the audience to hint she might be likable underneath. It's a common refrain from network television where the executives insist the main characters of a TV series are as likable as possible from the start. Not so 3 Body Problem on Netflix.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gonzalez talked about The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, her upcoming projects, and 3 Body Problem, where she pointed out that everything about Auggie was done on purpose. "Auggie's arc is really intense in season one. Dan [Weiss and Dave and Alexander Woo really went for it. If there's one role in that season that they took a big swing at, it's Auggie. They really leaned into a lot of things that people weren't expecting. She's not necessarily meant to be likable; she's not a likable character. She's a woman who's in a complicated state, and there's messiness that comes with it," Gonzalez explained.

"So, Auggie is just at a very interesting breaking point when we meet her in season one, and ultimately, you always have to trust [your showrunners], knowing what Dan and Dave did with eight seasons of Game of Thrones. They do know where to take characters and not everything that we currently think of a character is what's always going to be. So I'm just really excited about the potential opportunity of a second season happening and what the possibilities for Auggie are. We leave her behind at the end of season one, technically. So we don't know where she's going to be next, physically and emotionally, and that's pretty exciting as an actress."

3 Body Problem is streaming on Netflix.

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