Netflix is banking of a new series, The Three-Body Problem, becoming a winner just like Game of Thrones, and in order to do so, there’s no other way to achieve that than to sign up the duo who created one of the most popular TV series that had us glued to our screens. It’s a star-studded production, with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, together with Star Wars director Rian Johnson and Brad Pitt teaming up for the ambitious new Chinese sci-fi adaptation.
The series in question is an adaptation of author Liu Cixin’s bestselling book trilogy, The Three-Body Problem, which tells the epic story of humanity’s first contact with an alien civilization.
In a released statement by Game of Thrones duo creators Benioff and Weiss, who will be co-writing the series, they have said that “Liu Cixin’s trilogy is the most ambitious science-fiction series we’ve read, taking readers on a journey from the 1960s until the end of time, from life on our pale blue dot to the distant fringes of the universe.”
They will be joined as executive producers by Johnson, who oversaw 2017’s critically acclaimed Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, as well as Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment company.
Prolific Chinese science fiction author Liu said the apocalyptic series “transcends time and the confines of nations, cultures and races; one that compels us to consider the fate of humankind as a whole.” It imagines an alternate history in which a female Chinese astrophysicist caught up in the Cultural Revolution makes contact with an alien civilization, prompting global fears of an invasion.
Fans of the books include former president Barack Obama, who once said the “wildly imaginative” trilogy made “my day-to-day problems with Congress seem fairly petty and not something to worry about. Aliens are about to invade!”
Another of Liu’s works, The Wandering Earth, was given the big-screen treatment last year. It was billed as China’s first space-age blockbuster and became one of the country’s highest grossing movies with over US$690 million domestically.
Changed sci-fi ‘forever’
Hot off Game of Thrones, Benioff and Weiss signed a multi-year deal with Netflix last August to write, produce and direct new series and films. This most recent announcement is the first confirmed project to emerge from that deal, which was reportedly worth a nine-figure sum and followed an intense bidding war between major studios.
The pair spent around a decade on HBO’s fantasy epic series, Game of Thrones, which demolished audience records, scooped an unprecedented number of Emmys for a fictional show, and redefined weekly “event TV.”
With the announcement of the deal last year, Benioff and Weiss said they shared a love for “the same books” as several Netflix executives. “The first time I read The Three-Body Problem trilogy (Remembrance of Earth’s Past), it changed what science fiction meant to me forever,” said Netflix original series drama vice-president Peter Friedlander. Benioff, Weiss and the other producers exchange frequent e-mails and “discuss the books compulsively,” he added.
Source: AFP Relax News
