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

3 Body Problem Showrunners Explain Changes Made for Netflix Series

3 Body Problem Showrunners David Benioff, D.B. Weiss & Alexander Wu explain the reasons for the changes made in adapting Liu Cixin's novels.

3 Body Problem, the Netflix adaptation of Liu Cixin's epic Science Fiction trilogy, is a hit – if a controversial one – for turning a dense, layered book into… well, an American TV series. Now that the series has been renewed for two more seasons to tell the complete story and awards season is coming up, showrunners David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Alexander Wu are doing the rounds talking about the nuts and bolts of adapting a book heavy with scientific, moral and philosophical themes into something digestible for American and international TV audiences.

"We had a steep learning curve, despite the fact that we had adapted novels in the past," Woo said in an interview with The Wrap. "I think the one thing we brought to it that we all have in common is a focus on character so that when all the crazy stuff starts happening down the road, it's happening to people you care about."

Their adaptation of 3 Body Problem is controversial to book fans because they cut down the dense scientific theories and discussions, cut out the philosophical questions and debates in favor of a truncated version of the moral debates and character relationships, and emphasize the love stories. It's why fans from China who read the books didn't like it much.

"The books work beautifully in their own right, but for the TV series to succeed, they have to know each other," Benioff said. "Some of those characters from the first book never appear in Books 2 and 3. Some of the characters from the second book aren't in the first book, and the main characters in the third book aren't in Books 1 and 2. We just decided to adapt the entirety of the story as opposed to getting too high bound by the trifurcation of the novels."

"These books had amazing possibilities for an adaptation, the likes of which, when it's done, we hope no one will have ever seen before," Weiss said. "But it also had a lot of things that needed to be adapted. The medium we're working in is about people interacting with other people. So, you really care about the people who are getting dragged into the fifth dimension."

The next two seasons of 3 Body Problem will cover the second and third books, which will become even crazier and harder to adapt. However, the showrunners have already planted the seeds by introducing reconfigured characters from the second and third books into the cast in season one to carry them through the rest of the story, which will probably be condensed.

"There are events in the later seasons," continued Benioff. "That I'm most intimidated about adapting because there are certain story points when you're reading it with an eye towards adapting it for television, you're thinking, 'How are we going to make this work on screen?' The things that you're most afraid about are also the ones that are most exciting because it gets your adrenaline pumping."

3 Body Problem" is streaming on Netflix.

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