The trailer for Netflix’s 3 Body Problem has finally dropped.
The atmospheric promo for the murder mystery/science fiction series, released Tuesday at the CES technology trade show in Las Vegas, offers the first substantial look at the series, which was announced four years ago. Based on Chinese author Cixin Liu’s bestselling Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy, 3 Body Problem is produced by David Benioff and Dan Weiss, who adapted George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series for HBO, along with Alexander Woo.
The Three-Body Problem, the first title in Liu’s Hugo Award–winning trilogy, was published in 2008 in Liu’s native China, with a U.S. translation appearing in 2014. (Kirkus praised it as “remarkable, revelatory, and not to be missed.”)The series has since become a bestselling phenomenon, attracting high-profile fans like Mark Zuckerberg and Barack Obama.
But according to a feature published Wednesday in the Hollywood Reporter, the mind-bending elements of the trilogy that made it so appealing have also made it difficult to adapt for the screen. Close attention was also given to making the book universally appealing while also respecting the source novel’s Chinese pedigree, according to the report.
“I don’t think people understand how monumental the novel is in our part of the world,” Hong Kong–based filmmaker Derek Tsang, who directed the series’ first two episodes, told the publication. “But it’s not an easy read, and I give a lot of credit to David and Dan for making it more accessible. They also wanted to be as authentic as possible, and there’s no way I feel like they were appropriating our culture.”
The cast of the series includes Jovan Adepo, John Bradley, Liam Cunningham, Eiza González, Jess Hong, Marlo Kelly, Alex Sharp, Sea Shimooka, Zine Tseng, Saamer Usmani, Benedict Wong, Jonathan Pryce, Rosalind Chao, Ben Schnetzer and Eve Ridley.
It will premiere on Netflix on March 21.
Mark Athitakis is a journalist in Phoenix.
